This case study considers classroom-based qualitative research conducted using semistructured interviews and classroom-based ethnography and carried out in a publicly funded special education program for high school students with autism spectrum disorder. In response to a paucity of special education research focused on student perspectives, the…

Gifted students who were in a fifth-grade telescoped math class during the 2013-2014 school year participated in an in-person qualitative research study regarding their identity development. During the 2019-2020 school year, these same students, who were now juniors and seniors in high school, were contacted to participate in a follow-up study.…

In 2007, Eve Bernstein started her doctoral research examining how students perceive competitive activities in physical education class. The literature in physical education explored many of the variables that create a successful competitive activity for students in these classes. Factors such as time and appropriate practice, skill progression,…

This case study focuses on methodological challenges to conducting an ecologically sound, mixed-methods, longitudinal, nonexperimental study of teaching. Examining rich and complex environments is at the heart of research on teaching and learning. We describe situational obstacles we had to overcome, the search for valid and reliable measurements,…

Our experience of children drawing and talking together in the classroom led us to wonder whether their narrative was related to the task they were engaged in or whether it was purely social talk. A pilot study highlighted important issues. In 2003, therefore, we embarked on a 6-year longitudinal project, acting as participant observers focusing…

The research design of a study involves continual refinement through experiential processes. This case study demonstrates the importance to novice researchers of conducting a pilot study to test the feasibility of the study's research design and practice data collection (in this instance, interviewing skills). The case study is based on an…

Conducting international research presents unique possibilities for peril. Without understanding local context, culture, and norms, data-collection efforts may produce little usable data. This case study reports lessons learned about the importance of involving broad stakeholder groups in the design phase of a study. To inform the design of a…

Experimental Psychology is a required course for psychology majors at Texas A&M University--Texarkana. This course is designed to familiarize students with the typical methods and techniques employed in psychological research. I believe that to fully understand research one must experience it, so I incorporated an in-class experiment designed…

International and study abroad student programs are generally understood to be opportunities for students to gain important new knowledge from international travel, including how to become responsible and effective global citizens in possession of "cross-cultural competencies." Similar benefits are anticipated from the lesser known…

Multidisciplinary educational curriculum development is a fundamental part of my role as an academic. In practice, the term historically meant that students were segregated into their respective professional disciplines and taught in 'optional modules' of relevance only to them. One of the aims of my work is to build capacity within and between…

Researchers who are interested in asking a number of questions about a particular phenomenon are increasingly looking to mixed methods as a useful research approach. In this case study, we discuss how mixed-methods research is situated in current debates about quantitative and qualitative methods. Then, we provide some reasons as to why we, and…

This case study reports on a doctoral research project conducted in a school using critical discourse analysis to examine the discourse of youth 'disaffection'. The study aimed to identify how some students acquired the label 'disaffected' and considered the extent to which the quality of relationships between teachers and students contributed to…

This case study discusses a mixed-methods longitudinal research study which focused on the experiences of secondary students as they moved through the school system. This study was the first of its kind in the Irish context and has yielded insights into important processes such as the transition to secondary education, the factors influencing…

In this case study, a team of doctoral students--Luis M. Andrade, Angela Hoppe Nagao, Esmeralda Medrano, and Josephine Macharia Lowe--in a community college leadership program participated in a service-learning field project as part of an organizational theory course to analyze comparative outcomes of a college orientation and preparation program…

The numbers of Chinese teenagers studying abroad have dramatically increased since the late 1990s, and this phenomenon has received significant attention from researchers and policymakers alike. There is substantial consensus about its proximate causes -- the recent changes in the higher education landscape and the labour market in China and…