A procedure was developed to detect differential item functioning (DIF) in a standardized essay test using the Partial Credit Model, the general polychotomous form of the Rasch model. Using a panel of experts in the writing process, hypothesized explanations for DIF at some score points were developed. Data for the study included averaged…

The usefulness of studying thought processes in the construct validation of ability tests was examined using a sample consisting of 343 Canadian senior high school students. Four levels of probing were used by the interviewer to examine the students' thinking processes while taking the Test on Appraising Observations: (1) think aloud; (2)…

The focus of this study was on the relationship between visual and statistical analyses of time series data and the degree to which characteristics of the data influenced this relationship. A total of 52 teachers took part in evaluating a series of graphs having prespecified characteristics. The independent variables manipulated included: slope,…

In designing the "Study of Schooling" research project, it was decided that seven regions in the United States would be studied, and for each region, "triples" would be the focus of the research. A "triple" consisted of a senior high school, a feeder junior high or middle school, and a feeder elementary school.…

The logic of using a gain score approach versus longitudinal causal models is studied in this secondary analysis of a complex data base. The gain score model used by the Federal Reserve Bank and the School District of Philadelphia in their "What Works in Reading?" study is successively refined using the LISREL structural equation…

This planning conference was one in a series of such conferences aimed at providing continuous guidance for the development of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS) a study designed to discover what happens to young adults after they leave high school, and to relate this information to earlier educational…

To assess the effects of school traits on achievement, researchers reanalyzed the data used in "Public and Private Schools" (Coleman et al.) at the school level rather than the individual level. The data for the Coleman report and the present reanalysis are drawn from the "High School and Beyond" study, a 1980 national survey…

In the first half of this report a format or framework is outlined for displaying occupational supply and demand information for use in planning education for work programs. In the second half, the use of the procedure is demonstrated by filling in the format with Minnesota supply and demand information (1970-71) and drawing from it illustrative…

The authors have written this manual to aid workers in the Cooperative Extension Service of the United States to be better able to understand and apply the principles and methods of evaluation. The manual contains three sections which cover the nature and place of evaluation in extension work, the evaluation process, and the uses of evaluation…

Information on institutional research, planning, and evaluation is provided in 15 conference presentations. The papers included in the collection are: (1) "The Nature of Institutional Research in the Community College (CC)" by James L. Wattenbarger; (2) "The Range and Organization of Data for Research" by Richard L. Alfred; (3) "Research Methods…

This paper describes the effect of a person's social network upon his or her use of health services. A "social network" consists of complex strands of affiliations radiating from an individual to his/her close associates (kin and friends) and then to the larger society beyond. Health services include hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, and…

This manual introduces undergraduates to resources and data analysis methods for studying judicial behavior and constitutional law. It contains 12 exercises, most of which are based on outside reading and analysis of data provided in appendices. Exercise one introduces the basic tools and methods for research in a law library, emphasizing use of…

Two approaches for teaching empirical research methods to graduate students in political science courses are evaluated. Specific objectives of the evaluation, in addition to comparing relative teaching effectiveness of the two approaches, were to explore causal dynamics between the teaching environment, user satisfaction, and learning performance.…

In this manual, an attempt is made to demonstrate how certain social science measurements can be adapted to help field workers in economic and community development assess initial conditions before a project is begun, to measure the extent to which various attempts at producing social change have succeeded, to determine the overall result of…

This document supports the survey questionnaire to be administered to a sample of over 22,000 young adults in the second follow-up of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Data collection activities were scheduled to start in October 1974 and be completed by March 1975. The field test of the survey questionnaire,…