Methods of causal inference are not widely used by education researchers, even though they can be extremely useful tools for eliminating selection bias and confounding factors in empirical studies. For example, researchers have established that taking additional math classes in high school is strongly correlated with success in college and higher…

A small number of LIS degree programs have adopted a diversified approach to research methods education, including offering an array of specialized research methods courses in addition to a general introductory course. The current study conducted an in-depth investigation of the diversified research methods curriculum of the LIS program at San…

This research focuses on course-taking patterns of beginning community college students enrolled in one or more non-remedial science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses during their first year of college, and how these patterns are mapped against upward transfer in STEM fields of study. Drawing upon postsecondary transcript…

This appendix is a companion to the "Study of Enhanced College Advising in Upward Bound: Impacts on Where and How Long Students Attend College" (ED615732) report. The appendix provides additional information about the "Find the Fit" enhanced advising strategies and the study that assessed its effectiveness when implemented…

This dissertation format includes three articles that each address a unique aspect of the current barriers to access that individuals with disabilities with intersectional identities experience in their academic and career paths to attainment of a doctoral degree. The first article contains an analysis of data drawn from the High School…

This paper applies a Butlerian-inspired "queer(y)ing" methodology to disrupt the utility of agency being framed within the binary of escape and coercion. In particular, it uses Butler's concept of performative resignification to analyse how Simon, a 16-year-old white male student, maneouvres his way through the social conventions of…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the alignment of the written, enacted, and tested Algebra I curricula in the Cherry Hill (NJ) Public School District. Furthermore, this QUAN-QUAL study sought to determine the impact of course selection (Algebra I, Enriched Algebra) on achievement as measured by the Algebra I End of Course…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine if student background variables (age, gender, race, academic preparation); student status (part/full-time student), and student circumstances (commuting distance, independent/dependent financial student status) could predict fall-to-spring attrition (2006-2007) in a sample of 542 first-time,…

Community college students typically have access to a large selection of courses and programs, and therefore the student transcripts at any one college or college system tend to be very diverse. As a result, it is difficult for faculty, administrators, and researchers to understand the course-taking patterns of students in order to determine what…

Most institutions of higher education allow students to drop or add courses in the first 2-3 weeks of each term (D&A). Arguing that course cancellation is not merely an administrative issue involving enrollment trends but represents complex decision making processes taken by students, this study investigated antecedents and correlates of course…

This paper addresses methodological issues arising from an experimental study of North Carolina's Early College High School Initiative, a four-year longitudinal experimental study funded by Institute for Education Sciences. North Carolina implemented the Early College High School (ECHS) Initiative in response to low high school graduation rates.…

Opposition to excessive use of mathematical techniques in economics is growing. Math dominance reduces the diversity of traditions in economics. When used appropriately, it is a useful, efficient research tool, but it should be balanced with other methodologies. (SK)

This paper describes a methodology, called Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS), designed to identify major patterns of variables and to study the relationships into which those patterns enter. Patterns of variables are here called profiles. The PAMS procedure has been adapted to characteristics of the National Assessment of…

Doctoral students often select one of four common research methodologies that are popular in the social sciences and education today: positivist; interpretive; ideological; and pragmatic. But choice of methodology also influences the student's choice of course work, membership of dissertation committee, and the form and structure of the…

The planning office of a large urban university produced an induced course load matrix (ICLM) analysis to support the university's plans for undergraduate enrollment growth at its three campuses. The ICLM tables, based on the complete course histories of the 1993 entering cohort, summarize the program and course selections of a cohort of students…