This paper gives a brief overview of the focus group method, its history, and usefulness for educational researchers and outlines the essential steps to a successful focus group. An example of the use of focus groups is given. The focus group originated in the 1920s in the social sciences, developed further in market research, and is undergoing a…

Purpose ? In response to the emergence of an enterprise economy, government claims that building an enterprise culture is vital. Correspondingly, provision of entrepreneurship education in higher education has expanded. The paper aims to assess the potential of entrepreneurship education to develop skills, and of whether students perceive them as…

One of the goals of a family-centered approach in early intervention is to equally involve family members as active partners with professionals. This article describes one state's model of family involvement using parents of young children with disabilities as parent educators in the Part C system. Qualitative focus group data were collected with…

Many researchers have been inquiring into focus groups as a qualitative data collection method (Barbour & Kitzinger 1999; Krueger 1998; Morgan, 1998), but only a few have been able to analyze the different levels of understanding in focus groups, which we focus on in this article. The guiding research question is how do focus groups offer deeper…

New principals need support and assistance during the formative years of their careers. School districts can provide some level of support but there are organizations that offer programs to help new principals learn the knowledge, skills, and strategies they need in order to be successful on the job. One such program, The Recently Appointed…

This article describes a collaborative study of the blended learning approach, designed to pave the way for higher education students to integrate online and face-to-face learning environments in an "Instructional Technology and Material Development" course at the University of Yildiz Technic in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to…

We investigated empowerment in the Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1) community, a rare, genetic disease network in the United States. The research was motivated by nine years of observations in the community. After observing what seemed to be a heightened amount of activism among Alpha-1 community members, I had hypothesized that this…

Enrollments in distance education courses continue to rise and faculty members continue to teach them. In some cases, student demand for distance education courses exceeds the number of courses offered by the institution. Additional faculty members are needed to teach distance education courses to meet the increasing student demand. As…

A professor at a college for women recently was named a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Her innovations in mentoring college women in science are the focus of this case study. Using data collected from faculty interviews, classroom observations, student feedback sheets,…

Low levels of physical activity among adolescent girls are a cause for concern. Examining girls' physical activity perceptions and motivations through in-depth qualitative research allows for greater understanding of the reasons behind their physical activity-related choices. Forty-seven girls aged 14 to 16 years participated in exploratory focus…

The purpose of this article is to set forth an innovative methodological protocol for culturally grounding interventions with high-risk youths in alternative schools. This study used mixed methods to evaluate original and adapted versions of a culturally grounded substance abuse prevention program. The qualitative and quantitative methods…

The study explores the consequences, for participating schools, of the implementation of a system for the identification and selection of academically talented students, in the context of an extracurricular enrichment program operating at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. The participants were 73 students, 50 teachers, and seven members of…

Information literacy instruction programs for graduate students can be challenging to develop. One solution is to develop non-course-based, non-mandatory library instruction programs, in order to meet the information literacy needs of as many graduate students as possible. This was the approach taken by the Taylor Library at the University of…

This paper presents findings from a study that investigated young people's ICT use and the capacity of service providers to utilise these technologies in their practice. The results suggest that ICT may be an important resource for mental health promotion, particularly in relation to engaging young people. It was found that young people…

Background: Cyberbullying describes bullying using mobile phones and the internet. Most previous studies have focused on the prevalence of text message and email bullying. Methods: Two surveys with pupils aged 11-16 years: (1) 92 pupils from 14 schools, supplemented by focus groups; (2) 533 pupils from 5 schools, to assess the generalisability of…