The world's population is ageing, with forecasts predicting this ageing is likely to be particularly severe in the rural areas of more developed countries. These forecasts are developed from nationally aggregated census and survey data and assume spatial homogeneity in ageing. They also draw on narrow understandings of older people and construct…

This article examines the psychometric structure of the Anxiety Control Questionnaire (ACQ) in Chinese adolescents. With the data collected from 212 senior high school students (94 females, 110 males, 8 unknown), seven models are tested using confirmatory factor analyses in the framework of the multitrait-multimethod strategy. Results indicate…

Combining diverse methods in a single study raises a problem: What should be done when the findings of one method of investigation conflict with those of another? We illustrate this problem using an example in which three study phases--quantitative, qualitative, and intervention--were applied. The findings coming from the quantitative phase did…

This article argues that a mixed methods approach is useful in understanding the complexity that underlies teachers' commitment to environmental education. Using sequential and concurrent procedures, the authors demonstrate how different methodological approaches highlighted different aspects of teacher commitment. The quantitative survey examined…

This paper reports on a commissioned research project to evaluate the impact of support (mainly funding) given by the UK Government's National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to various projects under the general heading of "science learning" over a four-year period (2000-2004). Findings emerging from the study…

The Life-Patterns project is a panel-cohort longitudinal study following the life trajectories of 1,908 young people who left school in Victoria in 1991. The project attempts to obtain nuanced pictures of young people's lives in three ways: using a reflexive longitudinal study design, with opportunities for participant feedback and influence on…

The multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) paradigm is used widely to assess construct validity, but D. A. Kenny and D. A. Kashy (1992) lament that even after 30 years we still do not know how to analyze MTMM data. The Composite Direct Product (CDP) model has recently attracted considerable attention. Its strengths and weaknesses are evaluated, and a…