Background: The peer review of clinical research projects is an essential step in project preparation. While some projects undergo rigorous review by grant-giving organizations, this does not apply to all clinical research. In many cases, peer review, if undertaken at all, is not rigorous, fully independent, or timely. Depending on their…

Far from allowing a governance of universities by the invisible hand of market forces, research performance assessments do not just measure differences in research quality, but yield themselves visible symptoms in terms of a stratification and standardization of disciplines. The article illustrates this with a case study of UK history departments…

The experience of the UK Research Councils in assessing the impacts of their research funding is discussed, including a report on the findings of research which reviewed the impact studies implemented by the Research Councils. The response of the Councils to the challenge of demonstrating the impacts of their funding and the main methodologies…

This book is the annual report of the Foundation for Educational Research (Stichting Voor Onderzoek Van Het Onderwijs--SVO) of the Netherlands. Chapter 1 is an introduction which explains SVO's part in educational research, while chapter 2 discusses the general affairs of the SVO. In chapter 3 SVO activities are described. They include (1) project…

This guidebook is intended to help researchers apply for funds for research projects in distance education through the Distance Education Council of Indira Gandhi National Open University (India). The stated intent of this guidebook is to encourage system-based research; to promote in-depth studies to evaluation programs, their impact, and their…

In Canada's Exemplary Schools Project, a national committee designed and coordinated 21 case studies. A committee member recounts decisions made about design and method, and highlights differences between method and methodology, as well as variations in conceptualization of qualitative research. Discusses the meaning of "exemplary,"…

Following a damning report on the state of police probationer training in England and Wales by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, entitled "Training Matters" (2002), the Home Office (2003), as part of its modernisation programme for the police service, decided that what police officers were required to know and learn to execute…

Canada's Exemplary Schools Project, a study of 21 secondary schools nationwide, involved continual tension between the need for a coherent and shared national research approach and the need to allow local variation and initiative. A member of the national coordinating committee explores how this tension affected research design and the writing of…