This article is written with the recognition that, as higher education studies evolve as a multidisciplinary area of inquiry, there is a need to reflect on the theoretical and practical concerns emerging from conducting higher education research. This is especially the case for early-career researchers who enter this relatively new field of study.…

This resource has been written specifically for higher education practitioners who are interested in improving students' learning experiences through the process of researching their own practice. We use the term 'higher education practitioners' to describe all who work in universities and who have a stake in students' learning experiences.…

Emerging technologies offer an opportunity for the development, at the institutional level, of quality processes with greater capacity to enhance learning in higher education than available through current quality processes. These systems offer the potential to extend use of learning analytics in institutional-level quality processes in addition…

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how poststructuralism and social constructionism can contribute to the empirical research on groups in problem-based learning (PBL). The paper outlines the analytical complexity and shows, through empirical examples, the potentials and limitations of this perspective as an alternative to traditional group…

We present an innovative course-based undergraduate research experience curriculum focused on the characterization of single point mutations in p53, a tumor suppressor gene that is mutated in more than 50% of human cancers. This course is required of all introductory biology students, so all biology majors engage in a research project as part of…

This paper is based on research to identify common factors that contribute to the effective strategic leadership of teaching and learning centres. The second of three phases of data collection involved a survey of Directors of Australian teaching and learning centres. The data collected were quantitatively analysed using a range of descriptive,…

Participatory exercises are standard practice in qualitative methods courses; less common are projects that engage students in the entire research process, from research design to write-up. Although the teaching literature provides several models of complete research projects, their feasibility, and appropriateness for large, compulsory,…

The influence of atmospheric conditions and the day of the week on school children's behavior was investigated by undergraduates. The college students were told either that their participation in the research was compulsory and would be graded, or that their participation was voluntary and ungraded. Fifty teachers observed their pupils' behavior…

The data presented in this article represents the results of the most recent NACAC Salary Survey for College and University admissions officers. Salary data was collected for nearly 4,000 college and university admissions officers. (Author)

The Cooperative Institutional Research Program, the largest ongoing study of higher education in the United States, is discussed in terms of its conceptual framework, technical aspects of data collection, and uses of the data in research and national policymaking. (Author/MSE)

This paper describes the evolution of a group research project undertaken by six communication graduate students, using the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), a collection of primary source materials on over 250 predominantly pre-literate cultures representing all major areas of the world. The paper narrates the students' research processes, from…

Field research gives graduate students a direct experience in appreciating the differences between doing research and reporting it. This paper reports the field experience provided in a doctoral program at the School of Education at Syracuse University. With the support and assistance of faculty consultants, a structured problem approach was used.…

Far too many students handle a research assignment through the tear and glue approach, a wholesale--though usually not quite so literal--copying of materials from books followed by a heavy handed plastering of the foreign material into their papers. Their papers are foredoomed to mediocrity or worse. By overstressing the dichotomy between critical…

A consortium-based, student-oriented interinstitutional research project for educational assessment is described. The College Research Center (CRC) experience suggests that a consortium can be an effective vehicle but that there are difficulties in cultivating interest and long-term commitment. (Author/LBH)

This book, written by three women who have recently completed doctoral degrees, attempts to provide an honest, humorous, and useful guide to the realities of the doctoral dissertation process. Advice is included from students and graduates of both genders, all ages, varied ethnic groups, and many disciplines and universities in diverse parts of…