Independent inquiry and the undergraduate dissertation: perceptions and experiences of final‐year social science students

This article reports on findings from a research project that investigated the experiences and perceptions of final‐year social science undergraduates enrolled on a dissertation module in a post‐1992 UK university. The dissertation was designed to provide students with the opportunity to function autonomously and determine the content and focus of a major part of their study and assessment. Using data from interviews and questionnaires, the article explores the students’ lived experience of the dissertation as a form of independent learning and assessment, the challenges they encountered, and their perceptions of peer and tutor support. While students valued the autonomy, authenticity, and ownership they felt in relation to their dissertation, they also experienced considerable ­challenges, particularly in relation to ‘time’.     

Thorns on My Tongue

How might we bear witness to the fluidity and fragility of identity work that takes place during classroom discussion? How do teachers and pupils play with the personal politics of positioning during our everyday interactions? The piece that follows is written as a story almost entirely in everyday dialogue. It takes a methodological turn towards narrative imagining in order to develop an approach that explores the performance of projected, received and contested identity positions during an English lesson. A brief discussion of some of the issues raised and of what informed the process of writing serves as an epilogue to the story.     

Teacher preferences for various positive reinforcements

The present study investigated the relationship between applied behavioral training and reinforcement preferences of classroom teachers. Data obtained from the Positive Reinforcement Observation Schedule (PROS), a paired comparison task, indicated minimal differential reinforcement preferences for classroom teachers with no training, limited training, or extensive training in applied behavioral analysis. The results are discussed with reference to the educational implications of existing behavioral training programs and class-room practice.     

Positivity bias in higher education research

Many forms of bias have been identified in higher education research, and in educational and social research in general. This article identifies a further form of bias, positivity bias, and places it in this broader context. Positivity bias is the tendency, in some forms of published higher education research, to only or chiefly report examples of initiatives or innovations that worked and received positive evaluations. Empirical evidence of positivity bias, in the form of an analysis of a sample of published articles from selected higher education journals, is presented and discussed. Suggestions as to the causes of positivity bias and how it might be handled are presented.