Evidence syntheses, such as systematic reviews, aim to summarise the current state of research in a field, often using the publication language of a study as a criterion for inclusion or exclusion. However, this has serious implications for capturing evidence from a wider range of geographical areas, and the potential for linguistic bias. In order…

Student hazing activities on American college campuses have resulted in numerous deaths reported in the news media. Despite regular reports on hazing-related fatalities, no research has examined how these deaths are reported. The current study aims to bridge this research gap by analyzing articles covering hazing deaths in the U.S. between 1994…

Cognitive load measurement is an important aspect of educational research. Current cognitive load surveys differentiate between intrinsic cognitive load (resulting from the complexity of learning materials) and their extraneous cognitive load (which is increased by a demanding design). In two studies, order effects of cognitive load subscales are…

Introduction: Concerns about the risk of bias (RoB) of Meta-analysis (MAs) have grown in parallel with the exponential increase in the number of publications in science. However, this has not been properly assessed in Education. The aims were to evaluate the RoB of MAs in Education and to identify potential predictors of a lower RoB. Methods:…

Many forms of bias have been identified in higher education research, and in educational and social research in general. This article identifies a further form of bias, positivity bias, and places it in this broader context. Positivity bias is the tendency, in some forms of published higher education research, to only or chiefly report examples of…

A critical debate has blossomed within the field of research policy, science and technology studies, and philosophy of science regarding the possible benefits and limitations of allocating extramural grants using a lottery system. The most common view among those supporting the lottery idea is that some form of modified lottery is acceptable, if…

In June 2022, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) introduced a new equity standard and associated recommendations to its Standards for Excellence in Education Research (SEER). On November 30 and December 1, 2022, IES convened a technical working group (TWG) of 15 experts on education equity. The goal of the TWG was to gather input for IES's…

International teaching assistants (ITAs) have a prominent role in the internationalisation of higher education (IHE). Although ITAs are considered important actors in IHE and ITA programs have a relatively long history, there is a scarcity of review studies on empirical research focusing on ITAs. This qualitative metasynthesis explores the…

With the rise of research impact as a 'third' space (next to research and teaching) within the universities in the United Kingdom and beyond, academics are increasingly expected to not only produce research but also engage in brokering knowledge beyond academia. And yet little is known about the ways in which academics shape their practices in…

Background: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of interventions can provide critical evidence for educators and policymakers by providing insights into the effectiveness of related interventions. The quality of included studies builds the foundation for a high-quality review, while bias in the included studies increases the risks of unreliable…

Our purpose in this article is to examine the subjective processes of researchers while becoming conscious during the investigation of infants and toddlers (I/Ts) in educational settings. Based on the intertwining between Cultural-historical Psychology and Ethnography in Education, we followed a group of I/Ts at a Brazilian Early Childhood…

Student ratings of instruction (SRI) are commonly used to evaluate courses and teaching in higher education. Much debate about their validity in evaluating teaching exists, which is due to concerns of bias by factors unrelated to teaching quality (Spooren et al., 2013). Our objective was to identify peer-reviewed original research published in…

It is a healthy exercise to debate the merits of using effect-size benchmarks to interpret research findings. However, these debates obscure a more central insight that emerges from empirical distributions of effect-size estimates in the literature: Efforts to improve education often fail to move the needle. I find that 36% of effect sizes from…

This study examined bias reduction in the eight nonequivalent comparison group designs (NECGDs) that result from combining (a) choice of a local versus non-local comparison group, and analytic use or not of (b) a pretest measure of the study outcome and (c) a rich set of other covariates. Bias was estimated as the difference in causal estimate…

This study introduces a novel approach for conducting Systematic Literature Reviews(SLRs) by incorporating a unique mixed-methods design into the well-established SLR process. The proposed approach, identified as Mixed-Methods Based Systematic Literature Review (MMB-SLR), not only provides researchers with a broader perspective on their research…