Using Kane's interpretive argument model and Messick's validity argument approach, this study rigorously examined faculty and PhD candidate's perspectives on PhD admission interviews in Iranian universities. We interviewed 10 professors and PhD interviewees which provided comprehensive insight into nuanced perspectives. We conducted rigorous…

The purpose of this study was to examine music education faculty members' perceptions of admissions and selection criteria for entering master's students in music education degree programs. Using multistage sampling, we distributed a questionnaire to music education faculty at National Association of Schools of Music (NASM)-accredited institutions…

We analysed the full text of all journal articles returned to the education subpanel of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021). Using a latent Dirichlet allocation topic model, we identified 35 topics that collectively summarise the journal articles that research units, typically schools of education, selected for submission. We found…

Ethnographic and interview research have made significant contributions to cumulative social science and influenced the public conversation around important social issues. However, debates rage over whether the standards of positivistic social science can or should be used to judge the rigor of interpretive methods. I begin this essay by briefly…

Validity refers to the extent to which a given study reflects the dominant values of a research community regarding what constitutes "good" research. Methodological texts on qualitative research provide a wide range of criteria and strategies to help qualitative researchers validate their studies. Given the importance of these strategies…

Increasingly, the broader public, media and policymakers are looking to qualitative research to provide answers to our most pressing social questions. While an exciting and perhaps overdue moment for qualitative researchers, it is also a time when the method is coming under increasing scrutiny for a lack of reliability and transparency. The…

Places to study at medical schools are scarce, which makes well-designed selection procedures employing criteria with predictive validity for good students and doctors necessary. In Germany, the pre-university grade point average (pu-GPA) is the main selection criterion for medical school application. However, this is criticised. According to a…

When determining the score given to candidates in multiple mini-interview (MMI) stations, raters have to translate a narrative judgment to an ordinal rating scale. When adding individual scores to calculate final ranking, it is generally presumed that the values of possible scores on the evaluation grid are separated by constant intervals,…

Across the world, teacher quality has come to be recognised as one of the most important variables affecting student outcomes; consequently, the regulation of entry into the profession is the subject of iterative review. The traditional 'one-off' interview, involving an interviewee and two or more interviewers, is a common, but not unproblematic,…

The phenomenon of first impression is well researched in social psychology, but less so in the study of OSCEs and the multiple mini interview (MMI). To explore its bearing on the MMI method we included a rating of first impression in the MMI for student selection executed 2012 at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany (196…

Regardless of the commitments that universities and teacher education programs (TEPs) have publicly stated regarding equity, diversity, inclusion, or decolonization (EDID), rarely do these commitments impact their admission policies or practices. Through examining a small program's efforts at implementing EDID change over a three-year period, this…

This article reports on the validity of the admi (MMI) method as it was used by a post-degree teacher education program as part of their admissions process to select candidates for entry into the program. The MMI, primarily used for medical school admittance, involves several stations with different interviewers. Comparisons were made between the…

This paper investigates admission procedures of Master of Arts programs of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (MA TEFL) in Iran in comparison with universities around the world. Along with a view of the centralised national MA TEFL entrance exam held in Iran during the past three decades, we investigated admission requirements for comparable…

This qualitative study examines the information collected about applicants to mathematics or science teacher preparation programs (MSTPPs) and how university faculty perceive and value this information in admissions decisions. Based on document review and interviews with MSTPP faculty and admissions directors, we found that broad measures of…

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce the interview as a complementary component to the holistic process for graduate admissions. To do so, procedural details of two master's degree programs in speech-language pathology are provided that successfully execute two different but effective interview methods for speech-language…