Searching for randomised controlled trials and clinical controlled trials in Thai online bibliographical biomedical databases

Background: Thailand is a poor but highly literate country in South‐East Asia with over 60 million people. A lot of biomedical research is undertaken but dissemination is limited. Objectives: To identify relevant Thai bibliographic databases and investigate accessibility, functionality and content, particularly in relation to randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and clinical controlled trials (CCTs). Methods: A systematic search for institutions productive of research and the databases in their libraries. Search each accessible database in both Thai and English, recording the functionality and content. Assess accessibility of the retrieved RCTs or CCTs by comparing to Pub Med holdings. Results: We found 32 different databases (29 accessible in UK) of various sizes, coverage and functionality but many with unique records of RCTs and CCTs (total, n = 781). Two hundred and nine of 781 trials were accessible on Pub Med (27%). However, 641 of the 781 trial records contain text in both English and Thai (82%) and 112 records were solely English (14%). Conclusions: Those undertaking comprehensive searches for RCTs/CCTs should, in addition to a Pub Med , search the Thai Medical Index and Thai Index Medicus databases, and the Khon Kaen University Library Catalogue.     

POLARIZED PRIORITIES OR FLEXIBLE ALTERNATIVES? DIMENSIONALITY IN INGLEHART'S MATERIALISM--POSTMATERIALISM SCALE

Ronald Inglehart's Postmaterialism thesis has undoubtedly beenone of the most influential ideas in cross-national and cross-temporalresearch on political behavior over the past two decades. Thewide-ranging debate and criticism generated by the Inglehartthesis has focused both on theoretical issues concerning thenature of values and on methodological issues concerning themeasurement of Materialism and Postmaterialism, particularlythe method for ranking individual responses. Using a data setthat employed both the original ranking method for measuringvalues and an alternative rating method, we explore the dimensionalstructure of these values and discuss the implications of differencesbetween the two measurement strategies. The two-dimensionalsolution provided by the rating method is, we argue, a moretheoretically appropriate way of understanding Materialist andPostmaterialist values than the notion of a single conflictdimension, since it allows for a more flexible and realisticaccount of the choices made by most social actors—choiceswhich may represent both Materialism and Postmaterialism.     

Introduction−justifying a cross-cultural comparative approach to school leadership and management

England's Education Action Zones are a flagship New Labour policy geared towards raising standards and reducing social exclusion in areas of educational under-performance. This introduction outlines key features of the policy, considers its broader significance in relation to new models of educational governance and pulls out some of the key issues that arise from the contributions to this special feature.     

The Management of Dilemmas in School Restructuring: A case analysis

While there is growing interest in studying principals' perceptions of their work lives in terms of dilemmas, relatively few studies have gone beyond this to investigate how leaders manage and cope with such 'intractable' situations and the consequential effects and outcomes. Accordingly, this article provides an in-depth qualitative case study of the dilemmas faced by a principal who is involved in the restructuring of his school. It then analyses the ways in which he manages and copes with these intractable situations, and the effects and outcomes that result. The article begins by outlining a framework used in the analysis. It addresses some considerations of method, before describing relevant school and system contexts. Finally, the in-depth case study is presented using the structure associated with the framework described earlier. Among the key findings are that dilemmas present opportunities as well as challenges for visionary, proactive and creative school leaders.