Sport management research has evolved significantly despite its relatively short history as an academic discipline. Although the pace of scholarly progress has been impressive, the extent to which many research efforts have aided sport management in becoming a distinct academic discipline is, at times, questionable. A major challenge many scholars…

Postgraduate research students often experience various problems during the course of their programmes which hamper the timely completion of the MPhil/PhD and full doctoral (PhD) programmes. However, there is limited documented information on these barriers among Nigerian postgraduate students in Nigeria. This study was conducted to assess the…

Applied linguists have turned increasingly in recent years to meta-analysis as the preferred means of synthesizing quantitative research. The first step in the meta-analytic process involves defining a domain of interest. Despite its apparent simplicity, this step involves a great deal of subjectivity on the part of the meta-analyst. This article…

Reading researchers should be encouraged to include assessments of practical significance in all their journal articles, reviews of research, technical reports, and dissertations. The tendency has been to base the integration of data entirely on the results of tests for the significance of differences, overlooking the assessment of practical…

Defines the "worship of p" as the current phenomenon of attaching major significance to statistical analysis, and contends that such statistical analysis and precision are useful only when viewed as secondary tools in scientific research. (MH)

Discussed problems and deficiencies in past research on clinical diagnosis, pertaining to sampling problems with regard to clinical subjects studied, adequacy of control groups, base rates, clinical versus statistical significance, lack of cross-validation, and problems due to reliance on inadequate schemes of classification. Future research is…

The first step in aggregating qualitative data is to establish parameters for cross site analysis. Establishing parameters should include: (1) building a conceptual framework, (2) defining units of analysis, (3) developing core questions, and (4) establishing guidelines for handling unique features in each site. Two basic approaches to analyzing…

Identifies shortcomings of single equation models of educational achievement, including that they have omitted relevant variables. Considers three models of educational achievement--one using cross-sectional data; one using pre- and post measures of achievement; and one using more complete panel data. (Author/DB)

Examines the tension between the particular and the general in art therapy and makes a case that the art therapist's concern with particularity does not obviate the need for research in the field. Consideration is given to two frequent stumbling blocks for beginning researchers: the use of statistics and the possibility of obtaining negative…

Per definition, CSCL research deals with the data of individuals nested in groups, and the influence of a specific learning setting on the collaborative process of learning. Most well-established statistical methods are not able to analyze such nested data adequately. This article describes the problems which arise when standard methods are…

Two order theoretic techniques were presented and compared. Ordering theory of Krus and Bart (1974) and an extended Takeya's item relational structure analysis (IRS) by Tatsuoka and Tatsuoka (1981) were used to extract the hierarchical item structure from three datasets. Directed graphs were constructed and both methods were assessed as to how…

If social scientists are to offer useful insights into schooling, the nature of schools as sociological environments needs to be examined. Statistical effects are not the same as social causality and explaining statistical variance is not sociological explanation. (Author/AM)

Reviews and criticizes papers by Rist, Fienberg, and Erickson in this issue of the Quarterly. (JM)

In this article, the history of linking is summarized, and current linking frameworks that have been proposed are considered. Key publications discussed include Flanagan (1951), Angoff (1971), Linn (1993), Mislevy (1992), and Feuer, Holland, Green, Bertenthal, and Hemphill (1999). The article further focuses on the concordance situation for…

An element of genuine creativity has been absent too often in research on creative ability." A more consistent use of neutral labels for divergent thinking and related processes might lead to research that is freer of preconceptions. (DM)