This manual provides guidance and documentation for users of the kindergarten (or base year) data of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). It begins with an overview of the ECLS-K:2011. Subsequent chapters provide details on the study data collection instruments and methods; the direct and indirect…

The purpose of this research study was to compare male and female assistant superintendents and their descriptions of Internal Barriers, External Barriers, Internal Motivators, External Motivators, Stressors, and Discriminatory Acts they anticipated encountering on the route to the superintendency in Suffolk and Nassau Counties on Long Island, New…

This manual provides guidance and documentation for users of the longitudinal kindergarten-first grade (K-1) data file of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011). It mainly provides information specific to the first-grade rounds of data collection. Data for the ECLS-K:2011 are released in both a…

The National Science Foundation contracted with Abt Associates to conduct an evaluation of its Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program, which supports intellectually substantive collaborations between U.S. and foreign researchers in which the international partnership is essential to the research effort. The evaluation…

The purpose of this study was to examine ethical responses to problematic school situations among public school superintendents nationwide. An additional goal was to compare responses of the proposed study with those of school superintendents in an earlier study (Fenstermaker, 1994) in order to determine whether there has been a significant change…

In this paper, I examine whether generalized trust and education, as well as social security policies of welfare state institutions matter for cross-national differences in subjective well-being (SWB), because knowledge on this issue is still lacking. For this purpose I integrated the insights of two sociological theories: Social Function…

The number of college students enrolled in online courses increased more than 22 percent between 2002 and 2011. Despite this rapid rise in online course enrollment, only a two-percent gain in faculty acceptance of online learning occurred during this same time period. The majority of teaching faculty remain resistant to online instruction with…

A field experiment was conducted to test the effectiveness of norm-based persuasive messages for increasing response rates in online survey research. Participants in an interdisciplinary conference were asked to complete two successive postconference surveys and randomly assigned to one of two groups at each time point. The experimental group…

In survey sampling the randomized response (RR) technique can be used to obtain truthful answers to sensitive questions. Although the individual answers are masked due to the RR technique, individual (sensitive) response rates can be estimated when observing multivariate response data. The beta-binomial model for binary RR data will be generalized…

Multi-actor survey data are highly valuable for answering questions about family relations, but the collection of such data is complicated by nonresponse among secondary (nonresident) respondents. Little is known, however, about the degree to which nonresponse of secondary respondents is selective and about the degree to which selective…

Evidence-based insight on the effectiveness of reminders in web-based data collection in online panels is scarce. Thirty-eight studies were conducted in three different online panels to examine the effect of reminders on response rates, retention rates, and two facets of response quality (i.e., item omissions and response nondifferentiation). The…

The online survey is a popular tool for taking the pulse of an alumni body. However, response rates for these surveys have been declining over the years, making them potentially less useful. Are there easy ways to increase these rates? The author has conducted a number of experiments to try to find that out. He discusses surveys that explored…

Three years ago, the "Council of the Great City Schools" embarked on a multi-year initiative to help its member school districts implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Part of this initiative involves annual surveys of progress urban public school districts were making in implementing the CCSS. With the support of the Bill…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School Principal Status and Private School Principal Status Data Files of the 2012-13 Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS). The PFS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools in the 50 states and District of Columbia and was initiated to inform discussions and…

The Total Survey Error (TSE) paradigm provides a framework that supports the effective planning of research, guides decision making about data collection and contextualises the interpretation and dissemination of findings. TSE also allows researchers to systematically evaluate and improve the design and execution of ongoing survey programs and…