Survey research in education is a popular quantitative research design and is used to determine opinions, attitudes, behavior, habits, and perceptions on a wide variety of topics. While many people are familiar with survey methods, it is often used in a 'quick and dirty' way to get information. This case aims to describe some of the challenges of…

While acknowledging that ethnography has been a rarely adopted approach in the field of higher education research, I will try to demonstrate the contributions that ethnographies have made to higher education studies. I will introduce readers to several of the most important and interesting ethnographic studies of university settings, focusing on…

In experimental research, internal validity refers to what extent researchers can conclude that changes in dependent variable (i.e. outcome) are caused by manipulations in independent variable. The causal inference permits researchers to meaningfully interpret research results. This article discusses (a) internal validity threats in social and…

This paper reports on the design of a pilot doctoral study into the online support of pre-service teachers. It highlights the significance of a consequential, rather than deontological, perspective in guiding the development of a study's design. The study initially aimed to explore pre-service teachers' perceptions and use of social media on their…

Regression discontinuity design (RD) has been widely used to produce reliable causal estimates. Researchers have validated the accuracy of RD design using within study comparisons (Cook, Shadish & Wong, 2008; Cook & Steiner, 2010; Shadish et al, 2011). Within study comparisons examines the validity of a quasi-experiment by comparing its…

Critically examining common statistical approaches and their strengths and weaknesses is an important step in advancing recreation and leisure sciences. To continue this critical examination and to inform methodological decision making, this study compared three approaches to determine how alternative approaches may result in contradictory…

Research that elucidates the complexities of gender balance is itself a controversial field. This article examines challenges and limitations in quantitative as well as qualitative research on gender balance in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Cross country comparisons of male and female participation in the ECEC workforce are often…

Psychologists studying problem solving have, for over 100 years, been interested in the question of whether there are two different modes of solving problems. One mode--problem solving based on analysis--depends on application of past experience to the problem at hand and proceeds incrementally toward solution. The second mode--problem solving…

The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare recent research papers on foreign language education in Turkish context with those published in international context to shed light on researchers and policy makers for future studies. This study filled a gap in this field and also aimed to increase the rate of acceptance of research papers…

Speech-language pathologists are faced with demands for evidence to support practice. Federal legislation requires high-quality evidence for decisions regarding school-based services as part of evidence-based practice. The purpose of this article is to discuss the limited scientific evidence for making appropriate decisions about speech-language…

This article reflects on a university human research ethics committee's unease regarding a feminist visual pilot study within the field of education. The small exploratory study proposed to explore a migrant mother's production of her son's identity through her family photograph collection. The committee requested substantial…

It is common in regression discontinuity analysis to control for high order (third, fourth, or higher) polynomials of the forcing variable. We argue that estimators for causal effects based on such methods can be misleading, and we recommend researchers do not use them, and instead use estimators based on local linear or quadratic polynomials or…

Assessment of learning has become very important for government, universities and accrediting agencies. In this article, two variables are examined, leadership and teamwork, in the context of a survey used by one mid-south university for assessment purposes. This survey demonstrates the problems that arise when the sequential steps of the research…

Background: The efficacy of three dietary treatments for ADHD has been repeatedly tested in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). These interventions are restricted elimination diets (RED), artificial food colour elimination (AFCE) and supplementation with free fatty acids (SFFA). There have been three systematic reviews and associated…

This chapter is a call for consequential education research that has transformative potential: intellectually, educationally, and socially. It is about learning to see differently. It is an argument about seeing our work with youth and communities in ways that can help education researchers see ingenuity instead of ineptness and inability, to see…