In response to the critique of Gredler and Shields (2004) of Glassman's article "Dewey and Vygotsky: Society, Experience, and Inquiry in Educational Practice" (2001) we suggest that interpretation of theory is dynamic and based very much on the use of that theory as an instrument. Gredler and Shields argue that Glassman misinterprets Vygotsky…

Research on higher education grew in European countries from scattered individual activities towards a certain degree of visibility in the 1970s, largely as consequence of growing public problem awareness. In the 1980s, it experienced a set-back due to declining public interest in higher education as a key issue of societal policies. From the late…

This article begins by reviewing the scientific origins of research on career self-efficacy, highlighting its original development as a means of understanding the career development of women and discussing its development through the years into what is now, along with its extension as social cognitive career theory, a widely applicable major…

This paper summarizes an exploratory research study on the information-seeking habits of graduate student researchers in the humanities. In-depth interviews with a small sample of humanities graduate students were used to explore to what extent humanities graduate students might constitute a user group distinct from faculty and undergraduate…

When the authors began working with the editorial team for a major journal in their field, they decided to go beyond commitment to taking action by establishing support structures for teacher researchers who were novice writers and who wanted to publish their work in professional journals. Through their interactions with many teacher researchers…

Increasingly, universities around the world are employing ethics committees or similar bodies to require that social researchers enter into research contracts with research participants. Often, one of the stipulations regarding research contracts is that research participants be allowed to check the way in which their contribution is reported.…

This qualitative study describes the experience of professional contemporary dancers studying and applying the Alexander Technique to their dancing. This study was motivated by: 1. years of teaching both dance and somatics, 2. a strong desire to better understand how the Alexander Technique can be applied by dancers, and 3. a gap that the…

Limited financial resources are making it more difficult for colleges and universities to attract and retain top talent. Higher education institutions are constantly looking for ways to remedy this problem. This case study examines Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's initiative to redesign its pay system to reward top faculty members and…

Basic research can inform social policy in a number of ways. First, it can draw the attention of policy makers to problems. Second, it can deflect policy makers away from focusing on issues that are not really problems. Third, it can help policy makers understand whether or not factors are causally related to problems and the processes underlying…

In T. van Strien, R. C. M. E. Engels, W. van Staveren, and C. P. Herman's (see record 2006-03905-010) comment, they contested the conclusion that dietary restraint scales are invalid measures of acute dietary restriction (E. Stice, M. Fisher, & M. R. Lowe, 2004). The authors respond to their concerns and conclude that researchers should (a) not…

Evident from the responses to the author's paper is the fact that other researchers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia have had cause to consider the issues that contribute to the complexities of involving people with intellectual disabilities, who may not be able to provide their own consent, in research. Comments by Aman and…

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brought devastation and confusion to the Mississippi Gulf Coast region on August 29, 2005. A desperate need for leadership, collaboration, and coordination of relief and recovery efforts was revealed during a March 2007 strategic planning session involving 96 organizations, groups, agencies, and researchers…

Teens are impatient and unsophisticated online researchers who are often limited by their poor reading skills. Because they are attracted to clean and simple Web interfaces, they often turn to Google--and now Wikipedia--to help meet their research needs. The Google Game, co-authored by this author, teaches kids that there is a well-thought-out…

Marie Evans Schmidt and Elizabeth Vandewater review research on links between various types of electronic media and the cognitive skills of school-aged children and adolescents. One central finding of studies to date, they say, is that the content delivered by electronic media is far more influential than the media themselves. Most studies, they…

This article presents a study of the effects of creating a bridge between the narrative and ethnographic methods and writing processes as a means to more effectively educate teachers of culturally diverse learners. Ten teacher participants from a Masters of Education (M.Ed.) degree program in Bilingual Education at a university in the northwestern…