Background: Understanding knowledge utilisation in policymaking is a core task for the social and political sciences. However, limitations and biases abound in commonplace approaches to measuring such use. Consequently, we have little systematic evidence of the extent to which knowledge sources are used in policy decisions. Aims and objectives:…

Through a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study, I examined the intersection of document analysis, sensemaking and policy implementation, that revealed rich descriptions of situated policy contexts and nested working practices where policy actors from Ontario, Canada, and England, UK, translated and used career guidance policy documents.…

Structure and organization seems to be at the root of many of the questions raised about institutional behaviour; however, with respect to research on university capacity building, few studies have examined research organizational problems, particularly in developing countries. This study investigates academic reactions to the structure and…

Content analysis is a systematic and objective technique which reduces into smaller sub-parts existing communications. It is the analytical reduction of a text to a standard set of statistically manipulatable symbols representing the presence, intensity, or frequency of characteristics. A case study of the use of content analysis is the U.S.…

A subjective expected utility (SEU) decision-making analysis was performed on the content of arguments generated by subjects privately or during group discussion in response to choice-dilemmas shown to shift toward risk and caution. (Editor)

Examines Kurt Lewin's theory of gatekeeping and the methods used by David Manning White in transposing Lewin's concept to communications situations. Reports on a study indicating that news magazine gatekeeping with respect to the population/family planning issue faithfully mirrors the perceptions of society. (GT)

This discussion of how the American Broadcasting Corporation television network determines acceptability of violent programing includes a description of their Incident Classification and Analysis Form System (ICAF), which tracks violence content of a series over several episodes to make sure it is conforming to current policy. (MBR)

Illustrates simple, inexpensive procedures for involving readers in decisions about which comics and light features to include in a newspaper. (RL)

This executive summary of a research project explores the general question of how school districts change their domains through the management of major proposals ("issues"). The study, which focused on case studies of three suburban superintendents' management of five to seven major issues, used raw data consisting of interviews with…

Thirty-two content evaluation studies of teacher licensure tests were reviewed; and methodological differences were noted regarding evaluation focus, the stringency of the charge to expert panelists, and the manner in which panelists' ratings were analyzed. Normative expectations for such content ratings are prepared. (SLD)

Criteria were developed and used to determine which of three existing computer-based instruction (CBI) lessons could be repurposed into a multimedia format. Researchers were commissioned to evaluate these three traditional linear CBI lessons by an insurance company. The lessons were updates on company policy and procedures. The repurposed CBI…

To illustrate the theoretical dynamics involved in analysis of the process of "metasensing," this paper investigates the language of 22 elementary school principals and their strategic actions during school improvement programs. The study's grounded theory approach frames the principals'"epistemology of practice"--thereby…

The role of the elementary school principal is critical in determining school effectiveness. This study analyzes the thinking and language of 22 "effective change" elementary school principals to discover common patterns in decisionmaking processes. The method of grounded theory delineates implicit theories principals use to make…

In a comparative analysis of values in state education policy, this paper demonstrates the need for a multifaceted methodology to understand the complexity that characterizes state sociopolitical systems. The paper refers to a study of education policy values among six states in its analysis. Identifying values and their influence form the central…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…