An Empirical Unraveling of Lord's Paradox

Lord's Paradox occurs when a continuous covariate is statistically controlled for and the relationship between a continuous outcome and group status indicator changes in both magnitude and direction. This phenomenon poses a challenge to the notion of evidence-based policy, where data are supposed to be self-evident. We examined 50 effect size estimates from 34 large-scale educational interventions and found that impact estimates are affected in magnitude, with or without reversal in sign, when there is substantial baseline imbalance. We also demonstrated that multilevel modeling can ameliorate the divergence in sign and/or magnitude of effect estimation, which, together with project specific knowledge, promises to help those who are presented with conflicting or confusing evidence in decision-making.     

An evaluation of a group CBT programme for children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in a school age disability service

Research has shown that rates of clinical anxiety levels are higher among young people with an ASD than their typically developing peers. This study conducted an exploratory investigation into the impact of a specifically tailored CBT group programme on anxiety levels in young people with ASD. The 12 week CBT programme was delivered to 12 children with a diagnosis of ASD in a children’s disability team in Ireland. An embedded mixed methods design was utilised and inferences were drawn by collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data separately. Findings indicate CBT can be delivered successfully to a group of children with ASD. As is the nature of an embedded design, quantitative findings are reported as supportive evidence for the qualitative findings of this study. The positive preliminary findings suggest a rigorous, large scale evaluation is needed to determine the overall effectiveness of the programme with this population.     

The relationship between child sexual abuse and academic achievement in a sample of adolescent psychiatric inpatients

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between sexual abuse and academic achievement in an adolescent inpatient psychiatric population. Individual factors expected to influence this relationship were measured to explore the way they each interacted with sexual abuse and its relationship to academic achievement. METHOD: Eighty-one adolescent psychiatric inpatients participated in the study (aged 12--18 years: M=16.0). Participants were administered tests of academic achievement (dependent variable) and intelligence, and completed a number of self-report measures of their experience of different types of maltreatment, their perception of the parenting they received, socio-economic status, substance abuse, and psychopathology. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that intelligence was the main predictor of academic achievement (uniquely explaining 26% of the variance). A number of interaction effects were also significant indicating that intelligence, substance abuse, internalizing behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems all influenced the relationship between sexual abuse and academic achievement. DISCUSSION: Examining the impact of sexual abuse is complex because it is typically an experience embedded in a range of other risk factors, such as poverty, family dysfunction, and other types of maltreatment. This study demonstrated coexistence between sexual abuse and a number of other variables, including other maltreatment types and parental overprotection, underscoring the requirement for complex models of research that more accurately reflect the experience of abused children.     

Cultural studies of science education

In response to Stetsenko’s [2008, Cultural Studies of Science Education, 3] call for a more unified approach in sociocultural perspectives, this paper traces the origins of the use of sociocultural ideas in New Zealand from the 1970s to the present. Of those New Zealanders working from a sociocultural perspective who responded to our query most had encountered these ideas while overseas. More recently activity theory has been of interest and used in reports of work in early childhood, workplace change in the apple industry, and in-service teacher education. In all these projects the use of activity theory has been useful for understanding how the elements of a system can transform the activity. We end by agreeing with Stetsenko that there needs to be a more concerted approach by those working from a sociocultural perspective to recognise the contribution of others in the field.

The State of Peer Review in Criminology: Literary Theory,Perceptions, and the Catch-22 Metaphor of Peer Review

Considerable theoretical and empirical attention has been devoted to the practice of peer review across various disciplines in the previous couple decades. Recently, Raymond Paternoster and Robert Brame indicated that it is necessary for criminology to follow suit and begin to provide a critical inquiry of the blind review model. Literary theory and writing studies have examined literate practices for decades and empirical research has identified that literate practices, like peer review, are interactional and co-constructed across discourse communities. The unique character of peer review in criminology remains unknown however. Discussions with 40 of criminology’s most influential scholars provides an opportunity to begin constructing a broad context of criminology’s peer review by challenging universal knowledge through individual experiences.     

Developing digital portfolios: investigating how digital portfolios can facilitate pupil talk about learning

The Digital Portfolio Project at Newcastle University aimed over one year (2002/2003) to support teachers in producing, storing and accessing assessment portfolios of learner’s work using information and communications technology (ICT). This paper draws on evidence of pupil views collected as part of 14 teacher‐led case studies. The teachers all approached the task of developing digital portfolios in different ways and the variety of end products was large; however, the common result was the value placed on using the portfolio as a tool for reflection and celebration of children’s learning. As part of the data collection teachers were encouraged to gather pupil views about the digital portfolio learning process. These comments provide an interesting and surprisingly analytical perspective of the research and learning process not commonly considered in the academic community. This paper documents the pupils’ views and uses them to review the strength of the digital portfolio process and the benefits of using it in the primary classroom.     

Library of Congress Classification: Teddy Roosevelt's World in Numbers?

This article identifies late nineteenth-century American preoccupations and prejudices within the Library of Congress classification scheme, suggesting that these ought to be of concern to the worldwide community of classifiers who now apply the scheme beyond its original context. The approach of the article is both historical and critical. It uses a number of examples to demonstrate how the ideological content of the classification scheme fails to adequately represent contemporary global realities, while recognizing, and applauding, its essential pragmatism.     

Community television and the vision of media literacy,social action,and empowerment

The vision of empowerment espoused by the community television movement is explored through an interpretive study of producers at a public access cable television facility. The findings address media literacy, the dialectical nature of societal change, and critical pedagogist Paulo Freire's taxonomy of social action. The findings suggest that the application of advanced media technologies to more democratic purposes is possible with a focus on the critical use of the technological tools for social change.