This article reviews the origins and use of the terms quasi-experiment and natural experiment. It demonstrates how the terms conflate whether variation in the independent variable of interest falls short of random with whether researchers find, rather than intervene to create, that variation. Using the lens of assignment--the process driving…

Game designers and researchers have sought to create gameful environments that consider user preferences to increase engagement and motivation. In this sense, it is essential to identify the most suitable game elements for users' profiles. Designers and researchers must choose strategies to classify users into predefined profiles and select the…

The purpose of this article is to clarify the discrepancy in the use of "queer" as a sexual identity classification in education survey research. This study extends the work completed by Dugan and Yurman (2011), who empirically demonstrated problems with treating LGB students as a homogenous population through collapsing all respondents…

This article challenges the idea that mixed methods research (MMR) constitutes a coherent research paradigm and explores how different research paradigms exist within MMR. Tracing paradigmatic differences at the level of methods, ontology, and epistemology, two MMR strategies are discussed: nested analysis, recently presented by the American…

Design considerations for speech training systems include the types of information about speech to be used in training, whether acoustic or physiologic; and the use of models of speech production, whether partially perceptual and partially knowledge-based or explicit data-based models. A taxonomy of speech training systems is presented.…

Structural models and classes of variables used in parent/child research are identified, and their implications are briefly discussed. The five types of research models appraised are noninteractive, unidirectional, bidirectional, family network, and sociopolitical. It is asserted that, taken together, the typology of models provides a system by…

Presents a model which integrates design and hardware attributes for both videotape and videodisc technologies and incorporates a wider range of equipment and presentation/testing strategies than taxonomies dealing with hardware only. Model is designed to aid potential designers/users in categorizing and selecting appropriate hardware/software…

A dozen schemes proposing to classify research questions are surveyed, analyzed, and applied to the understanding and practice of inquiry. The extent to which these schemes account for questions found in educational journals is estimated. Principles and issues are identified to stimulate work on the classification of research questions. (Author/BS)

This article describes the strengths and weaknesses of different models of classification (primarily monothetic and polythetic) and then focuses on cluster analysis as a method of pursuing a polythetic model. Design features that need to be incorporated in a cluster analytic study are discussed in relation to theory formulation, internal validity,…

Describes features of Bliss Bibliographic Classification (BC2) that make it thesaurus-compatible and a source for thesaurus compilers: facet analysis, terminology source, thesaural relationship source, and updating ease. Problems with using BC2 as a thesaurus source are also considered, and two thesauri based on BC2 are described. (MBR)

Delineates various levels of theory with implications for research in library and information science. Based upon a review of literature on theory building and research methods in the social sciences, a model is proposed which displays a taxonomy of theory in hierarchical form. (EM)

This paper reviews the research leading from the GUIDON rule-based tutoring system, including the reconfiguration of MYCIN into NEOMYCIN and NEOMYCIN's generalization into the heuristic classification shell, HERACLES. The presentation is organized chronologically around pictures and dialogues that represent turning points and crystallize the basic…

A poorly designed knowledge base can be as cryptic as an arbitrary program and just as difficult to maintain. Representing inference procedures abstractly, separately from domain facts and relations, makes the design more transparent and explainable. The combination of abstract procedures and relational language for organizing domain knowledge…

Attempting to define curriculum inquiry, this study examines published reports of curriculum inquiry and classifies the problems studied, the methods used, and the solutions proposed. (MCG)

Based on intuitive speculation, a literature review, and trial situations with students, this comprehensive listing describes, explains, and classifies the functions that visuals might perform when used to support verbal narration. This summary will be followed in the future by establishment and testing of the functions' validity. (MBR)