The Ethics of Research Excellence

We here analyse the ethical dimensions of the UK's ‘Research Excellence Framework’ (REF), the latest (2014) version of an exercise which assesses the quality of university research in the UK every seven or so years. We find many of the common objections to this exercise unfounded, such as that it is excessively expensive by comparison with alternatives such as various metrics, or that it turns on the subjective judgement of the assessors. However there are grounds for concern about the crude language in which for example all relevant scholarship becomes called ‘research’ and publications become ‘outputs’. The focus on the impact of research, which was a new feature of the most recent exercise, is particularly problematic, creating as it does a tendency to what Aristotle called alazony, self‐aggrandisement, on the part of academics. We conclude that the REF is a mixed good from an ethical point of view, and that more could be done to mitigate its more unfortunate features.     

Perceived Early Childhood Family Influence and Counselor Effectiveness: An Exploratory Study

This study found a significant correlation between counselor effectiveness and negative perceptions of early childhood family influence.     

'I Did it My Way': some thoughts on autonomy

This paper addresses three questions raised by recent literature on the concept of ‘autonomy’. (I) Should the value of autonomy more properly be seen as a moral constraint or as a goal of action? (2) Is autonomy either possible or desirable, given the ways in which human beings are located within a situation and a community? (3) If autonomy is a desirable goal, is it a universal value or merely one appropriate to modern liberal-democratic societies? Use is made of the distinction between ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ versions of the concept of ‘autonomy’, which helps to provide an answer to the first question. It is also important, however, to recognise the continuity between the weak and strong versions, and this recognition helps to supply answers to the second and third questions.     

SOME TECHNIQUES FOR MAXIMIZING A TEST'S VALIDITY WHEN THE CRITERION VARIABLE IS UNOBSERVED1

A set of techniques is presented for constructing a test or test battery which can be inferred to correlate as highly as possible with a hypothetical construct which is named but not measured directly. Use of the techniques requires the test constructor to describe first the nature of the construct indirectly, by estimating the relative sizes of the construct's correlations with several observable variables which the test constructor has selected. Techniques are also described for estimating the validity of a test constructed by these methods.     

A COMPARISON OF THREE METHODS FOR ESTABLISHING MINIMUM STANDARDS ON THE NATIONAL TEACHER EXAMINATIONS

Minimum standards were established for the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) area examinations in mathematics and in elementary education by independent panels of teacher educators who had been instructed in the use of either the Angoff, Nedelsky, or Jaeger procedures. Of these three procedures, only the Jaeger method requires that normative data be provided to the judges when evaluating the items. However, it was of interest to study the effect such information would have upon the standards obtained using the other two methods. Therefore, the design incorporated three sequential review sessions with the level of normative information different for each. A three-factor ANOVA revealed significant main effects for methods and sessions but not for subject area. None of the interactions was significant. The anticipated failure rates, the psychometric characteristics of the ratings, and other factors suggest that the Angoff procedure, as modified during the second session of this study, yields the most defensible standards for the NTE area examinations.     

Researching the Links between Education and Well-being

This article focuses on some of the conceptual and empirical issues relating to the links between education and well-being. Recent research has made progress in this area, despite the complexity and the limitations of available measurements and other observations. The first part discusses the ill-defined nature of education and the negative implications this has on research and policy. The second part outlines some of the major relationships that are being explored around the theme of education and well-being. This is not exhaustive but provides an overview of distinct theoretical explanations for the potential causal links. Reference is made to available evidence so as to provide an overview of what is known empirically about some of these possible explanations. The third section discusses some of the empirical limitations and challenges to building up a robust evidence base in this area.