Using NCES national datasets for evaluation of postsecondary issues

The purpose of this study is to review 10 NCES databases that can be used for researching postsecondary issues and provide lesser‐known facts to using the datasets that are important but may not be widely understood. Issues addressed include: (1) access; (2) statistical issues; (3) database nuances; and (4) database training opportunities. A concise review of each database is also provided which includes: (1) a general overview of the survey; (2) formats in which the dataset is available; and (3) research areas (which include key variables that can be used as a basis for research themes along with examples of how the dataset has been used to answer research questions). The databases provide rich sources of information for national as well as international comparative analysis studies.     

Frustrative nonrelief in instrumental escape conditioning

The generality of the frustration effect in an aversive stimulus conditioning procedure was examined by training and testing 40 rats in a double cold-waterway escape conditioning apparatus. Experimental and control procedures analogous to appetitive conditioning experiments (e.g., Amsel & Roussel, 1952; Wagner. 1959) indicated that frustrative nonrelief (i.e., reinforcement omission) in the first goal tank yielded significant increments in swimming speed in the second waterway, and that these increments in performance were dependent upon initial training with continuous relief (i.e., reinforcement) in the first goal tank. Extensions of the generality of the frustration effect are discussed.     

Be aware of superbugs: Newspaper coverage of NDM-1 in India,UK, and the USA

Marrying the psychometric paradigm with the community structure theory, this paper examines the coverage of a superbug (NDM-1) in newspapers in India, the UK, and the USA. It identifies several community structure characteristics: level of vested economic interest, level of health care available, and size of health care stakeholders as factors influencing how risks of NDM-1 are portrayed in terms of the level of dread, controllability, familiarity, and uncertainty. The finding provides baseline data for the scientific community and public health professionals in creating more effective messages to inform the public about the risks of superbugs.     

Marking the Difference: An investigation of the criteria used for assessing undergraduate dissertations in a business school

Although the outcomes of a first degree are complex, UK universities continue to use a single measure for grading the student's performance—namely the degree classification. This classification has significant implications for the student, prospective employers, and for the awarding institution. There is some evidence of changing perceptions of degree classes, for example that third class (and even, in some cases, lower second class) awards are unacceptable. At the same time there is concern about maintenance of quality standards in HE, and of possible grade inflation. The final degree class, although a single measure, results from an accumulation of marks achieved throughout the degree course; it is the combined weighting of individual tutor marks which ultimately determines the student's degree class. This study focuses on the marking process, and the application of criteria within one final year module—the dissertation. The dissertation formed a significant part of the final degree weighting, and there was evidence of the use of different criteria and approaches to marking by staff within the faculty. The study employed a qualitative research methodology—including: a structured group discussion where the issue of criteria was raised and brainstormed; and a questionnaire to staff which asked open questions about the criteria which each used when marking dissertations. The responses were analysed, and common ground and differences identified. Questions are raised concerning (a) the tension which surfaces within the marking process, between individual tutor freedom and institutional demands, and (b) staff development opportunities within the marking process.     

Establishing the need for health communication research: best practices model for building transdisciplinary collaborations

The benefits of transdisciplinary collaboration for addressing complex health problems are widely accepted; however, acknowledging the bumps and twists along the road that are inherent in those collaborations is often considered taboo. Academic norms that prevent open discussion of these challenges can have counter-productive results. This essay describes the major education efforts, milestones, and footfalls in the development of an effective partnership between communication-trained researchers in a College of Journalism and Communications and medical researchers in a College of Medicine. We hope it can serve as “best practice” for understanding the value of team science and interdisciplinary research collaborations.     

Multi-sited global ethnography and travel: gendered journeys in three registers

This paper joins a barely begun conversation about multi-sited and global ethnography in educational research; a conversation that is likely to intensify along with growing interest in the links between education, globalisation, internationalisation and transnationalism. Drawing on an ongoing multi-sited global ethnography of elite schools and globalisation, this paper explores the role of travel in multi-sited global ethnography and offers a feminist engagement with it. It considers the idea of fieldwork as a travel practice through three different travel registers; the traveller’s tale, critical travel studies and travel as exile. In so doing, it illustrates the reflexive affordances each register offers with regard to the directions of our feminist inquiries into elite schools and our feminist ethnographic practices.     

The Maine electronic document delivery project: a cooperative project of Maine hospital libraries and the NN/LM New England Region

The article discusses an Ariel document delivery project with seven Maine hospital libraries, the University of Massachusetts Medical School Library (UMass), and the New England Regional office of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Funding was awarded to six network members to purchase equipment or Ariel software. UMass served as a document provider. During the test, libraries received documents from UMass via Ariel or via the Web as a PDF document. This form of document delivery was faster than standard service with better quality of delivered articles. The column describes the project and outlines possible future steps.