Designing and Constructing Instruments for Social Research and Evaluation

Designing and Constructing Instruments for Social Research and Evaluation
Author: David Colton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2007-08-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0787998087

Written in easy-to-understand language, this important text provides a systematic and commonsense approach to developing instruments for data collection and analysis. This book can be used by both those who are developing instruments for the first time and those who want to hone their skills, including students, agency personnel, program managers, and researchers. This book provides a thorough presentation of instrument construction, from conception to development and pre-testing of items, formatting the instrument, administration, and, finally, data management and presentation of the findings. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize how to create an instrument that will produce trustworthy and accurate data. To that end they have included guidelines for reviewing and revising the questionnaire to enhance validity and reliability. They also show how to work effectively with stakeholders such as instruments designers, decision-makers, agency personnel, clients, and raters or respondents.

Designing and Constructing Instruments for Social Research and Evaluation

Designing and Constructing Instruments for Social Research and Evaluation
Author: David Colton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2015-06-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1119177979

Written in easy-to-understand language, this important text provides a systematic and commonsense approach to developing instruments for data collection and analysis. This book can be used by both those who are developing instruments for the first time and those who want to hone their skills, including students, agency personnel, program managers, and researchers. This book provides a thorough presentation of instrument construction, from conception to development and pre-testing of items, formatting the instrument, administration, and, finally, data management and presentation of the findings. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize how to create an instrument that will produce trustworthy and accurate data. To that end they have included guidelines for reviewing and revising the questionnaire to enhance validity and reliability. They also show how to work effectively with stakeholders such as instruments designers, decision-makers, agency personnel, clients, and raters or respondents.

Transformative Research and Evaluation

Transformative Research and Evaluation
Author: Donna M. Mertens
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2008-10-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1593859856

From distinguished scholar Donna M. Mertens, this core book provides a framework for making methodological decisions and conducting research and evaluations that promote social justice. The transformative paradigm has emerged from - and guides - a broad range of social and behavioral science research projects with communities that have been pushed to the margins, such as ethnic, racial, and sexual minority group members and children and adults with disabilities. Mertens shows how to formulate research questions based on community needs, develop researcher-community partnerships grounded in trust and respect, and skillfully apply quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods data collection strategies. Practical aspects of analyzing and reporting results are addressed, and numerous sample studies are presented. An ideal core book for graduate courses, or practitioner resource, the book includes: Commentary on the sample studies that explains what makes them transformative. Explanations of key concepts related to oppression, social justice, and the role of research and evaluation. Questions for Thought to stimulate critical self-reflection and discussion. Advance chapter organizers and chapter summaries. The book is intended for graduate students in psychology, education, social work, sociology, and nursing, as well as practicing researchers and program evaluators. It will serve as a core book or supplement in Research Methods, Program Evaluation, and Community Psychology courses.

Assessment Methods for Student Affairs

Assessment Methods for Student Affairs
Author: John H. Schuh and Associates
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2011-01-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118047389

Editor John Schuh and his fellow contributors, all experts in the field, detail the methodological aspects of conducting assessment projects specifically for the student affairs practitioner who is ready to conduct assessment projects, but is not quite sure how to manage their technical aspects. Using a variety of case studies and concrete examples to illustrate various assessment approaches, the authors lead the reader step-by-step through each phase of the assessment process with jargon-free, hands-on guidance.

Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education

Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education
Author: Charles Secolsky
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 738
Release: 2017-07-31
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317485548

In this valuable resource, well-known scholars present a detailed understanding of contemporary theories and practices in the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation, with guidance on how to apply these ideas for the benefit of students and institutions. Bringing together terminology, analytical perspectives, and methodological advances, this second edition facilitates informed decision-making while connecting the latest thinking in these methodological areas with actual practice in higher education. This research handbook provides higher education administrators, student affairs personnel, institutional researchers, and faculty with an integrated volume of theory, method, and application.

Developing and Assessing Personal and Social Responsibility in College

Developing and Assessing Personal and Social Responsibility in College
Author: Robert D. Reason
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2013-12-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118828178

In 2007, wanting to expand higher education’s civic engagement conversation, the Association of American Colleges and Universities launched the Core Commitments Initiative. That initiative focused attention on personal and social responsibility as outcomes of a college education, with the understanding that such a focus would return American higher education to its historical purpose of preparing active and engaged citizens. Expanding the conversation this way leaves room for behavioral measures, like voting or hours spent in community service, but also opens our understanding of citizenship to include issues of civic identity, civic attitudes, personal integrity, and ethics. This volume explores the research and practice related to the development of personal and social responsibility in college, drawing data directly from institutions that were part of the Core Commitments Initiative and providing instructive examples of good practice at both the programmatic and institutional levels. This volume is the 164th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Higher Education. Addressed to presidents, vice presidents, deans, and other higher education decision makers on all kinds of campuses, it provides timely information and authoritative advice about major issues and administrative problems confronting every institution.

Applied Research Design

Applied Research Design
Author: Terry Elizabeth Hedrick
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 193
Release: 1993-01-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1506319440

"The Terry E. Hedrick, Leonard Bickman, and Debra J. Rog text provides a framework for designing research that is adaptable to almost any applied setting and constantly reiterates the need for establishing and maintaining credibility with the client at each level of the research process. Although the applied research book is a practical guide, suitable to accompany any thorough applied design textbook, it does a comprehensive job of presenting the distinction between basic and applied research. It introduces many topics found in the general methodology textbooks. This overlap will help students to feel comfortable in using the general skills in a more specific and complex manner." --Contemporary Psychology "For researchers needing to know how to plan and design applied research projects, Applied Research Design will be a most welcome publication. . . . The writing is clear and concise, graphics are utilized helpfully, and this book will be much appreciated by beginning social scientists who are serious but uncertain about the methodologies possible for doing applied research." --Academic Library Book Review Aimed at helping researchers and students make the transition from the classroom and the laboratory to the "real" world, the authors reveal pitfalls to avoid and strategies to undertake in order to overcome obstacles in the design and planning of applied research. Applied Research Design focuses on refining research questions when actual events force deviations from the original analysis. To accomplish this, the authors discuss how to study and monitor program implementation, statistical power analysis, and how to assess the human and material resources needed to conduct an applied research design to facilitate the management of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Appropriate for professionals and researchers who have had some previous exposure to research methods, this book will enable the development of research strategies that are credible, useful, and--more important--feasible.

Consequences of No Child Left Behind on Educational Evaluation

Consequences of No Child Left Behind on Educational Evaluation
Author: Tiffany Berry
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2008-04-04
Genre: Education
ISBN:

This volume explores how key aspects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have transformed the landscape of educational evaluation, and ultimately how this process is redefining what evaluation is within the educational evaluation community. In their chapters, the authors examine case studies, critical commentaries, and technical information related to the nexus between evaluation and NCLB. The volume is intended to stimulate conversation around fundamental issues in the discipline of evaluation, including blurring the lines among research, evaluation, and assessment; prioritizing summative evaluations over formative; using questions to drive research design rather than the reverse; balancing accountability requirements with other stakeholder needs; exploring the role of evaluation capacity building in an institutional setting; understanding the availability and appropriate use of assessment data; and defining learning outcomes that are based on standardized test scores alone. Evaluative activities have become integrated into the fabric of NCLB primarily through two core aspects of the legislation: responding to accountability systems and implementing scientifically based research. One plausible consequence of this close integration is that the purpose, design, and practice of evaluation may actually be transformed by this legislation. This volume describes these transformative influences and then explores the potential consequences. This is the 117th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.

Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement

Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement
Author: Delbert Charles Miller
Publisher: David McKay Company
Total Pages: 540
Release: 1977
Genre: Social sciences
ISBN:

" "If a student researcher had only one handbook on their bookshelf, Miller and Salkind's Handbook would certainly have to be it. With the updated material, the addition of the section on ethical issues (which is so well done that I'm recommending it to the departmental representative to the university IRB), and a new Part 4 on "Qualitative Methods," the new Handbook is an indispensable resource for researchers." "Dan Cover, Department of Sociology, Furman University The book considered a "necessity" by many social science researchers and their students has been revised and updated while retaining the features that made it so useful. The emphasis in this new edition is on the tools with which graduate students and more advanced researchers need to become familiar as well as be able to use in order to conduct high quality research.