Amid recent progress in cognitive development research, high-quality data resources are accumulating, and data sharing and secondary data analysis are becoming increasingly valuable tools. Integrative data analysis (IDA) is an exciting analytical framework that can enhance secondary data analysis in powerful ways. IDA pools item-level data across…

Researchers' "reflexivity" about how they shape the phenomena that they study within the data collection process is often presented as a crucial component of ethnographic research methodology. Nevertheless, academic literature about ethnography is mostly silent around whether researchers' dreams are relevant to the research process and…

In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), treatments are assigned randomly and treatments are withheld from participants. Is it ethically permissible to conduct an RCT in a social setting? This paper addresses two conditions for justifying RCTs: that there should be a state of equipoise and that the trial should be scientifically promising.…

As the community of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) scholars has flourished across Canada and around the world, there has been a growing sense among humanists that SoTL work has been dominated by the epistemologies, philosophies, and research methods of the social sciences. This is a view that has been supported by SoTL journal editors…

This article provides an overview of the recruitment strategies utilized in the Mumbai Worksites Tobacco Control Study, a cluster randomized trial testing the effectiveness of an integrated tobacco control and occupational safety and health program in Indian manufacturing worksites. From June 2012 to June 2013, 20 companies were recruited.…

Evaluation theories can be tested in various ways. One approach, the experimental analogue study, is described and illustrated in this article. The approach is presented as a method worthy to use in the pursuit of what Alkin and others have called descriptive evaluation theory. Drawing on analogue studies conducted by the first author, we…

This article focuses on the nature of the writing in 73 articles published in six U.S. and U.K. political science and international relations journals that focus on teaching and learning. A comparative analysis is made of the articles through a review of the characteristics of the authors, the themes researched, the analytical focus, the research…

This response to Perna et al. provides an alternate approach to research on massive open online courses (MOOCs). We argue that a student-centered, theory-driven conceptualization and methodological approaches allow us to move beyond descriptive statistics and into a deeper understanding of MOOC learners. Examples using a teacher development MOOC…

Machine learning has immense potential to enhance diagnostic and intervention research in the behavioral sciences, and may be especially useful in investigations involving the highly prevalent and heterogeneous syndrome of autism spectrum disorder. However, use of machine learning in the absence of clinical domain expertise can be tenuous and lead…

Determining how best to meet the needs of learners with Down syndrome requires an approach to intervention delivered at some level of intensity. How treatment intensity affects learner acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of skills can help optimize the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of interventions. There is a growing body of research…

This paper considers some of the ethical issues surrounding the study of malicious activity in social networks, specifically using a technique known as "social honeypots" combined with the use of deception. This is a potentially touchy area of study that is common to social and behavioral research that is well understood to fall within…

Research on the transition of students into Academia has previously focused on intelligence and effort as determinants of success. In this article I will argue that the liminal experience of transition into the academic environment is enhanced by multi-logic spaces where curiosity and focus are key attributes of the academic literacy classroom. In…

The article is devoted to the research of the methodological changes that occur in the field of comparative education as a result of globalization. A deep analysis of the globalization phenomenon is undertaken with a special focus on the differentiation of globalization, internationalisation, regionalisation and integration. UNESCO's role in the…

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'…

In 2010, I embarked on a study which involved an investigation of the antecedents of adolescents' intentions to take drugs, fight and steal, using an elicitation study. The aim of the study was to understand and describe adolescents' attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, moral norms and negative affect associated with these…