This Case Study reviews a quasi-experimental research project in the field of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Researching the effects of pedagogic interventions poses a number of methodologic challenges. Our original research goal was to create an assignment that would ameliorate the problem of content knowledge loss. Teaching and…

This case study examines the key steps and challenges that were involved in a mixed methods research project relating to Japanese first-year medical students' English academic vocabulary learning. Conducting mixed methods research can be both conceptually and administratively challenging under any circumstances. However, this study was especially…

In some studies, participants are assigned ethnographic or communicative tasks, such as field-work observation, life-story interviews, and photography. These studies usually involve in-person interaction, both for the participants doing the task and for the researchers in engaging with participants throughout the research process. Our study was…

An advantage of well-designed survey research is that, typically, it yields large volumes of quantitative and qualitative data. A key challenge researchers face is mining and reporting these data appropriately and promptly to inform research publications and presentations. When mixed methods are employed, and researchers attempt to master computer…

In this case, I describe the "Paths on Life's Way (Paths)" project. The "Paths" project is the only longitudinal study of its kind in British Columbia and one of the few longitudinal studies in Canada. The research, now spanning 22 years-with a 28-year follow-up underway-is designed to provide a detailed examination of the life…

Having made the move from a professional practice role to an educator position, I decided that it would be beneficial to improve my understanding and capability to support student learning in the higher education setting. As such, I made the choice to take up doctoral studies. While working with students and other instructors, the subject of…

This research project case study describes the research practicalities and design of a mixed methods dissertation study about the language-learning motivation of students who had attended a language immersion school. Mixed methods research, an approach to research in which elements of both quantitative (numbers-focused) and qualitative…

Numerous misuses of statistics are described and illustrated, and ways of recognizing and avoiding such misuse are discussed. The following five categories of statistical misuse are identified: a lack of knowledge of the subject matter, the quality of the basic data, the preparation of the study and the report, the statistical methodology, and a…

This volume of transformed research utilizes an activist approach to examine the notion that nothing is apolitical. Research projects themselves are critically examined for power orientations, even as they are used to address curricular problems and educational or societal issues. Philosophical perspectives that have facilitated an understanding…

In this new edition, the author explains quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, and incorporates the viewpoints of various research paradigms (postpositivist, constructivist, transformative, and pragmatic) into descriptions of these methods. Special emphasis is provided for conducting research in culturally complex communities. Each chapter…