This research note argues the outdoor adventure profession needs census research studies. Although conceptually simple, a census is a laborious process needing methodological guidance. This paper provides suggestions for conducting a census. Four previous outdoor adventure census projects are referenced. These, along with the U.S. Census, are used…

Noncredit enrollment at community colleges has grown significantly over the past two decades. However, unlike credit bearing programs, noncredit programs are seldomly empirically examined and evaluated, particularly those that are not grant funded. The lack of data results in a gap in knowledge about program effectiveness, as well as the students…

National efforts to improve equitable teaching practices in biology education have led to an increase in research on the barriers to student participation and performance, as well as solutions for overcoming these barriers. Fewer studies have examined the extent to which the resulting data trends and effective strategies are generalizable across…

Is physics education research based on a representative sample of students? To answer this question we skimmed physics education research papers from three journals for the years 1970-2015 looking for the number of research subjects, the course the subjects were enrolled in, and the institution where the research was conducted. We combined this…

The results of educational research studies are only as accurate as the data used to produce them. Drawing on experiences conducting large-scale efficacy studies of classroom-based algebra interventions for community college and middle school students, I am developing practice-based data cleaning procedures to support scholars in conducting…

Many learning center administrators understand the need to evaluate the effectiveness of their tutoring programs, but they do not have much free time to design and conduct meaningful research. This article presents a method of evaluation that can be used to determine whether students were able to demonstrate understanding after a tutoring…

The Open Academic Analytics Initiative (OAAI) is a collaborative, multi-year grant program aimed at researching issues related to the scaling up of learning analytics technologies and solutions across all of higher education. The paper describes the goals and objectives of the OAAI, depicts the process and challenges of collecting, organizing and…

This chapter discusses the continued need for--and civil rights implications of--research on community colleges and Latino educational opportunity.

The authors point out that offices of institutional research are valuable resources for collecting data to help faculty improve their teaching, and can involve the whole institution in a collaborative effort towards improved student learning. Defining institutional research as a capacity to work closely with faculty to explore questions about what…

The purpose of this study was to recommend policy changes that would enhance Vietnamese community colleges related to lifelong learning, governance, and program relevance. The project was not a typical education research paper. The study utilized a policy-oriented research methodology. Its purpose was not to yield "findings" in the…

This report examines the ways that credit-based transition programs (CBTPs) may help middle- and low-achieving students enter and succeed in college. It highlights promising practices used by CBTPs to help students who might have been considered noncollege-bound prepare for college credit course work. The report also discusses the challenges that…