A large-scale, multi-year, randomized study compared learning activities and outcomes for hands-on, remotely-operated, and simulation-based educational laboratories in an undergraduate engineering course. Students (N = 458) worked in small-group lab teams to perform two experiments involving stress on a cantilever beam. Each team conducted the…

This article describes the first phase of a two-phase, mixed-method study. The study, now in progress, explores how and to what extent willingness to engage in learning in mature adulthood is influenced by prior experiences and specific individual personality variables, such as perceived locus of control and degree of self-efficacy. Study…

The authors' goal was to examine the structural relationships among vocabulary knowledge, morphological awareness, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension in English-speaking adults. Structural equation analysis of data collected from 151 participants revealed that morphological awareness affected reading comprehension directly. Syntactic…

This paper deals with data gathering and interpretation in folk linguistics, but, as the parenthetical title suggests, it is not limited to any prejudged notion of what approaches or techniques might be most relevant to the wide variety of concerns encompassed by applied linguistics. In this article, the author conceives of folk linguistics…

Drawing from an interactionist approach and feedback research, we examine the role of developmental feedback and proactive personality on newcomer task performance and helping behavior. Data were collected from 2 high-tech joint-ventures within the information technology and manufacturing industries located in Shanghai, China. Results based on 151…

This article ethnographically examines the ways in which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) links local practices to the centralized processing of data through its narrowing of procedures and measurements aimed at accountability. Framed by actor-network theory, it draws upon data consistently collected between June 2005 and October 2008, and then…

Objectives: What impact does the strengthening of child rights have on the experience and circumstances of children? CRC General Comment 13 emphasizes that defining measurable targets for improvements in child protection is a key element of efforts to strengthen child rights and well-being across the world. This paper describes an attempt to…

This study uses the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the British National Corpus as data and Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, and Finegan's (1999) and Gardner and Davies' (2007) informative studies as a starting point and reference. The study offers a cross-English variety and cross-register examination of the use of English phrasal…

Using a cost-benefit framework for financial planning services and proprietary data collected in the summer of 2008, the client characteristics that are associated with the likelihood of paying for professional financial advice, as well as the type of financial services purchased, are identified. Results indicate that respondents who pay for…

It is exciting to see children display an interest in discovering the world through their actions. Those actions are the beginning of science inquiry, the process children use to develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, including an understanding of how scientists study the natural world. This month's column features an activity…

Two basic data sources required for research studies have been secondary and primary. Secondary data collection helps the researcher to provide relevant background to the study and are, in most cases, available for retrieval from recorded sources. Primary data collection requires the researcher to venture into the field where the study is to take…

This study examines a blended learning setting in an undergraduate course in psychology. A virtual learning environment (VLE) complemented the face-to-face lecture. The usage was voluntary and the VLE was designed to support the learning process of the students. Data from users (N = 80) and non-users (N = 82) from two cohorts were collected.…

This article details the construction of a computer program to test cognitive processing differences in adolescents engaged in a standard presentation of tests versus a fantasy-based game presentation. The article will discuss the challenges of creating a replication of traditional psychological tests into a new medium which holds comparable…

The fact that humans possess fast and slow-twitch muscle in the ratio of approximately 50% has profound implications for designing exercise training strategies for power and endurance activities. With the growth of exercise and sport science courses, we have seen the need to develop an undergraduate student laboratory that demonstrates the basic…

Oranges, flying disks, pool noodles, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe may seem like items discarded after a Rube Goldberg experiment, but in fact, these objects were used in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This article describes a project in which The Center of Ocean Sciences Education Excellence SouthEast (COSEE SE)…