We conducted a multi-pronged investigation of different types of reporting bias in autism early childhood intervention research. First, we investigated the prevalence of reporting failures of completed trials registered on clinicaltrials.gov, and found that only 7% of registered trials were updated with results on the registration platform and…

Evidence synthesis findings depend on the assumption that the included studies follow good clinical practice and results are not fabricated or false. Studies which are problematic due to scientific misconduct, poor research practice, or honest error may distort evidence synthesis findings. Authors of evidence synthesis need transparent mechanisms…

Background: Power analyses for a cluster-randomized trial (CRT) require estimates of additional design parameters beyond those needed for an individually randomized trial. In a 2-level CRT, there are two sample sizes, the number of clusters and the number of individuals per cluster. The intraclass correlation (ICC), or the proportion of variance…

This paper describes a scoping review of China's academic resource databases, relevant official websites, news reports and public accounts spanning a period from the end of 2019 to the end of 2022, to investigate the challenges in scientific integrity and ethical soundness of research conducted during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic in…

This article concerns the ways in which authors from various fields conceptualise the ethical issues arising in the conduct of research. We reviewed critically and systematically the literature concerning the ethics of conducting research in order to engage in a reflection about the vocabulary and conceptual categories used in the publications…

Scientific misconduct, leading to the retraction of publications, presents a significant challenge to the progress of societies as it undermines both the scientific reputation and material resources of countries. This study adopts bibliometric analysis and scientometrics approach to examine the characteristics of retracted publications in the…

Clinical prediction models are widely used in modern clinical practice. Such models are often developed using individual patient data (IPD) from a single study, but often there are IPD available from multiple studies. This allows using meta-analytical methods for developing prediction models, increasing power and precision. Different studies,…

Thematic analysis is a methodology with wide use in content analysis and field work through interviews, observations, and focus groups. Despite popularity with researchers, there are several questions and problems with the methodology. There was an absence in exploration and explanation of the methods and hidden steps in thematic analysis. Using a…

The growing interest in video research and new technologies for recording human interaction has stirred debates about intrusiveness and 'reactivity' understood as researcher-derived changes in subjects. In addition to a plethora of concepts referring to such effects in extant literature, different ontological and epistemological positions provide…

Outside of education, many academic disciplines developed and promulgated checklists to evaluate the quality of qualitative studies. This article used an embedded mixed methods approach in three stages: development of a conceptual framework reviewing 62 guidelines; a content analysis of key areas of the guidelines; and review of dissertations to…

The presence of research regarding specific student populations demonstrates their importance to the field given the importance of research and knowledge creation in shaping higher education. A growing number of higher education scholar-practitioners have engaged in work addressing college sport but an overwhelming dearth of college sport and…

This paper examines how higher education researchers approach writing the rationale and justification for their work published in journal articles. A common way for establishing this justification is through claiming a gap, but the problem is that it is often hard to find a research gap, and if it is included, there is too often no explanation for…

Sport officials are crucial members of sport. Researchers have studied their roles numerous times, with results often informing sport procedures (e.g., athlete order in artistic sports). As the research on sport officiating spans five decades and several topics of interest, it is important that researchers periodically synthesize the literature.…

Background: It is challenging to keep systematic reviews (SR) current and updated. Cochrane designated some of its SRs as "stable," that is, not in need of updating. The issue of stabilizing an SR is an important in research synthesis, because it could help reduce research waste. The aim of this study was to analyze publicly available…

Context: A perennial problem in applied statistics is the inability to justify strong claims about cause-and-effect relationships without full knowledge of the mechanism determining selection into treatment. Few research designs other than the well-implemented random assignment study meet this requirement. Researchers have proposed partial…