ABSTRACT
Consideration of the purpose and scope of the three surveys is essential to an understanding of both the sampling design and the operational procedures that were used. As summarized in Table 3.1, all three surveys had very ambitious purposes. It seems fair to say that TALENT emphasized measurement, guidance, and manpower considerations; EEOS gave prominence to minority group questions and to the role of the schools in developing abilities; and NLS was particularly concerned with describing students and schools and with the use of data in long-range planning and research. Despite these differences in emphasis, the measurement of student abilities served as a major focus in each research effort. Table 3.2 provides a summary of relevant aspects of the scope of each survey. Each of the surveys was a massive enterprise calling for widespread involvement of schools in the collection of large quantities of data about students and schools. Table 3.2 also provides evidence of significant differences in the allocation of resources for data collection among the three surveys. As is shown later in this chapter, the smaller number of students in the NLS survey is offset by the precision with which the student sample was defined.
