Purpose: Critical realism is an increasingly popular "lens" through which complex events, entities and phenomena can be studied. Yet detailed operationalisations of critical realism are at present relatively scarce. This study's objective here is built on existing debates by developing an open systems model of reality, a basis for…

The exposure of scientific scandals and the increase of dubious research practices have generated a stream of studies on Questionable Research Practices (QRPs), such as failure to acknowledge co-authors, selective presentation of findings, or removal of data not supporting desired outcomes. In contrast to high-profile fraud cases, QRPs can be…

The problem with most commissioned studies is that they are generally anchored on research protocols, guidelines and theoretical underpinnings imposed by research grant makers or the external Principal Investigator's (PI) own research design preferences. Furthermore, the problem is that researchers who are recruited during various phases of…

This protocol guided the review of research that informs the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) practice guide entitled "Strategies for Postsecondary Students in Developmental Education -- A Practice Guide for College and University Administrators, Advisors, and Faculty." This protocol was used in conjunction with the "WWC Procedures…

This article presents the MERITS Plus model, a conceptual framework developed during qualitative research into the process of academic transition and the impact of educational choices upon learner identity. The article considers some of the methodological challenges faced by qualitative researchers, and how effective the use of a conceptual…

This research focused on the context of educational leadership, which sought to explore the possibilities of leadership opportunities for students with disabilities in a Malaysian secondary school. We utilized a phenomenological case study approach. We were keen on exploring this niche area as often leadership opportunities for students with…

The purpose of this three-phase multiple methods, qualitative research project was to examine faculty members' understandings of immersive learning in face-to-face settings in order to add a definition of immersive learning to the literature and fill a gap for this pedagogical method. Immersive learning can be broadly defined as an educational…

In this paper we make a case for 'Little Data', which is real-time, self-collected, idiosyncratic datasets maintained by individuals about themselves on myriad topics. We develop and offer a methodology for combining these messy, highly personal insights, to make deductive observations about collective practices. In testing this approach, we use…

This case study describes a Q methodology study which captured and analyzed the viewpoints of 45 UK teachers online. The teachers might liken their participation in the study to a "card sort" activity: their relative placement of statement cards revealed their opinions of mastery in mathematics. Factor analysis of the completed sorts…

Nowadays, technologies play a key role in educational research processes, especially in the context of complex designs or integrative perspectives (qualitative and quantitative). Affordances provided by new tools and technological devices are constantly impacting the way educational research is carried out. Consequently, this growing importance…

A government report criticised Australian universities for low proficiency in commercialising epistemic production (research and knowledge). A critical omission was a comparable measure of academic productivity to substantiate whether underperformance correlated with the commercialisation value of research output or whether academic productivity…

This study was conducted to determine the problems faced by graduate students when conducting scientific research and to make suggestions for solving these problems. The research model was a case study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants in the study with questions about the problems encountered during scientific research…

This article provides an overview of the ethical tensions of preparing for ethnographic research with children in a rural district in Karnataka, India. Such children are at the receiving end of policy and international organisation interest, which alternately frames them as both victims of poverty and conflict and as agents of potential change in…

The present study seeks to critically review the state of the blended learning researches in the Iranian context. For this critique, 47 papers about blended learning were found in a number of indexing databases and their contents were analyzed. The contents mainly revolved around use of relevant terminology, features of blended learning,…

This present research, aimed to determine the occasions, which the academicians encountered during the academic research process and how these affect the research process, was prepared as a case study pattern among the qualitative research methods. 34 academicians, who were working in a university in Turkey, participated in the research. The data…