This article examines the issue of cognates in frequency-based vocabulary size testing. Data from a pilot study for a cognate-controlled English vocabulary size test was used to assess whether a group of Japanese university English learners (n = 60) were more successful at responding to cognate items than noncognate ones in three 1000 word…

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the factors that supported low-income first-generation (LIFG) transfer graduates of four-year institutions in their persistence at the community college level. Specifically, this study focused on students who started at a community college in a Mid-Western State and…

Background/Context: The increasing number of districts implementing mentoring and induction programs suggests that policymakers are aware of the need to increase the support available to new teachers. The argument underlying many of these programs is based, at least partly, on assumptions about beginning teachers' emotional responses to their…

This article re-assesses the methodological difficulties involved in researching the powerful in education. It reviews the major areas and issues that researchers focused on: problems of access, different types of interviewing, interpretation of data generated through interviews and ethical issues. It argues that in most aspects researching…

This study assessed the effects of sampling breadth on technical features of word identification fluency (WIF), a tool for screening and monitoring the reading development of first graders. From a potential pool of 704 first-grade students, the authors measured both a representative sample (n = 284) and 2 other subgroups: those with low reading…

Purpose: The main aim of this paper is to develop guidelines on the critical issues to consider in research design in an action research (AR) environment for SME network capability development. Design/methodology/approach: The issues in research design for AR studies are developed from the authors' experience in running learning sets but, in…

Even with the history of debate over the merits of homework, there are significant gaps in the research record regarding its benefit to students. The focus of this study is on the association between time spent on homework and academic performance in science and math by assessing survey and transcript data from two nationally representative…

As part of an interview protocol investigating teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in statistics, 40 teachers were presented with a newspaper article reporting a phone-in survey about the legalisation of marijuana. The article and a question about the reliability of the sample had earlier been used in student surveys, and three student…

The 3PL model is a flexible and widely used tool in assessment. However, it suffers from limitations due to its need for large sample sizes. This study introduces and evaluates the efficacy of a new sample size augmentation technique called Duplicate, Erase, and Replace (DupER) Augmentation through a simulation study. Data are augmented using…

Heuristics embodying limited information search and noncompensatory processing of information can yield robust performance relative to computationally more complex models. One criticism raised against heuristics is the argument that complexity is hidden in the calculation of the cue order used to make predictions. We discuss ways to order cues…

In Ghana, many professional teachers have been leaving teaching to seek employment in jobs that they think hold promise of better pay and prestige. This article critically examines the key factors that compel teachers to leave the teaching profession for other jobs. Thirty professionally trained teachers who had taught at pretertiary institutions…

A concern for generalization dominates quantitative research. For generalizability and repeatability, identification of sample size is essential. The present study investigates 90 qualitative master's theses submitted for the Primary and Secondary School Science and Mathematics Education Departments, Mathematic Education Discipline in 10…

Studies often report that bilingual participants possess a smaller vocabulary in the language of testing than monolinguals, especially in research with children. However, each study is based on a small sample so it is difficult to determine whether the vocabulary difference is due to sampling error. We report the results of an analysis of 1,738…

Monte Carlo simulations are a classical tool to analyse physical systems. When unlikely events are to be simulated, the importance sampling technique is often used instead of Monte Carlo. Importance sampling has some drawbacks when the problem dimensionality is high or when the optimal importance sampling density is complex to obtain. In this…

This study evaluated the effects of an experimenter-delivered choice-making procedure. Three nonambulatory and partially ambulatory preschoolers were given access to six teacher-nominated preferred toys in two conditions: child choice and interventionist choice. Using an alternating treatment design and a 10-second momentary time-sampling…