Misrepresentation and mischief in the research process can impact on ethical conduct, the validity of findings and deliberately change the outcome. This short report presents a scenario about deliberate interference in adoption research by one organisation seeking accreditation to deliver adoption services. Unbeknown to the researchers, fake…

Particular ethical tensions and dilemmas emerge when conducting qualitative educational research. This is further compounded where the predominant approach to research ethics is underscored by a dominant principalism which construes ethical rules as both universal and absolute. This article focuses on the 'perfect ethical storm' which is arguably…

Researchers are often interested in establishing equivalence of population variances. Traditional difference-based procedures are appropriate to answer questions about differences in some statistic (e.g., variances, etc.). However, if a researcher is interested in evaluating the equivalence of population variances, it is more appropriate to use a…

Like numerous others before us, we argue that the educational research community would be well served by a mutually created cyberinfrastructure that encourages and supports engagement by multiple design-based researchers in working toward answers to important theory-driven research questions, moving our field toward a "bigger science"…

Student engagement plays a vital role in improving students' learning outcomes. Traditional educational assessments of engagement have many limitations, which undermine the understanding of the mechanisms by which engagement affects learning and broad educational practices that leverage engagement. Through a mixed-methods approach and multimodal…

This research note offers a critical reflection of the process of conducting qualitative research in the Irish primary school setting. The research discussed took place during the school year 2016-2017. It explored primary school children's understandings of citizenship and, the kinds of collective social actions they participated in as citizens…

Omitted variable bias occurs in most statistical models. Whenever a confounding variable that is correlated with both dependent and independent variables is omitted from a statistical model, estimated effects of included variables are likely to be biased due to omitted variables. This issue is particularly problematic in physics education research…

Multilevel modeling (MLM) is a statistical technique for analyzing clustered data. Despite its long history, the technique and accompanying computer programs are rapidly evolving. Given the complexity of multilevel models, it is crucial for researchers to provide complete and transparent descriptions of the data, statistical analyses, and results.…

Qualitative interviews can be enhanced through using creative methods within them to prompt discussion and conversation. The research project upon which this case focuses sought to explore the space between policy and practice in pre-entry widening participation work in universities. This is an area where often people focus on telling you about…

In education settings, treatments are often non-randomly assigned to clusters, such as schools or classrooms, while outcomes are measured for students. This research design is called the clustered observational study (COS). We examine the consequences of common support violations in the COS context. Common support violations occur when the…

Publication bias distorts the available empirical evidence and misinforms policymaking. Evidence of publication bias is mounting in virtually all fields of empirical research. This paper proposes the endogenous kink (EK) meta-regression model as a novel method of publication bias correction. The EK method fits a piecewise linear meta-regression of…

The extensive literature on research co-creation is mostly based on problems being treated as clearly defined and solvable. What is the impact on co-creation when problems are complex, with the following characteristics: difficult to delimit, contested definitions, multiple uncertainties and unresolvable unknowns, constraints on what can be done,…

This chapter highlights the key assumptions underlying Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) and illustrates them with regard to the practice of RCTs in the realm of child and adolescent development. Given the prominence of RCTs in policy research, we analyze the possible ways in which these assumptions might not be met by single randomized…

This article extends recent attempts to think (post)qualitative research together with decolonial, postcolonial and other critiques -- as a frictional, fraught encounter. I review how the concept of voice has been used in past and present research with children and young people: from research speaking "about" children and young people,…

Teaching our successors about the art of theory building can be a challenge. If you have taught a theory-building course in any of our fields, you may have experienced a common hazard: The seminar can devolve into yet another methods course when the more methodologically inclined take over, focusing the class's attention on the flaws in tests of…