Technical Reports Awareness Circular Trac

A study was undertaken that investigated the relationship between the use of U.S. government technical reports by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists and selected institutional and sociometric variables. Survey research is the methodology used for the study. Data were collected by means of a self- administered mail questionnaire. The approximately 34 000 members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) served as the study population. The response rate for the survey was 70 percent. A dependent relationship was found to exist between the use of U.S. government technical reports and three of the institutional variables (academic preparation, years of professional aerospace work experience, and technical discipline). The use of U.S. government technical reports was found to be independent of all of the sociometric variables. The institutional variables best explain the use of U.S. government technical reports by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists.

The chronology is a comprehensive bibliography. It contains 512 entries covering a variety of selected literature, reports, policy instruments, and significant events affecting Federal Scientific and technical INFORMATION(STI) from 1945-1990. It includes some publications and events of historic interest which relate to the evaluation of aerospace and aerospace knowledge diffusion. Each entry has been given an item number and items are arranged by columns. To provide an overview of Federal STI development, the entries are generally arranged by date of publication and event. Specific information, including the year of the event, report, or policy instrument; the author; bibliographic number; and sponsor are included. Comments regarding the major findings, recommendations, or significance have been added for each entry. The chronology has seven appendices. Appendix A is a chronology of the DTIC. Appendix B is a chronology of the NTIS. Appendix C is a chronology of NASA STI. Appendix D is an index of Executive Orders. Appendix E is an index of Public Laws. Appendix F is an index of popular common names for studies. Appendix G is a glossary of acronyms.