I dedicate this paper to my friend and colleague, Mike Fetters, who served as senior co-editor of the "Journal of Mixed Methods Research" (JMMR). In this paper, I discuss key mixed methods developments over the last 35 years, my fortunate involvement in them, and my collaboration with Mike Fetters in several of them. The discussion…

This paper seeks to raise awareness among educational researchers and practitioners of some significant weaknesses and internal contradictions of randomised control trials (RCTs). Although critiques throughout the years from education scholars have pointed to the detrimental effects of this experimental approach on education practice and values,…

Educational research, and research in the Social Sciences more generally, has experienced a growth in the introduction of ethical review boards since the 1990s. Increasingly, universities have set up ethics review procedures that require researchers to submit applications seeking approval to conduct research. Review boards and the rules and…

In 2015, the European Educational Research Association (EERA) initiated a study to examine education researchers' experiences with and attitudes towards research ethics reviews. This paper is not a result of this study; nevertheless, it is related to it while critically reflecting upon the issue of research ethics reviews. It starts with an…

The paper highlights the development of a collaborative formative assessment scoring process in a partnership between an urban university and one of the nation's largest districts. We explore collaborative research through the lens of a single formative assessment rubric derived from the Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning Framework (CER, McNeill…

In the Australian higher education sector, the challenges to successful engagement and retention experienced by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students and communities are considerable. They persist despite many well-intentioned attempts to address this issue and to strengthen equity in participation in the sector. Implicated in this is…

As an initial step toward improving the outcomes of learners with disabilities, special educators have formulated guidelines for identifying evidence-based practices. We describe the Council of Exceptional Children's new set of standards for identifying evidence-based practices in special education and how they (a) were systematically vetted by…

In this article, we argue that big data can offer new opportunities and roles for educational researchers. In the traditional model of evidence-gathering and interpretation in education, researchers are independent observers, who pre-emptively create instruments of measurement, and insert these into the educational process in specialized times and…

The purpose of this article is to move readers toward a deeper understanding of and widened respect for autoethnography's capacity as an empirical endeavor. An argument is presented in favor of autoethnography as empirical by translating information from its epistemological and methodological history across the AERA standards for reporting…

Background: Extending Merton's (1936) work on the consequences of purposive social action, the model, theory and taxonomy outlined here incorporates and formalizes both anticipated and unanticipated research findings in a unified theoretical framework. The model of anticipated research findings was developed initially by Carifio (1975, 1977) and…

Considering Canada's Tri-Council statement on the ethical conduct for research involving human subjects, we discuss some of the ethical challenges of doing research on teaching and learning in which one's own students and teaching act as the context of such scholarly activity. We advocate establishing basic principles based in the complex…

This paper illustrates the surplus value of multilevel exploratory factor analysis in educational effectiveness research. Educational researchers often use measures for process variables at the class or school level to explain differences in student outcomes. Recently, van de Vijver and Poortinga (2002) have developed a procedure for multilevel…

This is the third in a series of policy reports on the results of a four-year study of America's education schools. This report focuses on the need for quality education research and on the preparation of scholars and researchers who conduct such research. Approximately two decades into a school improvement movement, education research is assuming…

In a previous article, Phil Hodkinson argued that there are currently attempts to impose a methodological orthodoxy on educational research, one that is empiricist in character and privileges quantitative method. While agreeing with much of what he says, I take issue with key elements of his argument. I suggest that he presents too rosy a picture…

Describes how the development of the National Science Education Standards occurred within a political context and through a process with political aspects and political intents. Contains 25 references. (DDR)