This editorial introduces a special section of the "Journal of Learning Analytics," for which Neil Selwyn's keynote address to LAK '18 has been written up as an article, "What's the problem with learning analytics?" His claims and arguments are engaged in commentaries from Alfred Essa, Rebecca Ferguson, Paul Prinsloo, and…

The development of a student's ability to make data-driven decisions has become a focus in higher education (Schield 1999; Stephenson and Caravello 2007). Data literacy, the ability to understand and use data to effectively inform decisions, is a fundamental component of information competence (Mandinach and Gummer 2013; Stephenson and Caravello,…

Root cause analysis is a powerful method schools use to analyze data to solve problems; it aims to identify and correct the root causes of problems or events, rather than simply addressing their symptoms. In this webinar, veteran practitioner, Roni Silverstein, talked about the value of this process and practical ways to use it in your school or…

Recent educational accountability efforts have married student assessments with reform mandates and sanctions. As a result, students--beginning in early elementary grades--are feeling the pressures of this new era of high-stakes accountability. This article chronicles a story of the consequences of high-stakes testing on a father and his son.…

In this rejoinder, the authors provide their thoughts on each of the commentaries of the seven respondents to their article. They find that the response of Kyngdon differs markedly from the others in questioning some basic elements of the methods of analysis that they propose for the construction of a "road map." The authors emphasize that they…

The commentaries on my article contain a number of points with which I disagree but also several with which I agree. For example, I continue to believe that the existence of many cases in which between-person variability does not increase with age indicates that greater variance with increased age is not inevitable among healthy individuals up to…

Ralph LaRossa's (2012) article on the multidimensional world of qualitative research provides family scientists with a set of innovative tools to guide writing and reviewing. He proffered an engaging challenge: to view the "Journal of Marriage and Family" ("JMF") as a meeting place of scholars, a thought community (Zerubavel, 1997), even a culture…

This article reflects on key methodological issues emerging from children and young people's involvement in data analysis processes. We outline a pragmatic framework illustrating different approaches to engaging children, using two case studies of children's experiences of participating in data analysis. The article highlights methods of…

Ruscio et al. (Ruscio, Seaman, D'Oriano, Stremlo, & Mahalchik, this issue) write of a thing with which scientists and scholars are all too familiar, the assessment of published research and of its authors. The author was startled to discover how little the agenda of the paper seems to engage with factors one relies on for salary and promotion…

E. Brandstatter, G. Gigerenzer, and R. Hertwig (2006) contended that their priority heuristic, a type of lexicographic semiorder model, is more accurate than cumulative prospect theory (CPT) or transfer of attention exchange (TAX) models in describing risky decisions. However, there are 4 problems with their argument. First, their heuristic is not…

Discusses the need for clearer canons and methods of qualitative data analysis; outlines a conception of qualitative data analysis; and lists a series of practical methods for doing it. (Author/CMG)

Critical Incident Technique (CIT) involves the collection of real-world examples of behavior that characterize either very effective or very ineffective performance of some activity. The principal advantage of the CIT is that it generates data based on actual behavior rather than on a particular researcher's subjectivity. The CIT has much to offer…

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2007 Call for Proposals points out the need for researchers in education to look beyond their usual sources to other fields that have extensive experience in relevant theories and methods. In transitioning from a response to AERA's Call for Proposals to the text of these articles on Assessing…

Some of the methodological problems in analyzing and reporting qualitative data are addressed, and some solutions based on recent experiences in conducting several qualitative studies are proposed. The following are some guidelines for implementing an intuitive approach to analyzing and reporting qualitative data: (1) use a team of evaluators; (2)…

Compares qualitative and quantitative data, identifies common qualitative methods, describes a step-by-step process for gathering and analyzing qualitative data, and discusses two applications of the process to Extension. (Author)