Education Commons^™

Phenomenology And Educational Research, Katrina Eddles-Hirsch

Katrina Eddles-Hirsch

Amongst novice researchers, there is considerable uncertainty about how to use phenomenology as a methodological framework. The problem seems to reside in the fact that phenomenology is a philosophy, a foundation for qualitative research, as well as a research method in its own right. Added to this confusion is the misperception that phenomenology is one unified approach when it actually consists of three disparate complex philosophies. It is, therefore, important for a phenomenological researcher to state the approach that they have adopted for their research, as it impacts upon their selection of methodological procedures. The aim of this article is …

Struggling Reader To Struggling Reader: High School Students' Responses To A Cross-Age Tutoring Program, Patricia Paterson, Lori Elliott

Lori Elliott

This qualitative study examines the perceptions and responses of struggling ninth-grade readers who are teaching reading to struggling second- and third-grade students in a cross-age tutoring program. The program was designed to overcome the entrenched, negative affective barriers that older students often bring to the required reading class by placing them in a leadership role. It also intended simultaneously to improve their vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Results indicate that the older students developed strong mirroring relationships with their younger counterparts based on shared community strengths and norms, shifted their perspective to see themselves as increasingly competent role models, and applied …

Do Zoos And Aquariums Promote Attitude Change In Visitors? A Critical Evaluation Of The American Zoo And Aquarium Study, Lori Marino, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Randy Malamud, Nathan Nobis, Ron Broglio

Lori Marino, PhD

Modern-day zoos and aquariums market themselves as places of education and conservation. A recent study conducted by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) (Falk et al., 2007) is being widely heralded as the first direct evidence that visits to zoos and aquariums produce long-term positive effects on people’s attitudes toward other animals. In this paper, we address whether this conclusion is warranted by analyzing the study’s methodological soundness. We conclude that Falk et al. (2007) contains at least six major threats to methodological validity that undermine the authors’ conclusions. There remains no compelling evidence for the claim that zoos …

Do Zoos And Aquariums Promote Attitude Change In Visitors? A Critical Evaluation Of The American Zoo And Aquarium Study, Lori Marino, Scott O. Lilienfeld, Randy Malamud, Nathan Nobis, Ron Broglio

Nathan M. Nobis, PhD

Modern-day zoos and aquariums market themselves as places of education and conservation. A recent study conducted by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) (Falk et al., 2007) is being widely heralded as the first direct evidence that visits to zoos and aquariums produce long-term positive effects on people’s attitudes toward other animals. In this paper, we address whether this conclusion is warranted by analyzing the study’s methodological soundness. We conclude that Falk et al. (2007) contains at least six major threats to methodological validity that undermine the authors’ conclusions. There remains no compelling evidence for the claim that zoos …

On The Use Of Rotated Context Questionnaires In Conjunction With Multilevel Item Response Models, Raymond J. Adams, Petra Lietz, Alla Berezner

Dr Petra Lietz

On The Use Of Rotated Context Questionnaires In Conjunction With Multilevel Item Response Models, Raymond Adams, Petra Lietz, Alla Berezner

Professor Ray Adams

Background: While rotated test booklets have been employed in large-scale assessments to increase the content coverage of the assessments, rotation has not yet been applied to the context questionnaires administered to respondents.

Methods: This paper describes the development of a methodology that uses rotated context questionnaires in conjunction with multilevel item response models and plausible values. In order to examine the impact of this methodology on the continuity of the results, PISA 2006 data for nine heterogeneous countries were rescaled after having been restructured to simulate the outcomes of the use of different rotated context questionnaire designs.

Results: Results revealed …

Of Methodology And Metaphysics: Contestation And Legitimation In Early Relativistic Cosmology, Jacob Pearce

Dr Jacob Pearce

No abstract provided.

Young Adult Development In Hospitality Management Schools Which Offer Craft Based Learning, John C. Niser

John C. Niser

This research set out to examine the role of craft based education in hospitality management schools from a developmental perceptive. The first exploratory study found that craft based learning could not be isolated from the total learning environment in which students were developing adult thinking skills. The second investigation examined students from the same institution in the light of young adult development literature. Relativistic thinking was identified as a general area of agreement in the literature but the underpinning structural unity of this thinking skill could possibly be challenged. In the first school I conducted my study, interviewees did not …

Statistical Methods Used In Gifted Education Journals, 2006-2010, Russell Warne, Maria Lazo, Tami Ramos, Nicola Ritter

Russell T Warne

This article describes the statistical methods used in quantitative and mixed methods articles between 2006 and 2010 in five gifted education research journals. Results indicate that the most commonly used statistical methods are means (85.9% of articles), standard deviations (77.8%), Pearson’s r (47.8%), χ2 (32.2%), ANOVA (30.7%), t tests (30.0%), and MANOVA (23.0%). Approximately half (53.3%) of the articles included reliability reports for the data at hand; Cronbach’s alpha was the most commonly reported measure of reliability (41.5%). Some discussions of best statistical practice and implications for the field of gifted education are included.

Critical Decisions In Research: Design, Practice, And Analysis, Imran Anjum Chaudary

Dr Imran Anjum

No abstract provided.

Video-Based Reseach Made "Easy" Methodological Lessons Learned From The Timms Video Studies, Jennifer Jacobs, Hilary Hollingsworth, Karen Givvin

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

In this article, the authors share some of the methodological lessons learned from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1995 and TIMSS 1999 Video Studies. They focus on their experiences overseeing these large-scale, video-based, cross-national surveys of teaching. The article documents some of the progress the authors made, as well as some of the obstacles they encountered. The authors hope that the ideas shared here help prevent possible missteps, enhance the quality of projects, and encourage researchers to advance the use of video as a methodology.

Teacher Change In Primary Mathematics: Coding, Classifying And Organising Qualitative Data, Hilary Hollingsworth

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

A study that probed primary teachers' experience of a professional development mathematics program. The author uses a range of data gathering methods, including interviews, observation, schedules and teacher documents, and discusses the coding and manipulation of data from these sources.