The youth mentoring program Big Brothers Big Sisters is one of the first social interventions involving youth in Ireland to be evaluated using a randomized controlled trial methodology. This article sets out the design process undertaken, describing how the research team came to adopt a concurrent embedded mixed methods design as a means of…

This paper explores some of the unique opportunities and challenges of integrating participatory action research into undergraduate GIS courses, drawing evidence from two undergraduate courses that contributed to a long-term participatory action research project. The author shows that incorporating participatory action research in undergraduate…

Despite the potential educational value of nature documentaries, the contribution of such films to environmental education is largely unknown. In the present study, we attempt to delineate the role of nature documentaries to the environmental sensitivity of students when the films are simply introduced to the class. More specifically, the present…

Across the country, a growing number of recent high school graduates are participating in summer bridge programs. These programs provide accelerated and focused learning opportunities in order to help students acquire the knowledge and skills needed for college success. The state of Texas has given particular attention to summer programs as a way…

Cross country investigations have repeatedly demonstrated the disappointing math performance of students in the United States (Beatty, 1997; Ferrini-Mundy & Schmidt, 2005). The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000) listed failure to rapidly recall basic facts as a common problem associated with disabilities in mathematics and…

This study investigated the longitudinal development of L2 vocabulary by 17 individual adult L2 learners in an English as a second language (ESL) instructed context over one academic year, combining a longitudinal case study design with two cross-sectional comparisons in order to enhance (a) detailed documentation addressing the idiosyncrasy of L2…

A descriptive quantitative study design was used to determine the impact of induction and mentoring on the success, satisfaction, and retention of new and novice school principals. Three research questions addressed the types of induction experiences new and novice principals reported, the types of support given to new and novice principals, and…

Research indicates that many adolescent students struggle with reading skills. Accordingly, this quantitative study attempted to address the problem of ninth-grade students entering high school deficient in literacy skills. The purpose of this non-experimental study was to investigate the effects a remedial reading program called Ramp-Up Literacy…

Previous work on statistical power has discussed mainly single-level designs or 2-level balanced designs with random effects. Although balanced experiments are common, in practice balance cannot always be achieved. Work on class size is one example of unbalanced designs. This study provides methods for power analysis in 2-level unbalanced designs…

When measuring outcomes in corporate training, the authors recommend that it is essential to introduce a comprehensive plan, especially when resources are limited and the company needs are vast. The authors hone in on five critical components for shaping a measurement plan to determine the success and ROI of training. The plan's components should…

In this study, we document a reflexive process via bracketing techniques and the development of a conceptual map in order to better understand how emotions that arise in the field can inform research design, implementation, and results. We conducted a content analysis of field notes written by a team of researchers who administered an interview to…

Children's right to participate as enshrined in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is increasingly evident in the rhetoric of policy documents as well as in practice and research with children and young people. Children's participation in research is being facilitated in a range of creative ways, including as…

This study investigated the effects of introducing the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) on the frequency of requesting and commenting and the length of verbal utterances of two children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who presented with some spoken language, but limited use of language in communicative exchanges. A mixed research…

A new line of research has emerged that examines the prevalence rates of mixed methods within disciplines in the social/behavioral sciences. Research presented in this article is unique in that it examines prevalence rates across multiple disciplines using an established cross-disciplinary classification scheme. Results indicate that there are…

This study investigated the use of online after-hours eMentoring as a nontraditional student support and retention strategy. The term eMentoring describes online support delivered to students electronically and through Learning Management Systems. An online university providing eMentors for student support was compared with a traditionally modeled…