A Rationale for Scholarly Examination of Institutional Review Boards: A Case Study

In recent years, institutional review boards (IRBs) have become an increasingly significant part of the research process for communication scholars. This essay provides a rationale for scholarly examination of IRBs. Using the review process for this special issue as a case study, it identifies a number of ironies that provide justification for this special issue.     

Organizational Power and the Institutional Review Board

In this essay, we respond to the narratives and essays in this issue by examining organizational power issues related to researchers and institutional research boards (IRBs). Rather than taking a singular perspective on power, we use multiple perspectives and suggest that the cumulative analyses provide the best understanding of IRBs and organizational power.     

Teaching in a play-based curriculum: Theory,practice and evidence of developmental education for young children

This article focuses on the possibilities of teaching in a play-based curriculum, which has become an issue of international relevance. As a domain of study, the Developmental Education approach was taken in the early grades of Dutch primary schools (grades 1–4, ages 4–8). The article describes the theoretical basis of the approach and how it is elaborated in a play-based curriculum for early years classrooms. Particularly the teachers’ strategies for the promotion of development will be discussed in more detail. Finally, the article presents a piece of the evidence base of this approach by reporting a research on vocabulary acquisition. Despite methodological limitations of the empirical study, the evidence suggests that teaching in a play-based curriculum is not only theoretically plausible and practically feasible, but also seems to be effectively useful for the attainment of positive outcomes (on vocabulary learning) as compared to a strictly teacher-driven approach.     

Adaptive Equilibrium Regulation: Modeling Individual Dynamics on Multiple Timescales

Damped Linear Oscillators estimated by 2nd-order Latent Differential Equation have assumed a constant equilibrium and one oscillatory component. Lower-frequency oscillations may come from seasonal background processes, which non-randomly contribute to deviation from equilibrium at each occasion and confound estimation of dynamics over shorter timescales. Boker (2015) proposed a model of individual change on multiple timescales, but implementation, simulation, and applications to data have not been demonstrated. This study implemented a generalization of the proposed model; examined robustness to varied timescale ratios, measurement error, and occasions-per-person in simulated data; and tested for dynamics at multiple timescales in experience sampling affect data. Results show small standard errors and low bias to dynamic estimates at timescale ratios greater than 3:1. Below 3:1, estimate error was sensitive to noise and total occasions; rates of non-convergence increased. For affect data, model comparisons showed statistically significant dynamics at both timescales for both participants.     

Predictors of Reading Recovery book levels

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether predictor variables, selected from readability research and from teacher nomination, might be used to grade children’s early reading books. Two hundred Reading Recovery books were rated on five variables thought to represent ‘semantic’, ‘syntactic’ and ‘phonic’ features of text. The variables accounted for 83% of book level variance. In a cross‐validation exercise they were found to be stable and reliable. It is suggested that the data support the validity of the Reading Recovery book levels, and that the formula can be used by teachers to grade children’s early reading books.     

The comparative efficacy of two approaches to teaching sixth graders opinion essay writing

Children in sixth grade randomly assigned to a teacher-made writing procedure anchored in the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model and training procedures were predicted to surpass children assigned to the comparison condition on dependent measures of writing clarity, organization, and cogency. The prediction was generally substantiated. The results suggest that the rate of change among individual children in the SRSD condition was faster than among children in the comparison condition on measures of clarity and organization. On the measure of cogency, findings showed that the rate of change among individuals in the SRSD condition compared to the comparison condition approached but did not reach statistical significance. Variance in growth parameters on the measure of writing clarity was statistically significant; however on the measure of organization, there was no substantive variation in individual growth parameters. Social validity data from all the children and teachers indicated the training was well received. The results are taken to support the efficacy of the SRSD model and training procedures.