The long-recognized disconnect between research and practice is reflected by social work students who often report significant apprehension about their research classes, likely at least in part because of a poor understanding of the research-practice interface and an unfamiliarity with larger professional social change initiatives like the Grand…

Supported by institutional commitments to community engagement, undergraduate students at universities across North America are participating in community-based research projects. These experiential learning activities allow students to collaborate with community partners to address issues in their communities, often resulting in co-creating…

A novel intervention to introduce undergraduate students to bioinformatics, provide authentic research opportunities, and support student retention in science majors and careers is presented in the Characterizing Our DNA Exceptions (CODE) project. The need to increase the number of qualified STEM graduates, particularly in the fields of…

Places of worship play important roles as anchor institutions that promote community engagement and motivate political activity. Universities, particularly in urban settings, can also serve as anchor institutions that connect communities. Yet, there is often a gulf between the two, to the detriment of the broader community. In this article, we…

Metatheoretical perspectives, and their role in influencing the research process, can be difficult for undergraduate students to grasp. The communication field brings together myriad approaches to communication, lending to students' confusion (Muller, H. L., & Craig, R. T. [2007]. Introduction. In R. T. Craig & H. L. Muller [Eds.],…

This study provides an overview of the shifting epistemological terrain regarding methodological approaches to the research process in the field of communication and discusses how a mixed-methods design could improve methods comprehension in undergraduate education. The authors describe how they incorporated a mixed-methods project into the…

Umbrella action research projects link together a number of small action research projects under a common organizational and thematic umbrella. This article provides an example of an umbrella action research project, which aimed for teaching quality enhancement. There are two mechanisms by which teaching quality can be enhanced. The first of these…

Oral history research projects are assignments that can foster student engagement and learning in undergraduate survey history courses. However, existing scholarship indicates that these assignments are seldom used in undergraduate survey courses. Since the aims of undergraduate survey history courses are to satisfy graduation requirements, foster…

Inquiry is a central concept within pragmatism, defined generally as the process of collectively defining problematic aspects of current social practices and developing better alternatives. Translation--defined broadly as the labor of negotiating, transforming, and synthesizing diverse experiences--is a critical but understudied component of…

Research-for-development (R4D), as a mode of foreign aid, is a practical way to support developing countries. However, few studies have assessed the scientific impacts of R4D projects. Here, we applied an integrated assessment approach to evaluate the scientific impact of research projects commissioned by the Australian Centre for International…

Project prioritization is often an arduous task for any organization. This is particularly evident in large, complex organizations with matrixed management structures, such as the VA Cooperative Studies Program (CSP). CSP is responsible for the planning and conduct of large multicenter clinical trials and epidemiological studies in the Department…

Economic development calls for the modernization of high-school education, which is hindered by the inertia of the current hierarchical system of schooling. An analysis of statistical data that describe the dynamics of structural changes in the economy and investment in public education showed a demand for the implementation of extracurricular…

Background: In many settings internationally, initial teacher education (ITE) relies on cooperation between schools and universities. When these institutions collaborate on teacher education, the shared work can form a basis for community building. This article focuses on experiences in Norwegian ITE of the Change Laboratory (CL), a form of…

The need to administrate experiments online is rising due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brings both challenges and opportunities. However, the field of online experimental research design is still in its infancy. This case study elaborates on the experiences and decision-making process that guided an online experimental research project. First,…

This teaching note describes the design and implementation of an undergraduate research team project to conduct a tent census. Previous studies highlight the importance of real-world research as a part of sociology curriculum. Tents, as a visible sign of homelessness, represent one such contemporary social problem. Our undergraduate research team…