The purpose of the research study was to measure any change among undergraduate students in their attitudes and beliefs about death, dying, and bereavement after taking a class specifically focused on this topic. Human services professionals frequently work with clients trying to cope with issues related to death, dying, and bereavement, and their…

As part of my PgCert in Higher Education Practice, I undertook a learning and teaching research project into the effect of small group mathematics tutorials on student confidence and academic performance. I chose this project because it related directly to my practice as a higher education lecturer: I regularly supported first year animal science…

This account describes my research experiences as a doctoral student in education, seeking to understand what transition to Higher Education was like for undergraduate students. I was supported throughout the process by my colleague and supervisor Dr Jane Tobbell. I conducted ethnographic research and the case study provides an account of the…

The aim of this research was to explore personal and professional influences on practice when constructing academic feedback for undergraduate students from a lecturer perspective, an under-researched area of practice. Autoethnography was used to foreground my personal experiences from which a more relational understanding of the intersecting…

This case study provides a critical account of the evaluation of an action research project known as the Public Sector Developmental Mentoring Scheme with a particular focus of the research methods in action. The aim of the project was to develop public sector mentors who would be able to support the goal of increased employability for a diverse…

As a doctoral student, I was asked to focus my dissertation research on a subject that would shed light on a current problem in higher education. Since I had concentrated a great amount of writing throughout my coursework to Hispanic student success and was interested in this topic, I chose to contribute research in that area. After a review of…

This case study considers how a non-equivalent control group design was used in a PhD study examining the impact of a multiple intelligence teaching approach on student engagement and learning. Two groups of second year undergraduate nursing students undertook the study: a treatment group (n = 26) and a control group (n = 18). The intervention for…

This study is designed to give new researchers an understanding of the methodological principles and practices of living educational theory research as a tool for improving professional practice. It draws on Jack Whitehead and Jean McNiff's (2006) approach to living theory methodology to improve educational practice. The study was guided by the…

Having made the move from a professional practice role to an educator position, I decided that it would be beneficial to improve my understanding and capability to support student learning in the higher education setting. As such, I made the choice to take up doctoral studies. While working with students and other instructors, the subject of…

Based on my 5 years' experience that spanned the period 2002--2007 as an academic developer responsible for students and staff development, I realised that creativity was generally marginalised in undergraduate studies. In 2008, I enrolled for my PhD with the purpose of finding out whether advanced undergraduate classrooms supported students'…

This case study describes a survey research project in an experiential, classroom/field setting. It provides an example of the collaboration between a practitioner agency (police department) and researcher (the University). The research project provided students hands-on experience 'doing' survey research and they actively participated in the…

This case study provides an account of a semester-long study in an undergraduate sports medicine class; the study was for my PhD dissertation. The aim was to determine whether a peer assessment/feedback training program was effective. I knew that previous research in my field and in education found little quantitative differences for a…

My research was rooted in the concern that we who live in modern cultures are losing our sense of being part of nature, and that as our sense of connectedness diminishes, so too does our care for nature and our appreciation for its importance to our own well-being. Numerous studies have shown that contact with nature is important to our health.…

This case study outlines the use of multilevel modeling for meta-analysis to analyze the meta-analytic data for a 3-year project. The focus of the project, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, was on comparing the performance (achievement) of undergraduate students who were taught using one of the various types of active…

This case study describes the creation process for a mixed methods study from 2009 to 2011, examining for the first time gender differences in how undergraduate students create videos for online platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. I conducted this research for my doctoral dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of…