Asking open-ended questions for research purposes might be very tempting because the answers can provide valuable authentic information not only about participants' responses to the asked questions but also about their unintentionally expressed feelings and emotions. However, analyzing answers to open-ended questions given in free form will very…

This case study presents an overview of the use of online photo-elicitation using inquiry graphics (IGs) to identify threshold concepts (TCs) in Irish social care education by educators/knowledge contributors, students, and graduates. The IG photo-elicitation method was combined with semiotic and TCs theories to form a visual hybrid called…

In 2014, I started working on the PhD project, which aims at understanding the causes and consequences of university graduates following different types of career pathways. On route to achieving this aim, I faced a challenging task of deriving a typology, which was theoretically meaningful and suitable for further quantitative analysis. As the…

This case study describes an experience of using constructivist grounded theory to analyze data. The project investigated how high school students improved their approaches to learning mathematics. Over 4 months, students participated in processes which supported their learning while simultaneously generating data, including interactive writing,…

This project was a qualitative longitudinal research study into cultural and structural change in an English secondary school. The schools' consistent underperformance led to its conversion to "academy" status as part of a development under the Labour administration of 1997-2010. The Labour policy for academization was designed, first,…

This presentation summarizes a pilot study conducted after the May 2011 administration of the AP Environmental Science Exam. The study used analytical methods based on scaled anchoring as input to a Performance Level Descriptor validation process that solicited systematic input from subject matter experts.

[Slides] presented at the Annual Meeting of National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in San Diego, CA in April 2009. This presentation discusses a methodology for directly connecting evidence-centered assessment design (ECD) to score interpretation and use through the development of Achievement level descriptors.

There is much debate on the merits and pitfalls of standardized tests for college admission, with questions regarding the format (multiple-choice versus constructed response), cognitive complexity, and content of these assessments (achievement versus aptitude) at the forefront of the discussion. This study addressed these questions by…

Presented at the national conference for AERA (American Educational Research Association) in April 2009. The large variability of SAT taker population across states makes state-by-state comparisons of the SAT scores challenging. Using a mixture modeling approach, therefore, the current study presents a method of identifying subpopulations in terms…

Modal Profile Analysis (MPA) is a Fortran IV program for the identification and cross validation of relatively homogenous subgroups within a dimensional or ordination space. This classification approach is designed for use with several samples in a multiple replication design. The program consists of three stages: (1) identification of preliminary…

Brent Ruben introduces readers to a framework that surveys, summarizes, and synthesizes a broad cross section of the contemporary writings on leadership. The book organizes that literature into five broad competency areas, each of which is composed of a number of themes, and provides a Leadership Competencies Scorecard Inventory that allows…

Presents an "infobase" version of "A Pilot Standard National Course Classification System for Secondary Education" to allow users to browse, search, annotate, print, and export information electronically. This publication is the culmination of a major effort to help establish common terminology, descriptions, and a coding…

This 23-minute videotape for grades 5-8, presents the myriad of animal life that exists on the planet. Students can view and perform experiments and investigations that help explain animal traits and habits. They learn what the terms "kingdom", "phylum", and "order" mean, and discover how the 3.5 million-plus organisms found on Earth fit into…

A computer program named Program STANDARD is presented and demonstrated. This program calculates the statistical significance of the overall agreement of the categorical assignments. The program is based on Light's statistic, G, for describing the conjoint agreement of many observers with correct or standard set of classifications on nominal…

Science instruction activities listed in this article can be duplicated for parents and children to work on together at home. Topics covered include: (1) investigating water; (2) plants and animals; (3) the human body; (4) sorting and classifying; and (5) shadows. (CJ)