The present work provides a review of two widely used approaches in educational research: action research and case study. Action research aims to improve educational practice by means of reflective cycles and shows variants according to a predominant paradigm, from technical to critical visions. A case study, described as an umbrella term, focuses…

Even though instructional videos are often used in many areas covering a wide range of studies and applications, the lack of a common approach for the definition and classification of instructional videos results in the use of several different models for these purposes. In order to develop such a common approach, there remains the need to build a…

For a few decades, map skills stay at the forefront of not only geographers' and geographic educators' research interest. To identify what has already been accomplished, where the research currently stands and where the potential for future studies lies, a review of the literature was carried out. Specifically, this comprehensive synthesis of map…

This chapter examines how studies focused on the same topic--disproportionality in special education--can generate vastly different conclusions about its sources and causes. By analyzing existing disagreements in the field, we explore essential questions about what constitutes high-quality and relevant evidence when seeking to understand how,…

There is considerable variation in the dynamical literature in how the term "complexity" is used. While there have been several attempts to describe from an educational perspective what complexity encompasses, the term is frequently used without an explicit definition. To forge a shared understanding of what complexity means, the purpose…

The purpose of this review is to further our knowledge about what is meant by inclusion in research addressing the topic. While it is common to remark that inclusion is defined in different ways in research, few attempts have been made to map and analyse different types of definitions and whether there are patterns to be find in how the concept is…

A critical aspect of rural research is carefully defining and describing the rural context. This is particularly important in rural special education research because different definitions of rural may influence resource allocation, grant funding eligibility, and/or research findings. In order to highlight the importance of operationalizing rural,…

Advances in theories of adolescent development and positive youth development have greatly increased our understanding of how programs and practices with adolescents can impede or enhance their development. In this article the authors reflect on the progress in research on youth development programs in the last two decades, since possibly the…

There is widespread interest among discipline-based science education researchers to situate their research in the existing scholarly literature base. Unfortunately, traditional approaches to conducting a thorough literature review are unduly hindered in astronomy education research as the venues in which scholarship is reported are fragmented and…

The purpose of this article is to help education practitioners and researchers understand that research about rural education is complicated not only by issues of defining "rural," but also by the often dramatic ways that rural schools differ from each other. We briefly address issues in defining rural and describe rural classification…

This state-of-the art paper focuses on the issue of linguistic giftedness, somewhat neglected in the second language acquisition (SLA) literature, attempting to reconceptualize, expand and update this concept in response to latest developments in the fields of psychology, linguistics and neurology. It first discusses contemporary perspectives on…

Properly defining a population ensures that resources, such as funding and access, meet the needs, expectations, and intended outcomes for those represented. Ethical concerns arise when a target population, such as the English Language Learner population, is defined in numerous yet incomplete ways, and differently in research and in state policies…

In this article, I propose an index, called the Social Index of Educational Effectiveness (SIEE), which allows the establishment of an objective criterion to define the school's profile concerning the promotion of educational equity. It makes it possible to differentiate schools with an "inclusionary profile," (SIEE>0), from those…

This document covers the data terms used in the "VET in Schools 2008" report. The primary purpose of this document is to assist users of the report to understand the specific data terms used within it. Terms that appear in the report are listed in alphabetical order with the following information provided for each: (1) Definition: a…

This document covers the data terms used in the "Indigenous Research and Statistics" resources. It covers information contained in the "Apprentices and Trainees June Quarter 2009 report," the "Students and Courses 2009" report and the "Student Outcomes 2009" report and their associated data tables. The primary purpose of this document is to assist…