Writing Up and Down: The Language of Educational Research

There is a marked tendency in educational research to marginalise the written word, and to be wary of what I here call its ‘writerliness’: its capacity to go beyond the prosaic and the utilitarian, where meaning is understood largely in terms of the success of language in reflecting reality. I note various symptoms of this in the world of educational research, but especially in standard textbooks of educational research method, where the ambition to eliminate writing is particularly evident. In its second half the paper turns to educational research as the investigation less of causes than of meaning. Here writing—finding the right words—is itself research, rather than a process that is first performed according to various protocols of method and then ‘written up’. I draw on an illuminating discussion of this in Raimond Gaita's Introduction to recent editions of Peter Winch's The Idea of a Social Science and apply it to current debate over discipline in UK schools.     

Practicum Supervision Roles: Effects on Supervisee Statements

The practicum supervision model evaluated in this study utilized the three commonly accepted supervision roles of teacher, counselor, and consultant as methods of addressing specific supervisee issues. Supervisors performed the roles in structured supervision sessions, and supervisee statements were analyzed to determine if use of the roles influenced supervisee behaviors. Utilization of the roles was found to be a significantly effective means of influencing the content of supervisee verbalizations during practicum supervision sessions.     

LIFE: Costing the Digital Preservation Lifecycle

The LIFE project creates a digital lifecycle model based on previous work undertaken on the lifecycle of paper-based material.Web Archiving, Voluntarity Deposited Electronic Publications (VDEP), and E-Journal are chosen as case study for application and evaluation of the LIFE Mode.Case studies show its potential for further use in a numble of roles,such as improving assessment of the financial commitment,more effective planning for preservation activities etc.The LIFE Mode will be revised and refined in LIFE2 Project.     

As if by Machinery: The Levelling of Educational Research

Much current educational research shows the influence of two powerful but potentially pernicious lines of thought. The first, which can be traced at least as far back as Francis Bacon, is the ambition to formulate precise techniques of research, or 'research methods', which can be applied reliably irrespective of the talent of the researcher. The second is the recognition that in the social sciences we—humankind—are ourselves the objects of our study. The first line of thought threatens to cut educational research free of the wider range of ideas and theories that should govern or at least inform it. The second tends to turn it into an absorption with self, particularly when allied to what its practitioners like to think of as the postmodern turn.     

Training Counselors to Work with Disabled Clients: Cognitive and Affective Components

This study examines the relationship of cognitive complexity, counselor anxiety, and client disability condition to accurate empathy on the part of students in training. A sample (n = 28) of students in a graduate counseling program observed a series of eight vignettes of counseling interviews (four clients with disabilities and four without disabilities) and reported a verbal counseling response to a client statement. A significant main effect was found for the cognitive complexity variable only (p < .05). A significant interaction among cognitive complexity, anxiety, and client disability condition (p < .01) indicated that all three factors interact to influence empathy. Implications for research and the training of counselors are discussed.     

USE OF OPTICALLY SCORED TEST ANSWER SHEETS WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

By testing a sample of 840 school children from an urban school district, the authors examined the practical limitations of the use of an optically scored answer sheet. The independent variables were grade (two through nine) and degree of instruction and practice (three levels). The dependent variable was the number of easy items (embedded within a set of ordinary test items) that were correctly answered. The easy items, which were different for the various grades, were selected because other children, comparable to those used in the experiment, were able to answer them virtually without error when answering on a test booklet rather than on the answer sheet. The findings indicated that students in grades two and three, in the fall of the year, were unable to make valid responses. Students in grades four and five seemed able to make valid responses only after receiving specific instructions and a practice session. Above grade five, students made valid responses regardless of the types of instructions they received.     

CRITERION-REFERENCED TESTING: COMMENTS ON RELIABILITY1

Currently there is concern among some educators regarding the reliability of criterion-referenced (CR) measures. In this comment, a recent attempt to develop a theory of reliability for CR measures is examined, and some considerations for determining the reliability of CR measures are discussed. Conventional reliability statistics (e.g., coefficient alpha, standard error of measurement) are found appropriate for CR measures satisfying the assumptions of the measurement model underlying classical test theory. For measures with underlying multidimensional traits, conventional reliability statistics may be used at the homogeneous subscale level. When the confidence interval about a student's “below criterion score” includes the criterion, additional evidence about the student should be obtained. Two-stage sequential testing is suggested as one method for acquiring additional evidence.