Missing data presents a significant challenge in Educational Data Mining (EDM). Imputation techniques aim to reconstruct missing data while preserving critical information in datasets for more accurate analysis. Although imputation techniques have gained attention in various fields in recent years, their use for addressing missing data in…

Research in psychology and education tend to use large-N group designs that necessitate reporting of mean measures analyzed mostly with null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST), but sometimes with Bayesian, or the estimation approaches in inferential statistics. These approaches all render the average person or student as the the putative…

This systematic review of literature on race in rural educational scholarship addresses the research question: How are race and racism typically represented (defined, discussed) in rural education literature? Subquestions: What factors have been explored at length in regard to race and racism? and Where are the predominant gaps in the research…

Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action--communities coming together to…

The present study explores how the visualization of an actor network enables researchers to understand mediating processes better by investigating relationships and effects among elements and entities other than human-actor accounts. In particular, the study presents how visualization may facilitate an understanding of the dynamics and structures…

The scientific rigor of education research has improved dramatically since the year 2000. Much of the credit for this improvement is deserved by Institute of Education Sciences (IES) policies that helped create a demand for rigorous research; increased human capital capacity to carry out such work; provided funding for the work itself; and…

This essay argues for the urgent need for philosophy as the necessary first step in any educational undertaking. Philosophy is involved with making fine distinctions which are necessary to clarify concepts and terms. The paper focuses primarily on the problems with an overreliance on scientific research in the social sciences, with special…

In this paper, problems with the philosophy and research relating to various interpretations of 'closing the gap' are used to open up a discussion of, and illustrate, the process whereby a narrow interpretation of 'science' and neglect of systems thinking result in the generation of huge amounts of dangerous and misleading misinformation and…

This paper provides the first mixed methods theory of causation. According to the theory, the researcher must carefully construct a causal mosaic for each research study, articulating what is causally relevant given his/her research questions, purposes, method(s), methodology(ies), paradigms(s), and resources. To engage in this "mixed…

In this paper, we investigate two purported problems with Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT), a popular statistical model of student learning: "identifiability" and "semantic model degeneracy." In 2007, Beck and Chang stated that BKT is susceptible to an "identifiability problem"--various models with different…

Single-case researchers frequently adopt a form of response-guided experimentation where decisions about the design of the study are made based on an ongoing visual analysis. For example, multiple-baseline researchers may delay the start of intervention until data document a stable baseline pattern so that baseline trends can be reliably extended,…

This research aims to make a methodological contribution to the mixed methods literature by investigating the value-added of empirical studies that are explicitly framed with the purpose of interrogating divergent findings. Case studies introduce the role philosophical paradigms can play in reconciliation process and reveal the potential to…

In this paper, we investigate two purported problems with Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT), a popular statistical model of student learning: "identifiability" and "semantic model degeneracy." In 2007, Beck and Chang stated that BKT is susceptible to an "identifiability problem"--various models with different…

On October 14, 2016, the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) and the National Center for Education Research (NCER) in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) convened a group of experts to gain insights and advice on how best to support the advancement of evidence beyond an efficacy study. Discussion followed five topics of…

Good practice in primary research has evolved over many decades of research in applied linguistics to counter human fallibility and biases. Surprisingly, perhaps, synthesising such research in an entire field has only recently started to develop its own methodologies and recommendations. This paper outlines some of the issues involved, especially…