The online or e‐survey: a research approach for the ICT age

Over the last two decades or so, organisations everywhere have been subjected to considerable restructuring and reform. Schools have been no exception to this trend. Devolution has been prominent amongst the managerial reforms which have affected primarily the work practices of managers (James, 2003). In the context of schooling, devolution or school based management has increased the decision‐making powers of schools and their communities. It has also brought with it the requirement that schools meet a wider range of accountability measures (Whitty et al., 1998). In such a climate, school leaders are likely to find themselves juggling a ‘multitude of competing obligations and interests’ (Cooper, 1998, p. 244). This complex operational milieu requires school leaders to confront and resolve conflicting interests as they endeavour to balance a variety of values and expectations in their decision‐making. Not surprisingly, the result is often ethical dilemmas for leaders.

In this paper we argue that an understanding of ethics and ethical dilemmas is crucial for educational leaders due to the value‐laden nature of their work. We put forward a tentative generic model that endeavours to assist our understanding of the forces impacting upon and processes characterising the decision‐making dynamics emerging from an ethical dilemma. A scenario is posed and tested against the model.     

Initial identification & selection bias versus the eventual confirmation of talent: evidence for the benefits of a rocky road?

Abstract

The relative age effect (RAE), whereby earlier birthdate children within a selection year are more commonly selected as talented, has been highlighted in the literature. As a consequence, these young athletes get into specialised training earlier and in greater numbers, leading (it is suggested) to a disproportionate opportunity for success. However, this disproportionality seems not to be manifest in senior teams. Accordingly, we examine the identification and conversion rates for academy rugby players, examining a sample of all players passing into and either graduating, or being dismissed from, a major English rugby academy. Data demonstrated a reversal of the RAE “benefit”, whereby late-birth players were less likely to be selected, but more likely to achieve senior professional status. Possible reasons are explored and, on the basis of our data, we propose a psychologically based explanation of greater “growth” due to additional challenge experienced by these initially disadvantaged younger players.     

Books reviews

J. Neils (ed.), Goddess and Polis: The Panathenaic Festival in Ancient Athens (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Pp. 227, 24 colour plates, 170 b&w illus. $49.50 (£37.50) cloth; $19.95 (£13.95) paper. ISBN 0–691–03612–8 (cloth); 0–691–00223–1 (paper).

Steven H. Lonsdale, Dance and Ritual Play in Greek Religion (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993). Pp. xxi + 352. Illustrations, bibliography, indexes. $39.95. ISBN 0–8018–4594–7.

Ramachandra Guha, Spin and Other Turns: Indian Cricket's Coming of Age (London: Penguin Books, 1994). Pp. xii + 158. Rs 100. ISBN 0–14–024720–3.

Robert Mechikoff and Steven Estes, A History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education: From the Ancient Greeks to the Present (Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown, 1993). Pp. 391. $29.50. ISBN 0–697–12159–3. Elliot J. Gorn and Warren Goldstein, A Brief History of American Sports (New York: Hill and Wang — Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993). ISBN 0–8090–1561–7. Pp. 290. $11.95.

Richard O. Davies, America's Obsession: Sports and Soceity since 1945 (Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace, 1994). Pp. 274. $16.00. ISBN 0–03–073332–4.

Ted Vincent, The Rise and Fall of American Sport: Mudville's Revenge (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994). Pp. 358. ISBN 0–8032–9613–4.

Leonard Koppett, Sports Illusion, Sports Reality: A Reporter's View of Sports, Journalism and Society (Urbana and Chicago: University of Ilinois Press, 1994) paperback reprint of book originally published in 1981. Pp. xiv + 296. ISBN 0–252–06415–1.

Gilbert Andrieu, Force et beauté. Histoire de l'esthétique en éducation physique (Bordeaux: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 1992). Pp. 252. FF150. ISBN 2–86781–125–2.

Charles Fountain, Sportswriter: The Life and Times of Grantland Rice (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). Pp. 327. $25.00. ISBN 0–19–506176–4.

Peter Levine, Ellis Island to Ebbets Field: Sport and the American Jewish Experience (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Charles S. Prebish. Religion and Sport: The Meeting of Sacred and Profane (Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1993). Pp. xix + 243. ISBN 0–313–28729–5.

Tom Derderian, Boston Marathon: The History of the World's Premier Running Event (Champaign: Human Kinetics Publishers, 1994). Pp. xxvi + 606. $21.95 (paperback). ISBN 0–87322–491–4.

Kevin McAleer, Dueling, The Cult of Honor in Fin‐de‐Siècle Germany (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994). Pp. 268. $24.95. ISBN 0–691–03462–1.     

Addressing the Extreme Assumptions of Presumed Linkings

The interpretability of score comparisons depends on the design and execution of a sound data collection plan and the establishment of linkings between these scores. When comparisons are made between scores from two or more assessments that are built to different specifications and are administered to different populations under different conditions, the validity of the comparisons hinges on untestable assumptions. For example, tests administered across different disability groups or tests administered to different language groups produce scores for which implicit linkings are presumed to hold. Presumed linking makes use of extreme assumptions to produce links between scores on tests in the absence of common test material or equivalent groups of test takers. These presumed linkings lead to dubious interpretations. This article suggests an approach that indirectly assesses the validity of these presumed linkings among scores on assessments that contain neither equivalent groups nor common anchor material.     

Changing the Library Brand: A Case Study

ABSTRACT

This article outlines some of the opportunities and challenges of changing what the library “brand” means to academic and professional services staff in the rapidly changing environment of UK higher education, taking the University of Leicester as a case study. It makes a practitioner contribution to the growing body of evidence of how libraries are extending their role and how their customers are responding. It begins by considering the drivers for change in the higher education and scholarly information environments and how these are influencing the development of library services at the University of Leicester. The topics considered include researcher development, Digital Humanities, Open Access, independent learning, and curating the university's own information assets. The impact of these developments is outlined and how an evolving approach to strategic marketing is beginning to change perceptions as the boundaries of the library's role extend.     

Effects of keyword tasks and biasing titles on metacognitive monitoring and recall

Metacognition and Learning - This investigation examines the effects of keyword tasks (Immediate vs. Delayed) on metacognitive monitoring, study regulation, and recall in multi-step learning tasks,...     

Assessing Students' Ability to Use Computers: theoretical considerations for practical research

The assessment of students' ability to use computers should be a central tenet of educational computing research, but until now most studies have relied on vague and imprecise definitions of what actually constitutes being able to use a computer. More often than not researchers are content to accept a self-evaluation from the student, often in the form of a response to a single question, and even the more elaborate attempts to measure ability have proved too narrow or ill-focused to be of lasting value. This paper argues that before attempting to assess computer ability the overall nature of the concept should first be considered. From this, a theoretical framework of ability can then be constructed on which to base subsequent practical assessment. The paper also raises methodological issues to be considered by future research into students' use of computers.