Realist research is increasingly used to evaluate complex interventions. However, it can be challenging to codify and implement, with few examples to guide the process. This article describes how a team of social care leaders, practitioners and researchers developed initial program theories for the Trauma Consultancy Service (TraCS) in early…

The study described a mentoring program of a state-funded research and its effects on research and reflective practices to graduate students. Participatory Action Research (PAR), designed as a methodical and program framework, engaged nine mentors (researchers of a state-funded research) and 29 graduate students (purposively invited) to…

Given the hegemony of developmentalism in early childhood education and care, this article uses a poetic juxtapositional approach to bewilder Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Critical consideration of how the theory of cognitive development has contributed to the imagining of a universal, ahistorical child and childhood(s) are discussed…

Universal design thinkers are needed now more than ever. The world is facing one humanitarian crisis after the other, forcing people to flee their homes and resettle elsewhere without knowing anything about the local language, traditions, and way of life. Moreover, an ageing population is in need of (housing) design that facilitates long-term…

Walking simultaneously in two worlds as an Indigenous researcher, navigating Indigenous and Western epistemologies/methodologies can have its challenges. Indigenous methodologies have become an important element of qualitative research and have been increasingly taken up by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers. Indigenous methodologies…

Developmental science (DS) is defined somewhat differently by different researchers. In the present essay DS is defined as (1) it concerns understanding "individual" development, partly in contrast to "group" development, (2) DS is cross-disciplinary, and (3) the individual is regarded as a "functioning whole,"…

This article examines the levels of analysis adopted in higher education research, using a database of 567 articles published in 15 leading higher education journals internationally during 2010. Level of analysis is a relatively overlooked issue in this field of research, when compared with methodology, theory and/or topic--to which it is, of…

For more than 10 years, the "Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions" has published, among other types of articles, behavioral intervention outcome studies related to positive behavior support. Operationally defining interventions is important to facilitating replication studies and adoption of intervention in applied settings. Furthermore,…

The authors present a set of guiding principles and strategies to facilitate the collaborative efforts of social work researchers and practitioners as they initiate, design, and implement outcome evaluations of human service interventions and programs. Beginning with an exploration of the interpersonal barriers to practice-research collaborations,…

This article emanates from an in-depth qualitative study that examined ideological beliefs among Indigenous parents regarding school desegregation and school "choice" policies in South Africa. The author discusses the politics of qualitative research design and methodology along two primary dimensions: decolonizing research and the…

Purpose: This paper analyses and discusses the "learning activities" that comprise obligatory learning at work by employees each month. The management strategy is to use these learning activities to spread knowledge, exchange experience and implement new skills within the organisation. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question:…

Fieldnotes are central to ethnographic practice, yet there is surprisingly little written about how fieldnotes are constructed. This article reports the results of some interviews with four well-known ethnographers of education who were questioned about their practice. It is designed to be a resource for those new (and, maybe not so new) to…

Traditionally, the literature has analyzed the existence of bias in the evaluation of papers submitted to scientific journals, but it has not considered any possible bias in the evaluation of studies submitted to conferences. In this sense we can ask whether the conferences provide an adequate service for researchers. This study examines whether…

The purpose of this paper is to address the gap that exists in the knowledge base for understanding the repertoire of images that preservice teachers gain as they engage in action research. Data were collected using a variety of qualitative methods: journals, metaphors, narratives, action research reports, and focus group interviews. Data were…

We present an approach to operationalizing discovery in literacy research by describing a diagnostic, abductive methodology. This methodology treats products of videotaped interviews and participant-authored footage as narrative data produced in scenes of literacy sponsorship. In describing the operations of our diagnostic approach, we foreground…