Reluctance of respondents to participate in surveys has long drawn the attention of survey researchers. Yet, little is known about what drives a respondent's decision to answer the survey invitation early or late during the field period. Moreover, we still lack evidence on response timing in longitudinal surveys. That is, the questions on whether…

Mixed-mode surveys are popular as they can save costs and maintain (or improve) response rates relative to single-mode surveys. Nevertheless, it is not yet clear how design decisions like survey mode or questionnaire length impact measurement quality. In this study, we compare measurement quality in an experiment of three distinct survey designs…

The present study aimed to investigate the relative predictive power of teachers' beliefs about cooperative learning, their participation in professional development courses on cooperative learning, emotional exhaustion, and the frequency of cooperative learning implementation before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic for the frequency of…

Survey research is still confronted by a trend of increasing nonresponse rates. In this context, several methodological advances have been made to stimulate participation and avoid bias. Yet, despite the growing number of tools and methods to deal with nonresponse, little is known about whether nonresponse biases show similar trends as nonresponse…

Based on a research project comprising data from an interview study and a survey with teachers and school principals in four German federal states ("Bundesländer"), this paper questions the claim that the side effects of accountability in education are bound to high-stakes contexts, and also provides evidence of side effects occurring in…

Pressure on evaluators has been investigated recently by surveys in the USA, the UK, Germany, and Switzerland. This study compares the results of those studies regarding pressure on evaluators in different countries. The findings suggest that independence of evaluations does not exist for many respondents. Moreover, the person who commissioned the…

The role of the university in society and the economy is evolving. Universities produce knowledge that promotes technological developments, which are, in turn, critical to economic growth and competitiveness in the global economy. Therefore, it is increasingly expected that universities become more entrepreneurial and assume this third mission in…

In this article, we present the results of three question design experiments on inter-item correlations, which tested a grid design against a single-item design. The first and second experiments examined the inter-item correlations of a set with five and seven items, respectively, and the third experiment examined the impact of the question design…

The Home Learning Environment (HLE) focuses on everyday learning habits in families to support children's competency development. In this study, we used multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analyses to compare two theoretical dimensions and three methods for assessing the HLE and their associations with linguistic and mathematical competencies of…

The following comparative case studies explored the applicability of servant leadership within the US military and how such leadership style contributes to commitment and retention of civil service employees. The research took place in a US Army post in Germany and in a US Air Force Base in Florida. Retaining civilian employees and raising their…

Using two representative samples of some 74,000 students and 11,000 graduates, respectively, we analyse the accuracy of students' wage expectations given their individual characteristics. We find that students are aware of the effects of most of their own characteristics, as a large number of determinants of expected and realised salaries do not…

This paper considers students' economic motives to attend university. Drawing on selected results from a tri-national survey involving online questionnaires and interviews with students at English, German and Portuguese universities, it examines and compares this particular extrinsic motivational dimension, alongside the influence of the national…

The authors elaborate on the role of playfulness as a preferred characteristic in potential long-term partners recently espoused by Garry Chick and others. They aim to replicate the findings of such research by studying a different culture (that of German-speaking countries) and to develop them further by taking into account the participants'…

This study compares the application of probing techniques in cognitive interviewing (CI) and online probing (OP). Even though the probing is similar, the methods differ regarding typical mode setting, sample size, level of interactivity, and goals. We analyzed probing answers to the International Social Survey Programme item battery on specific…

Inclusive education often refers to a school model wherein students with special needs (SEN) spend most of their school time with students without special needs. According to literature, for the implementation of inclusion, the attitudes towards inclusive education as well as the perception of inclusive teaching practices and resources are…