This case study focuses on a multidecade time-series study of changes in public acceptance of evolution in the United States. Change over time is often a central issue in social science research. There are two kinds of change over time. Time-series studies address change in populations or groups over time. Longitudinal studies address changes in…

The exposure of scientific scandals and the increase of dubious research practices have generated a stream of studies on Questionable Research Practices (QRPs), such as failure to acknowledge co-authors, selective presentation of findings, or removal of data not supporting desired outcomes. In contrast to high-profile fraud cases, QRPs can be…

The purpose of this three-phase multiple methods, qualitative research project was to examine faculty members' understandings of immersive learning in face-to-face settings in order to add a definition of immersive learning to the literature and fill a gap for this pedagogical method. Immersive learning can be broadly defined as an educational…

Survey research in education is a popular quantitative research design and is used to determine opinions, attitudes, behavior, habits, and perceptions on a wide variety of topics. While many people are familiar with survey methods, it is often used in a 'quick and dirty' way to get information. This case aims to describe some of the challenges of…

In 2014, we, the above authors and others on our research team, embarked on Phase II of an examination of how teacher educators were implementing diversity concerns in literacy teacher education courses and programs. The electronic survey data used in Phase I did not allow us to adequately address our research questions: What are the beliefs and…

Missing data is endemic in much educational research. However, practices such as step-wise regression common in the educational research literature have been shown to be dangerous when significant data are missing, and multiple imputation (MI) is generally recommended by statisticians. In this paper, we provide a review of these advances and their…

The purpose of this review was to examine research designs in studying knowledge utilization. The results are based on 32 studies of knowledge utilization, and the report describes the various types of research designs and their strengths and weaknesses. Survey research methods are appropriate for dealing with either of two aspects of a…

The advantages and disadvantages of the evaluation of school health services in the Eugene, Oregon, public school district are discussed as an illustrative case study. The methodology of the work is presented; evaluation results are analyzed; and the reactions of board members and health services personnel are described. (Author/PN)

Reviews previous studies that used the Internet for survey research, discusses new methodological issues and problems, and presents a case study that seeks possible solutions. Topics include biased samples and biased returns, access to the Internet, effect of self-selection, validity of respondents, Web browsers, authentication, log files, and…

Survey data concerning teacher education program graduates were used to demonstrate the advantages of a stratified random sampling approach, with followup, relative to a one-shot mailing to an entire population. Sampling issues involved in such an approach are addressed, particularly with regard to quantifying the effects of nonresponse on the…

This book is divided into four chapters. The first examines the concepts and issues related to understanding social systems and how the schools can be viewed as a social system. The differences between centralization and decentralization, as well as systems-analysis and management-control approaches are also explored. In the next chapter, we are…

"Student Powered" research, defined as a comprehensive reliance on or involvement of students as research staff members in all or most phases of a serious research effort, is discussed. It is suggested that there are several conditions necessary for student powered mail survey questionnaire research projects to be initiated, that there…

Findings from informetric research represent an important background resource to add to the mix of information useful for resolving difficult and ongoing problems in specific library environments or information service settings. This paper provides examples of informetric research that can be useful input to decision-making in the field of library…

Home school research studies--surveys, case studies, and comparison studies--have primarily focused on the immediate environment of the home. Future investigations should expand to include the characteristics of other surrounding environments that may influence the home schooling process. (BJV)

Research and instructional role strains are identified, based on the use of large-scale mail surveys for college self-study that are used to teach introductory research methodology. The two organizational hierarchies, the research model and the instructional model, are examined. Experiences at Northwestern University, Northeastern Illinois…