A lack of good information about what youth are doing with new media stimulates fears and hopes about the relationship between young people and digital technologies. This article focuses on new modes of inquiry into youth new media use, highlighting the challenges, complexities, and opportunities inherent in studying young people's digital…

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…

This study compares three variations in how researchers construct middle childhood social networks: (1) with "friendships" or "affiliations" as a relational tie; (2) with children providing "self reports" of relationships, or in addition, "multi-informant reports" of relationships in which they are not involved; and (3) whether network computation…

This paper describes the analysis of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program's January 2008 Learning Network Conference (LNC). This study focuses on the methodologies used by the MSP community to generate evidence and seeks to understand topics of interest to the 320 LNC participants. The data set for this…

We reviewed a "Mental Retardation" article by Conroy et al. (2003) on consumer outcomes following the closure of the Hissom Center in Oklahoma. In this article the authors misconstrued their 254 subjects, implying they are representative of the Hissom Focus Class while failing to account for 128 subjects included in an earlier analysis.…

Unanticipated obstacles and difficulties, endemic to industrial research in complex sociocultural settings, indicate that reliable conclusions concerning industrial life are problematic. Discussion of sampling biases reveals that error of unknown proportions is introduced into the research process: first, when decisions about whom to study are…

Whether a study is qualitative or quantitative, the process of data collection is not as orderly as it may seem when described in published research reports, articles, or books. Data collection may be more challenging when conducting research across national and linguistic borders. In this article, I share and reflect upon the complex and messy…

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has endorsed a "Closing the Gap" agenda designed to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians. The agenda is distilled in a series of targets, one of which is the goal of halving the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 attainment or equivalent (Certificate II or above) attainment rates by…

Research techniques that were used during the last 20 years to examine the homeless were investigated to identify the types of homeless people studied and the advantages/limitations of various research strategies. The objectives of this investigation were to: (1) review and critique the type of data collected and the research methods used by…

The reluctance to use film and video equipment for systematic observation and recording can be partially attributed to an assumption of reactivity and internal invalidity. The results of the study discuss placement of the observer and the use of film in data collection. (Author/DEP)

Notes that national information is seriously lacking concerning the number and types of board and care homes, their residents, and the quality of services provided. Examines shortcomings in current living arrangement classification procedures used in federal surveys. Proposes definition and classification system that transcends state and local…

This paper reviews the prominent concepts of the stuttering event and concerns about the reliability of stuttering event measurements, specifically interjudge agreement. Recent attempts to resolve the stuttering measurement problem are reviewed, and the implications of developing an improved measurement system are discussed. (Author/JDD)

Discusses some of the problems which have impeded research into the various aspects of nonverbal communication, and outlines some aspects of necessary research into the subject. (AN)

this essay attempts to integrate certain inferences from people processing research with certain other inferences from what might loosely be termed micro-theory through the use of the rather unusual medium of panel survey research data." The topic is the appropriate way in which to conceive of the relationships between organizations and their…

Examines the effectiveness of the use of monetary incentives in mail survey data collection. Monetary incentives produces higher rates of return compared to mailings in which nonmonetary or no incentives are provided. The use of monetary incentives is more cost effective than other types of incentives and may be particularly valuable when…