In the United States, increased pressure through accountability policy and through the production and dissemination of scientifically based research are intended to create conditions for improving research use. Concurrently, researchers, education agencies, and funders have mounted efforts to strengthen relationships between research and…

"The Every Student Succeeds Act" encourages educators to use school improvement strategies backed by rigorous research. This snapshot, based on national surveys administered in 2018, describes what guidance states provided on improvement strategies and how districts selected such strategies in lowest-performing schools. Most states…

A small number of programs provide training on scientific and environmental topics to early- and midcareer journalists across the globe. Yet there are questions about the effectiveness of these programs: Do they make a difference in science reporting quality or quantity? What aspects of training are most impactful? Do journalists find the training…

In April and May of 2012, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Research conducted a survey of users of archives to learn more about their habits and preferences. In particular, they focused on the roles that social media, recommendations, reviews, and other forms of user-contributed annotation play in archival research. OCLC surveyed faculty,…

Parents deal with a complex web of choices when seeking and using knowledge and resources related to their young children's literacy development. Information concerning children's learning and development comes in many forms and is produced by an increasingly diverse range of players including governments, non-government organizations and…

Presents a critical discussion of two news value indices and makes some suggestions for considering social psychological variables in the development of such indices. (TO)

Discussion of gatekeepers (individuals who promote communication of technical and professional information by gathering it from a variety of sources and disseminating it to their colleagues) focuses on a technique for identifying gatekeepers in the information technology profession based on a questionnaire survey in Australia. (Author/LRW)

The results of a survey of commercially available tape services which can provide libraries and information centers with data bases of scientific and technical literature are reported. During the past few years there has been an increasing number of tape services entering the information resources market. Each of these services makes available to…

A STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ADMINISTERED TO PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL IN INDUSTRIAL AND GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS, ASKING THE SUBJECTS TO RANK EIGHT INFORMATION GATHERING METHODS ACCORDING TO THEIR PREFERENCE IN GIVEN HYPOTHETICAL SITUATIONS. THE SUBJECTS WERE THEN ASKED TO RATE THE METHODS ON A SEVEN POINT SCALE ACCORDING TO (1) EASE OF USE AND…

Background: The use of research evidence produced by others is seen as central to the reflective practice of school teachers. There have been many recent UK initiatives aimed at improving access to research evidence, but there are still concerns about the lack of engagement by teachers. Previous research has looked at this issue from different…

Extends the theoretical concept of agenda setting to include awareness of general issues, awareness of proposed solutions, and specific knowledge about the proposals. Examines whether or not agenda setting is operative at these levels and compares findings with previous agenda setting studies. (MH)

A study of the diffusion of news about the Mormon Church's approval of Blacks for the priesthood revealed that "shocking" good news can ignite the interpersonal communications system, that news has more credibility when obtained from media than when obtained interpersonally, and that people use mass media to verify news obtained…

The expanding use of the Internet as a mechanism for the dissemination of local government information presents challenges and opportunities to traditional library planning, processes and services. The purpose of this study is to survey local government sites (home pages) via the Internet with the following research objectives: (1) to identify…

Reports findings from a survey comparing the use of internal and external information services by businesspeople in Brisbane (Australia). The survey examined where and how business information is currently sourced, how often and why information is sought from any particular source, and any problems people may have in finding business information.…

A survey was conducted to update a series of documents published by the Council of Europe in 1975. This survey covers the following countries: Austria, Belgium (Dutch-speaking area), Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. For each country, details are given concerning sources of…