Advances in neuro-technology provide new insights into how individual students learn in educational contexts. However, applying it poses challenges for teachers in natural settings. This paper presents an example of the use and applicability of eye-tracking technology in Higher Education. We worked with a sample of 20 students from three…

The article is a critical sociological analysis of current transnational practices on creating comparable measurements of dropout and completion in higher education and the consequences for the conditions of scientific knowledge production on the topic. The analysis revolves around questions of epistemological, methodological and symbolic types…

This chapter discusses the main challenges in higher education comparative research, focusing on cross-national forms of comparison and presenting examples from European research. The first part stresses the importance of constructing concepts which can travel across countries. This part identifies the different vertical levels of comparison…

The article discusses comparative organizational studies, focusing on change in higher education institutions, and in particular (but not only) on studies that compare organizations in different national settings. It first presents and discusses different approaches to comparison based on a couple of typologies that have been developed to identify…

Despite the value of the comparative perspective for the study of higher education is widely recognised, there is little consensus about the specific methodological approaches. Quantitative tools outlined their relevance for addressing comparative analyses since they are supposed to reducing the complexity, finding out and graduating similarities…

Threshold concepts were introduced nearly 10 years ago by Ray Land and Jan Meyer. This work has spawned four international conferences and hundreds of papers. Although the idea has clearly gained traction in higher education, this sub-field does not yet have a fully fledged research methodology or a strong critical discourse about methodology.…

This article introduces the special issue, which focuses on the ways in which educational institutions in Europe and North America are responding to the growing number of children of immigrants entering schools and universities. It discusses the ways in which the needs of children of immigrants differ from those of native-born students, and the…

Examines research currently being conducted by some stakeholders in the name of valid distance learning research. Asserts that such research essentially repeats the mistakes of prior media studies that use the long-discredited media comparison approach (which compares distance courses with traditional campus-based courses). (EV)

Although the mail survey has been widely criticized as a viable research methodology, it remains the most feasible approach for retrieving data from large, widely-dispersed populations. This paper suggests that there exists a readily accessible body of pragmatic recommendations which, if adhered to throughout the instrument design and data…

This study takes an in-depth look at the changes that have taken place, over the last ten years, in counselor certification requirements in the United States. A diagnosis of these changes is made in an attempt to show their effect on counselor training programs and to identify patterns which have implications for future planning and training of…

Examines some problems and difficulties encountered in international comparative research programs in mass communications: comparability of units of analysis; lack of consensus manifested in dichotomization into "conventional" and "critical" approaches; and suitability of exported models, theories, concepts, and methods to Third World conditions.…

Investigates whether different measurements can significantly influence the outcome of a study. Examines whether voters learn more from political advertisements than from television news, using exposure and attention to measure television watching, confidence and accuracy to measure knowledge, and different control strategies. Finds that different…

Types of comparisons for evaluation of mnemonics were identified based on equating exposure to the to-be-learned associations or on total study time. Experiments on the cueword method illustrated how highly analytical experiments on mnemonics might be conducted and how choice of comparisons in research could affect mnemonic evaluation. (Author/DWH)

Addresses many of the statistical and epidemiological flaws identified in previous studies of campus student suicides. Analyses, based on longitudinal data covering 261 student suicides, reveal a significantly higher suicide risk for students 25 and over, although the overall student suicide rate is one half of the national rate. (RJM)

Several problems in reporting and presentation of Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) data that might affect data comparability are outlined and recommendations of a HEGIS study group are presented. Suggestions range from increased institutional involvement and increased feedback to institutions, to improvements in data storage and…