As the international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) become more popular, policy makers and education practitioners are interested in collecting as much student background information as possible to better understand the learning context of their students. To collect such abundant information, administrators need to develop a lot of questions.…

Outdoor adventure education (OAE) has a long history of being credited with the personal and social development (PSD) of its participants. PSD is notoriously difficult to measure quantitatively, yet stakeholders demand statistical evidence that given approaches to eliciting PSD are effective in their methods. Rightly or wrongly, many stakeholders…

This paper reports on the design of a pilot doctoral study into the online support of pre-service teachers. It highlights the significance of a consequential, rather than deontological, perspective in guiding the development of a study's design. The study initially aimed to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions and use of social media on their…

Critically examining common statistical approaches and their strengths and weaknesses is an important step in advancing recreation and leisure sciences. To continue this critical examination and to inform methodological decision making, this study compared three approaches to determine how alternative approaches may result in contradictory…

This paper reviews literature on the rationale, challenges, and recommendations for choosing a nonequivalent comparison (NEC) group design when evaluating intervention effects. After reviewing frequently addressed threats to validity, the paper describes recommendations for strengthening the research design and how the recommendations were…

For more than four decades the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tracked the achievement of U.S. students in major academic subjects. This national resource is the only assessment that states and now many urban districts can look to as an objective yardstick of their performance over time, relative to national benchmarks, and…

Errors in methodology occur regularly in the conduct of surveys for educational research. This paper discusses some of these errors and alternatives. In the area of survey design, errors are common in: (1) missed opportunities in attitude scale planning; (2) blunders in item construction; (3) missed opportunities in item construction; (4) blunders…

Although the mail survey has been widely criticized as a viable research methodology, it remains the most feasible approach for retrieving data from large, widely-dispersed populations. This paper suggests that there exists a readily accessible body of pragmatic recommendations which, if adhered to throughout the instrument design and data…

In order to obtain accurate and factual data, a survey instrument must be well constructed and a survey planned carefully and conducted under strict conditions. Of importance in planning a survey is a determination of previous and on-going research through an extensive literature review. In designing the survey, the researcher should aim at…

A properly conducted evaluation can help a school find the strengths and weaknesses of a sexuality education program. The basic ground rules are presented. (Author/MLF)

Research has identified a number of effective means of maximizing returns to mailed questionnaires. The accompanying cover letter, the first contact with the potential respondents, may be the most important aspect of the survey. Studies indicate that the most effective cover letters incorporate personalization with an altruistic and/or egoistic…

Examines issues associated with the design of and statistical inferences from embedded experiments which vary the questionnaire content into sample surveys of broad populations. Provides an example of context effects in attitude surveys, a summary, and conclusions. (RT)

Questions used in course evaluations should mainly measure the quality of teaching, and students' answers to those questions should not be influenced by other factors. This paper investigates how seemingly neutral rating scales and multiple-choice questions might have an impact on the results of such evaluations. In several studies, it has been…

The shortcomings of the three main approaches to measuring teacher effectiveness (systematic observation, participant observation, and questionnaires) are discussed and problems of research design and analysis considered. The development of better measures of educational benefits to complement the emphasis on test scores is suggested. (Author/SK)

The follow-up of participants in a longitudinal survey can be difficult and expensive. This paper reviews the experiences of Project TALENT's 11-year follow-up survey of 400,000 individuals tested as high school students in 1960 and the experiences of follow-ups in other longitudinal studies. Methods for minimizing sample attrition and detecting…