Background: While qualitative research on intellectual disability is on the rise, researchers have frequently reported that their methods bring methodological and ethical challenges. The authors advance shadowing as an alternative method to respond to these concerns. Method: The authors draw on their experiences with shadowing on the basis of two…

The healthcare environment is becoming increasingly dependent on health information technology, with providers, patients, payers, and other players producing and sharing information to improve healthcare delivery. This, in turn, has brought the issue of Health Information Infrastructure (HII) to the forefront of policy, design, and law. While…

In the first of this four-part series of policy briefs on student data in California, we noted a disconnect in the views of state policy staff and local educators on the need for a statewide longitudinal student data system (see "About This Series"). The local educators we interviewed expressed a readiness to participate in a state data…

Conventional wisdom suggests that local educators tend to be wary of efforts by the state to gather more information from their institutions, due to the burdens that such requests often entail. But California's current education landscape, with its shift from state to local control of funding and accountability in the K-12 system, its massive…

As part of our NSF funded collaborative project on Data Sharing within Engineering Education Community, we conducted an empirical study to better understand the current climate of data sharing and participants' future expectations of the field. We present findings of this mixed method study and discuss implications. Overall, we found strong…

The History Harvest project (http://historyharvest.unl.edu) is an open, digital archive of historical artifacts gathered from communities across the United States. Each year, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of History partners with local institutions and community members within a highlighted area to collect, preserve, and share…

Distance learning has flourished in Sudan during the last two decades; more and more higher education institutions offer distance learning programmes to off-campus students. Like on-campus students, distance learners should have access to appropriate library and information support services. They also have specific needs for library and…

The purpose of this interpretive qualitative research study was to explore how adult learners perceive they construct knowledge in connection to their participation in educational outreach programs, encompassing a continuum of formal, non-formal, and informal learning experiences. The study context involved three world affairs outreach education…

The December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami wrecked thousands of lives, homes, and livelihoods--losses that could have been avoided with timely and better information. A resource such as information is needed at a fundamental level much like water, food, medicine, or shelter. This dissertation examines the development of the Thai information…

Uses an exploratory study, "Children, Parents and Risk," to examine some ethical and methodological issues specific to child-focused research. Focuses on gatekeepers who control access to parents and children, and on the interview process, asserting that the research process itself constitutes an important source of data on models of…

Summarizes a study that identified and described federal information inventory/locator systems and resulted in the Federal Locator Database--an electronic database describing 250 federal databases. Recommends that the U.S. Office of Management and Budget develop policy frameworks for the design of a governmentwide locator system accessible over…

This study continues the research reported in "Federal Information Inventory/Locator Systems: From Burden to Benefit: Final Report" (McClure, et al., 1990). Begun May 1, 1991, and completed in August 1992, this exploratory and descriptive research was intended to improve access to and use of U.S. Government information. Its methodology…