This commentary considers some of the challenges of applying mixed methods research in undergraduate research degrees, especially in professions with a clinical health focus. Our experience in physiotherapy academia is used as an example. Mixed methods research is increasingly appreciated in its own right as a "third paradigm," however the success…

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of different types of instruction and texts on high schools students' learning of (a) history content and (b) a set of heuristics that historians use to think critically about texts. Participants for the study were 128 male and 118 female students, ages 16 and 17 years, from 2 high schools in…

The effects of method of reproduction, status of researcher and personalization of signature on the initial rate of return of mail questionnaires were investigated, using a one-page combination cover letter and questionnaire mailed to 200 full professors, 200 associate professors and 200 assistant professors at the University of Maryland, College…

With a focus on the use of technology when evaluating programs for Aboriginal people, this article explores the possibility of using visual and oral computer technology to enhance the incorporation of Aboriginal worldviews in program evaluation. The author situates Aboriginal worldviews, including methods of communication and transmission of…

Extensive evidence exists demonstrating the benefits of repeated readings (RR) interventions at increasing students' fluency on intervention passages. Few studies however have examined the extent to which repeatedly reading one passage improves students' reading fluency on similar passages. Using an alternating treatment design, we examined the…

In this study, a variation of the bookmark standard setting procedure for passage-based tests is proposed in which separate ordered item booklets are created for the items associated with each passage. This variation is compared to the traditional bookmark procedure for a fifth-grade reading test. The results showed that the single-passage…

Meehl's taxometric method was developed to distinguish categorical and continuous constructs. However, taxometric output can be difficult to interpret because expected results for realistic data conditions and differing procedural implementations have not been derived analytically or studied through rigorous simulations. By applying bootstrap…

This article illustrates how to (a) use schoolwide data to monitor student responsiveness to primary and secondary prevention efforts to identify students for tertiary preventions and (b) design, implement, and evaluate a function-based intervention in collaboration with two general education teachers, who served as the primary interventionists.…

As a consequence of findings and theses on the change in demand for qualifications, the debates on lifelong learning and a large number of articles on the theory of didactics, since the mid-1980s the concept has become established that traditional methods of teaching and learning in vocational education are dysfunctional and should be replaced or…

This research examined goal attainment as it is related to client stability in the process of counseling adolescents admitted to a crisis residence. Data were collected from licensed master's-level clinicians treating adolescent clients admitted to an acute care psychiatric program at 1 of 2 hospitals located in the mid-South. There was a…

The author illustrates a method for measuring international openness by bringing forward some examples. The index proposed measures the capacity of countries for a given phenomenon, adjusted for their weight in the phenomena concerned. In this study, the Index is applied to measure the degree of openness to international migration in a number of…

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion concerning the value and validity of fiction, and arts-based approaches more broadly, as research. I offer this contribution through a narrative: "Conference Story." The narrative involves its characters, in an Oxford pub, debating the merits and otherwise of Peter Clough's (2002)…

Most researchers agree that psychological/educational tests are sensitive to multiple traits, implying the need for a multidimensional item response theory (MIRT). One limitation of applying a MIRT in practice is the difficulty in establishing equivalent scales of multiple traits. In this study, a new MIRT linking method was proposed and evaluated…

Reports on the design phase of two case studies of two small local human service agencies. The participatory design process is described and the meaning of stakeholder participation is reviewed. The value of stakeholder participation in evaluation design is affirmed. (RB)