The integration of ideas, methods, and data from diverse disciplines has been a transformative force in science and higher education, attracting policy interventions, program innovations, financial resources, and talented people. Much energy has been invested in producing a new generation of scientists trained to work fluidly across disciplines,…

In this paper we present our experiences of conducting focus groups with young people as part of a participatory approach to research design and participant recruitment. The research is a prospective, 10-year, qualitative, longitudinal project investigating young people's daily lives, relationships, and identities, and the ways these change over…

Respecting children's rights to be heard in matters that directly affect their everyday lives has become an established principle in Ireland and internationally. Accessing children's voices raises a number of important issues for researchers across a wide range of disciplines. This article reflects on the organizational, practical and ethical…

This review examines 105 empirical studies that investigate students' views of the nature of science (VNOS), effects of curricular interventions on changing students' VNOS, and relations between VNOS and demographics, majors, and learning of science. The reviewed studies can be categorized into three theoretical frameworks: the unidimension, the…

In this article, the author seeks a middle path through which to traverse the "tricky ground" of Indigenous research; a middle path that will hopefully find "in-between spaces" open to new epistemological pathways, through which new voices and ideas can be heard within the social sciences and, in particular, within geography.…

This chapter summarizes ten selected issues and common problems that arise in most assessment research projects. These include: (1) the uses of grades in assessment; (2) institutional review boards; (3) research design as a compromise; (4) standardized testing; (5) self-reported measures; (6) missing data; (7) weighting data; (8) conditional…

Undergraduate and graduate engineering training differ significantly. The former looks to established protocols and formulas to design and control processes while the latter often involves questioning established protocols and formulas to better suit and describe phenomena. Although we do not dispute the benefits of practical hands-on approaches,…

This review examines a research study that compares high school graduation rates of students who used vouchers to attend private high schools in Milwaukee and students who attended public high schools in that same city. The study reports that for the most recent year of data, a sample of voucher students had estimated graduation rates 12…

This paper describes the analysis of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program's January 2008 Learning Network Conference (LNC). This study focuses on the methodologies used by the MSP community to generate evidence and seeks to understand topics of interest to the 320 LNC participants. The data set for this…

This article reports on the experiences and perceptions of K-12 teachers as they engaged in a participatory action research (PAR) project, "Science Across the Curriculum." Although the experiences and professional learning of two of the project participants are highlighted, the challenges that all participants experienced as they conceptualized…

This article summarizes critical evaluation needs, challenges, and lessons learned in translational research. Evaluation can play a key role in enhancing successful application of research-based programs and tools as well as informing program refinement and future research. Discussion centers on what is unique about evaluating programs and…

The Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education was founded in 2003 with five collaborating institutions. A multi-institutional, multi-year grant offers many opportunities for the demands of reality to interfere with design goals. In particular, at Colorado School of Mines (CSM) student demographics required adjustment of the original APS…

Formative and design experiments represent a methodology uniquely suited for educational research. Providing a practical overview of this emerging approach, the authors address the following questions: What is the origin of formative and design experiments and how do they compare to other approaches to investigating interventions in classrooms?…

The conduct of fieldwork is an adventure, a voyage into the unknown. The author has several times had the opportunity to reflect on his fieldwork, which was most often conducted among remote Indigenous groups, initially in Australia and then wider afield in Thailand, the Philippines, and Africa. He is struck by the significant amount of time,…

The authors examine one of the earliest systematic forms of qualitative inquiry to identify some of the boundaries needed in grounded theory designs to provide a small corner of clarity in the discourse about what is acceptable science from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) perspective. Beginning with an overview of grounded theory research as…