A wide variety of methodological choices and situations can affect the quality of peer nomination measurements but have not received adequate study. This article begins by focusing on systematic nominator missingness as an example of one such situation. We reanalyzed findings from a recent study by Bukowski, Dirks, Commisso, Velàsquez, and Lopez…

This article analyses and discusses dilemmas, ambivalences and problematic issues related to research ethics. This is done firstly by making a distinction between procedural research ethics and particularistic research ethics. Such a distinction reflects a theoretical construction and generalization. In practice, there can be a very close…

In this Perspectives article, the author grapples with the personal challenges of attempting to do ethical and high-quality research in the post world of the maturing 21st century. Among the challenges addressed are matters of purported relevance of research, equity research conducted by nonmembers of equity-seeking groups, the impact of rankings…

Missing data are ubiquitous in studies examining preventive interventions. This missing data need to be handled appropriately for data analyses to yield unbiased results. After a brief discussion of missing data mechanisms, inappropriate missing data treatments and appropriate missing data treatments, we review the current state of missing data…

The research studies presented in this special issue rest on two assumptions: firstly, that limitations in verbal short-term memory and verbal working memory (vSTM/WM) capacity are likely to be related to impairments in syntax, and secondly that this relationship is likely to be causal, with impairments in vSTM/WM causing impairments in syntax. In…

For a decade or so there has been a new "hype" in educational research: it is called educational neuroscience or even neuroeducation (and neuroethics)--there are numerous publications, special journals, and an abundance of research projects together with the advertisement of many positions at renowned research centres worldwide. After a…

This paper sets out to tackle the issue of the criteria which should be met prior to submission of papers to indexed scientific journals. Firstly, the author addresses the field of qualitative research and tries to define the general characteristics of such works, and secondly, some clarification is brought with respect to the imbalance between…

This book explores the Capability Approach (CA) as an alternative critical lens through which to regard early childhood education (ECE) curricula. The CA framework is a counter narrative to the narrow instrumentalism that reduces education to a mere process of academic skills acquisition for a future workplace. Primarily the book draws on the…

This paper challenges Hanushek and Woessmann's (2008) contention that the quality and not the quantity of schooling determines a nation's rate of economic growth. I first show that their statistical analysis is flawed. I then show that when a nation's average test scores and average schooling attainment are included in a national income model,…

Measurement of affective states in everyday life is of fundamental importance in many types of quality of life, health, and psychological research. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is the recognized method of choice, but the respondent burden can be high. The day reconstruction method (DRM) was developed by Kahneman and colleagues ("Science,"…

This study compares three variations in how researchers construct middle childhood social networks: (1) with "friendships" or "affiliations" as a relational tie; (2) with children providing "self reports" of relationships, or in addition, "multi-informant reports" of relationships in which they are not involved; and (3) whether network computation…

The study evaluates a semester-long workbook curriculum approach to teaching a college level introductory statistics course. The workbook curriculum required students to read content before and during class and then work in groups to complete problems and answer conceptual questions pertaining to the material they read. Instructors spent class…

The purpose of this paper is to articulate the common confusion of correlation for causation. Various articles that have addressed this issue are reviewed, and possible reasons for the misinterpretation of correlation as causation are presented. The differences between correlational and experimental research designs are reviewed, and the…

Some concerns about the use and reporting of coefficient alpha are addressed. It is also shown that alpha is not a measure of homogeneity or unidimensionality. Four ways in which researchers use of alpha can convey inaccurate information or a lack of understanding are reviewed. (SLD)

Although comments of D.J. Nordlund and R. Nagel are welcomed, their arguments are not sufficient to accept the recommendation of using total variance estimates to standardize canonical discriminant function coefficients. If standardized coefficients are used to help interpret a discriminant analysis, pooled within-group variance estimates should…