Panel data methods, which include difference-in-differences and comparative interrupted time series, have become increasingly com- mon in education policy research. The key idea is to use variation across time and space (e.g., school districts) to estimate the effects of policy or programmatic changes that happen in some localities but not others.…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent public health response led to an unprecedented disruption in educational instruction in the U.S. and around the world. Many schools quickly moved to virtual learning for the bulk of the 2020 spring term and many states cancelled annual assessments of student learning. The 2020-21 school year…

This opinion essay begins by describing the problematic difference between "doing-research-on" and "doing-research-with," particularly in relation to classroom-based research on foreign/English language teaching and learning. In "doing-research-on," the researchers are the primary beneficiaries of the research they…

This report aims to showcase the value of implementing a Bayesian framework to analyse and report results from international large-scale surveys and provide guidance to users who want to analyse the data using this approach. The motivation for this report stems from the recognition that Bayesian statistical inference is fast becoming a popular…

Purpose: In this paper, the author reflects on her researcher experiences of attempting to construct co-productive epistemic relations in her ethnographic doctoral research about a gallery youth collective. The paper engages with debates about the nature of co-productive relations, advocating for a more affective approach which attends to…

The ubiquitous use of social platforms across the globe makes them attractive options for investigating social phenomena including migration. However, the use of social media data raises several crucial ethical issues around the areas of informed consent, anonymity and profiling of individuals, which are particularly sensitive when looking at a…

This article describes a nexus analysis of the lengthy, complex process of negotiating access to schools for a research project surveying 1,002 children (aged 9-12 years) about their digital and language practices. The analysis distinguished layers of adult-centered gatekeeping, each of which needed to be tackled in sequence. Bottlenecks…

As a research field geared toward understanding and improving learning, Learning Analytics (LA) must be able to provide empirical support for causal claims. However, as a highly applied field, tightly controlled randomized experiments are not always feasible nor desirable. Instead, researchers often rely on observational data, based on which they…

The use of structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques in social work has increased over the last two decades. We therefore conducted a systematic review to understand the extent to which SEM is utilized in social work research, given that statistical training is now becoming a part of social work doctoral education. For our review, we utilized…

This article presents some of the challenges that arise in research aimed at listening to children under three years of age in order to improve everyday school life. The article is based on research carried out over several years in schools and funded by the Spanish Ministry responsible for Research and Development (R&D). Drawing on a…

The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast frameworks for evaluating methodological rigor in single case research. Specifically, research on high-probability requests to increase compliance in young children was evaluated. Ten studies were identified and were coded using 4 frameworks. These frameworks were the Council for Exceptional…

Social network data often contain missing values because of the sensitive nature of the information collected and the dependency among the network actors. As a response, network imputation methods including simple ones constructed from network structural characteristics and more complicated model-based ones have been developed. Although past…

Learner engagement correlates with important educational outcomes, including academic achievement and satisfaction. Although research is already exploring learner engagement in blended contexts, no theoretical framework guides inquiry or practice, and little consistency or specificity exists in engagement definitions and operationalizations.…

The research studies presented in this special issue rest on two assumptions: firstly, that limitations in verbal short-term memory and verbal working memory (vSTM/WM) capacity are likely to be related to impairments in syntax, and secondly that this relationship is likely to be causal, with impairments in vSTM/WM causing impairments in syntax. In…

Although careless respondents have wreaked havoc on research for decades, the prevalence and implications of these participants has likely increased due to many new methodological techniques currently in use. Across three studies, we examined the prevalence of careless responding in participants, several means of predicting careless respondents,…