The aim of this research was to analyze pre-service teachers' perceptions of the concept "scientific knowledge" through metaphors. Phenomenology, one of qualitative research designs, was used in the study. A total of 189 pre-service teachers, including 158 females and 31 males, studying at different departments in the education faculty…

Multilevel data structures are ubiquitous in the assessment of differential item functioning (DIF), particularly in large-scale testing programs. There are a handful of DIF procures for researchers to select from that appropriately account for multilevel data structures. However, little, if any, work has been completed to extend a popular DIF…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the influence of wealth, transparency and democracy on the number of universities per million people ranked among the top 300 and 500. The highly ranked universities in the world tend to be concentrated in a few countries. Design/Methodology/Approach: ANOVA was used to test the differences between the two groups…

Experimental evaluations that involve the educational system usually involve a hierarchical structure (students are nested within classrooms that are nested within schools, etc.). Concerns about contamination, where research subjects receive certain features of an intervention intended for subjects in a different experimental group, have often led…

We provide an overview of research in sustainability education. We argue that the interconnectedness of environmental sustainability programs at K-12 schools is one metric by which sustainability education can be conceptualized. We present a new measure of whole-school sustainability, or "interconnectedness," and then use it to compare…

This study examined the leadership attributes perceived to be possessed by the presidents in South Carolina's Technical College System. The participants consisted of 16 presidents and 80 subordinates that were selected by the presidents. All participants were asked to complete the "Leader Attribute Inventory." Additionally, each…

Two versions of a decision rule for determining the most appropriate number of clusters on the basis of a correlation matrix are presented, applied, and compared with three other decision rules. The new rule is efficient for determining the number of clusters on the surface level for multilevel data. (SLD)

Eleven indexes of rurality and their effect on the classification of Michigan's 83 counties were investigated. The indexes were based on different concepts of rurality: (1) percent of employment in agriculture, fishing, and forestry; (2) population density and distance to urban centers; and (3) economic conditions. Index rankings were compared to…