This paper discusses methodological challenges in researching practice. The primary challenge discussed arises from the view that practice is inextricable from its performance, and that performance is embedded in social relations, material infrastructures and historical context. The paper argues for a philosophical hermeneutics approach that works…

The complexity of identity and experiences of the researcher are explored through Spry's (2011) performative autoethnography methodology, challenging the social and political norms that effect sexuality and gender-diverse students and the representation of LGBTQIA+ voices in school curricula. The present study uses musical theater repertoire that…

Educational research teams are increasingly recognized as an optimal configuration for addressing more complex mixed methods research problems; however, their development is often approached as a conventional research collaboration rather than an integrative one. An approach informed by complexity theory provides the practical guidance for…

The requirement that candidates in studio-based or practice-led higher degrees by research should formulate a research question has been found to be problematic by some writers. The present article argues that this stance, particularly as it is articulated by proponents of the influential category of "performative research" (Haseman,…

Rating scales are a standard measurement tool in psychological research. However, research has suggested that the cognitive burden involved in maintaining the criteria used to parcel subjective evidence into ratings introduces "decision noise" and affects estimates of performance in the underlying task. There has been debate over whether…

Results on human performance on the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) from different laboratories show high consistency. However, one exception is in the area of individual differences. While one research group has consistently failed to find systematic individual differences across instances of TSPs (Chronicle, MacGregor and Ormerod), another…

Using procedures designed to overcome methodological weaknesses of earlier research on the valence theory, the reinforcing strength of an experimenter's approval comment "good" was examined as a function of positive or negative contact with the experimenter prior to a criterion task. (Author/DB)

Taking the position that performance ethnography should be a viable and valued alternative and/or supplement to print ethnography, this paper explores ways to integrate phenomena that are visual, aural, and dynamic into existing scholarly practices. The paper advances one solution: create mechanisms for reproduction and distribution that have the…

Social facilitation can be defined as the effect of an audience or coactors on performance. Research on social facilitation effects has produced some contradictory and confusing findings. Some studies have found that the presence of others enhances performance; other studies have found that the presence of an audience or coactors impairs…

The effects of conditions of informed consent and disclosure on the performance of 84 students doing a statistics laboratory assignment for an introductory graduate course in statistics at a state university in the southeast were studied. Four separate classes taught by three instructors were included. Subjects ranged in age from 22 to 47 years,…

This article examines how psychometric models based on certain assumptions have come to be used counterproductively by many practitioners in ways that limit the kinds of conclusions that can be made. The general problem of the context's influence on performance is discussed, and some implications are drawn. (SLD)

Psychological researchers should deal with the concrete stimulus-response principles of learning on which behavior is based, and study behaviors that are representative of real life behaviors. The present research strategy has come from two faulty ideas: first, a concern with underlying, inferred mental processes, rather than with actual tasks or…

Researchers in the field of educational measurement need to monitor their own actions to keep their achievements in perspective. Some possible symptoms of obsession with their own significance are explored. Pride, destructive criticism, and misusing others to advance oneself are flaws researchers should strive to eradicate. (SLD)

Certain problems arose in an attempt to develop a research design for studying the social role of the school executive. The study was to examine the degree of consensus on behavioral expectations for the occupants of this occupational role, the degree of potential or actual role conflict in this social position, and the manner in which an…

A review of current research efforts reveals that there is little dependable evidence that teachers, under similar conditions, exhibit what has been defined as differential performances. (JMF)