I commenced my project in 2010 with a view to developing a teaching model that would make the experience of learning mathematics and statistics fun for university students enrolled on a variety of degree programmes. These students are compulsorily required to study mathematics and statistics courses as core modules of their degree work.…

Background: In science education today, there is an emerging focus on what is happening in situ, making use of an array of analytical traditions. Common practice is to use one specific analytical framing within a research project, but there are projects that make use of multiple analytical framings to further the understanding of the same data,…

Studies of the effects of class attendance on class performance typically are quasi-experimental because students choose whether or not to attend class; that is, the samples are self-selecting. The lack of random assignment prevents one from establishing a causal relationship between attendance and performance. Relating attendance to performance…

This case study presents an overview of the major challenges and tensions I encountered exploring the social-class experiences of university students from low-income backgrounds. The study presented here was a qualitative study using phenomenology and a critical theoretical lens to gain a depth of understanding of low-income university students'…

Organizational and applied sciences have long struggled with improving causal inference in quasi-experiments. We introduce organizational researchers to propensity scoring, a statistical technique that has become popular in other applied sciences as a means for improving internal validity. Propensity scoring statistically models how individuals in…

In this article, the authors discuss the utility of combining quantitative and qualitative methods in conducting intersectional analyses. First, they discuss some of the paradigmatic underpinnings of qualitative and quantitative research, and how these methods can be used in intersectional analyses. They then consider how paradigmatic pragmatism…

Despite the widespread assumption that students require scaffolding support for self-regulated learning (SRL) processes in computer-based learning environments (CBLEs), there is little clarity as to which types of scaffolds are most effective. This study offers a literature review covering the various scaffolds that support SRL processes in the…

Education research rarely lends itself to large scale experimental research and true randomization, leaving the researcher to quasi-experimental designs. The problem with quasi-experimental research is that underlying factors may impact group selection and lead to potentially biased results. One way to minimize the impact of non-randomization is…

Attempts to account for discrepancies between results of the Hall and Kingsley experiment (1968), (in which the majority of college students did not resist extinction in a contrived instance of non-conservation of weight), and the Miller, Schwartz and Stewart experiment (1973), (in which the majority did resist extinction). (ED)

Reported is a discussion concerning the effect of different analyses of the same empirical data. Students (N=over 200) enrolled in an introductory college chemistry course for science majors were randomly assigned to two experimental treatments. Treatment O was designed to help students understand the objectives of the course and to emphasize the…

Reviewed 65 reports, dated 1986 through 1990, focusing on college student alcohol consumption patterns. Review shows that shortcomings in research design, analysis, and presentation of results make it difficult to draw conclusions regarding the present nature and problem of college student drinking. (Author/NB)

The literature and typical approaches to reducing attrition among college students are critiqued, and a strategy for the identification of different interventions likely to have positive effects on retention rates of different student subgroups is proposed. It is claimed that a small sample approach to empirical testing of the combinations of…

Several experiments investigating the relationship between frequency of testing and learning are reviewed, and features of design which could have influenced outcomes are discussed. A study on test frequency is presented, in which relevant variables, apparently not considered in previous research, are controlled. Results indicate that moderate…

Examines the possibility that specification errors contributed to the Schuman et al. (1985) findings of a weak relationship between study time and college grades. Analyzes main and interactive effects, measures of quantity and quality of study, and various context-specific models of college grades. Results challenge previous findings. (Author/SV)