Research based on educational data mining conducted at academic institutions is often limited by the institutional policy with regard to the type of learning management system and the detail level of its activity reports. Often, researchers deal with only raw data. Such data normally contain numerous fictitious user activities that can create a…

There has been an increasing interest in learning analytics (LA) research especially in higher education (HE) in recent years. In this study, we conducted a systematic focused review of research, from 2016 to present, on using analytics in HE (specifically system- or user-generated data) to understand in what way such analytics has been…

This book presents different data collection and representation techniques: elementary descriptive statistics, confirmatory statistics, multivariate approaches and statistical modeling. It exposes the possibility of giving more robustness to the classical methodologies of education sciences by adding a quantitative approach. The fundamentals of…

Data-informed instructional methods offer tremendous promise for increasing the effectiveness of teaching, learning, and schooling. Yet-to-be-developed data science approaches have the potential to dramatically advance instruction for every student and to enhance learning for people of all ages. Next steps that emerged from a recent National…

This chapter aims to answer some of the questions that emerge when carrying out educational ethnography in a blended learning environment. The authors first outline how Virtual Ethnography (VE) has been developed and applied by other researchers. Then, to better illustrate the approach, they describe a doctoral research project that implemented…

Missing data are a common occurrence in survey-based research studies in education, and the way missing values are handled can significantly affect the results of analyses based on such data. Despite known problems with performance of some missing data handling methods, such as mean imputation, many researchers in education continue to use those…

An underlying theme of this paper is that it can be easier and more efficient to conduct valid and effective research studies in online environments than in traditional classrooms. Taking advantage of the "big data" available in an online university, we conducted a study in which a massive online database was used to predict student…

Researchers in career and technical education often ignore more effective ways of reporting and treating missing data and instead implement traditional, but ineffective, missing data methods (Gemici, Rojewski, & Lee, 2012). The recent methodological, and even the non-methodological, literature has increasingly emphasized the importance of…

Today's important geo-spatial technologies, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), GPS (Global Positioning Systems) and Google Earth have been widely used in geography education. Transferring spatially oriented data taken by GPS to the GIS and Google Earth has provided great benefits in terms of showing the usage of spatial technologies for field…

We review the history and current trends in the field of Educational Data Mining (EDM). We consider the methodological profile of research in the early years of EDM, compared to in 2008 and 2009, and discuss trends and shifts in the research conducted by this community. In particular, we discuss the increased emphasis on prediction, the emergence…

The exponential increase in the availability of microcomputers will have a tremendous impact on educational research. Already, the microcomputer has provided the key to the solution of some previously overwhelming methodological problems. It has enabled investigators to conduct exciting new lines of research while creating more general…

In the 1971-72 IMS tryout, the first step in processing data after a teacher tests her pupils was mailing of criterion exercises to the Forms Control Center. This simple step often added significant amounts to total processing turnaround time. Comparison of delays between testing and mailing are presented for districts, schools and teachers and…

Probes two aspects of scientific communication: (1) the extent to which journal article authors continue work in the same area as their articles; (2) the sources of information used by active researchers in conjunction with their current research. (Author/JM)

Procedures are presented for training classroom observers to collect data in naturalistic research projects. Training methods are directed toward the collection of highly reliable observational data. Pre-classroom training prepares observers for data collection by working with the coding manual, video-tapes, and written dialogues, and through…

Presents the characteristics of 199 studies included in the most recent volume of dissertation abstracts with tables: categorizing the studies by type; summarizing the use of different independent variables, and design considerations; tabulating the types of measures mentioned; and presenting data analysis techniques and sampling plans. (Author/JM)