Researchers' notions of research quality depend on their field of research. Previous studies have shown that field-specific assessment criteria exist but could explain neither why these specific criteria and not others exist, nor how criteria are used in specific assessment situations. To give initial answers to these questions, formal assessment…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe evidenced-based assessment practices for school-age children with any severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that could inform the practice of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Method: A scoping review of the literature was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic…

Researchers strategically assess youth mental health by soliciting reports from multiple informants. Typically, these informants (e.g., parents, teachers, youth themselves) vary in the social contexts where they observe youth. Decades of research reveal that the most common data conditions produced with this approach consist of discrepancies…

Realist methodologies have been increasingly advocated for the investigation of complex social issues. Public health programs, such as those designed to prevent adolescent risk behavior, are typically considered complex. In conducting a realist review of the empirical literature relating to such programs, we encountered several challenges,…

Effect sizes are powerful tools for evaluating the practical importance of study findings that should be considered in the context of study characteristics such as participants, dependent variables, and comparison condition. In this article, we discuss how group-difference effect sizes are used to gauge the practical importance of group…

Research impact features heavily in debates about 'the measured university' and is now formally assessed by governments in the UK and Australia. Yet clear guidance on how impact can be measured in non-monetary ways is often lacking because of confused thinking and the context-specific nature of outcomes. To help resolve this, we first propose a…

There is a contradiction in the literature about the effect of REACT strategy on science achievement. This study aims to resolve this contradiction by determining the effect of REACT strategy on student science achievement and the factors affecting this strategy by integrating findings obtained from both qualitative and quantitative studies. The…

Against the backdrop of proliferating research on multimodality in the fields of literacy and writing studies, this article considers the contributions of two prominent theoretical perspectives--Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Situated Literacies--and the methodological tensions they raise for the study of multimodality. To delineate…

This paper is about a design-based research project which evaluated the novel use of Lesson Study for assessment (LSfA) purposes. It starts by explaining the principles and design of LSfA procedures based on a Lesson Study model and dynamic assessment principles. It outlines the training and support provided to six Lesson Study teams in three…

This study explored motivation and engagement among North American (the United States and Canada; n = 1,540), U.K. (n = 1,558), Australian (n = 2,283), and Chinese (n = 3,753) secondary school students. Motivation and engagement were assessed via students' responses to the Motivation and Engagement Scale-High School (MES-HS). Confirmatory factor…

Attention to evaluation quality is commonplace, even if sometimes implicit. Drawing on her 2010 Presidential Address to the American Evaluation Association, Leslie Cooksy suggests that evaluation quality depends, at least in part, on the intersection of three factors: (a) evaluator competency, (b) aspects of the evaluation environment or context,…

The research assessment framework is an unstable reality in many countries. While few would disagree that there is a need to measure and reward research excellence, there has been little investigation of how assessment mechanisms relate to knowledge itself. With a focus on the arts and humanities and writing from an Australian perspective, this…

This special section was inspired by the recent increased interest and methodological advances in the assessment of context-specificity in child and adolescent social development. While the effects of groups, situations, and social relationships on cognitive, affective and behavioral development have long been acknowledged in theoretical…

This article reports on a formative and internal evaluation of teacher induction practices for newly hired teachers in a US university ESL program. By adopting a utilization-focused approach, evaluators produced a design that was articulated to the information needs of the evaluation users. The ensuing findings were then used to develop and…

In recent years researchers have paid substantial attention to the issue of college students' alcohol use. One limitation to the current literature is an over reliance on retrospective, self-report survey data. This article presents field methodologies for measuring college students' alcohol consumption in natural drinking environments.…