Getting In (and Staying In) When Everyone Else Wants to Get Out: 10 Lessons Learned from Conducting Research with Inmates

The current study aims to provide researchers interested in conducting research using inmates with information and recommendations based on our experiences studying jail inmates. While prior research has begun to identify lessons learned about obtaining access to criminal justice agencies and lessons about establishing positive researcher–practitioner relationships during the process, little is known about the specific challenges associated with data collection efforts after obtaining access to facilities. Therefore, this article aims to provide researchers with information and recommendations primarily on the issues and challenges of studying inmates after gaining entry to correctional facilities. Ten lessons are offered that highlight a variety of challenges that arise from conducting research with inmate populations.     

Program portfolios: documenting teachers’ growth in reflection‐based inquiry

Meeting the challenge of program accountability is a goal for teacher education programs across the USA. In this context, achieving effective assessment practices that provide concrete evidence of program participants’ knowledge and skills has become both an increasingly significant issue and a challenge to teacher education programs seeking to document the attainment of their program learning outcomes. This qualitative study examined the portfolio reflections of 51 teachers enrolled in an advanced master’s degree program whose learning outcomes are aligned with the core propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Using the four levels of reflection and a fifth level that emerged from data analysis, we examined the levels of development and change in teachers’ reflections across the program. This analysis helped the researchers to determine to what degree teachers developed a reflection‐based inquiry stance in their classrooms during the program. The study contributes new findings to the body of literature on the role and function of portfolios in teacher education programs seeking to document teachers’ understanding and application of specific program goals and professional standards as a result of professional development coursework. As an authentic assessment tool, portfolio data (i.e., evidence such as the reflections contained therein) can provide an important lens for capturing teachers’ approach to teaching and learning and provides insight into the complexity of professional development for practicing teachers.     

Social media use by government: From the routine to the critical

Social media and online services with user-generated content (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube) have made a staggering amount of information (and misinformation) available. Government officials seek to leverage these resources to improve services and communication with citizens. Significant potential exists to identify issues in real time, so emergency managers can monitor and respond to issues concerning public safety. Yet, the sheer volume of social data streams generates substantial noise that must be filtered in order to detect meaningful patterns and trends. Important events can then be identified as spikes in activity, while event meaning and consequences can be deciphered by tracking changes in content and public sentiment. This paper presents findings from a exploratory study we conducted between June and December 2010 with government officials in Arlington, VA (and the greater National Capitol Region around Washington, D.C.), with the broad goal of understanding social media use by government officials as well as community organizations, businesses, and the public at large. A key objective was also to understand social media use specifically for managing crisis situations from the routine (e.g., traffic, weather crises) to the critical (e.g., earthquakes, floods).     

Curriculum development for professional ethics in Australian human service university programmes

Australian academics and practitioners in the human services are particularly susceptible to social, political and economic influences in respect of their relevance, viability and operations. In fact, it can be argued that the impact of these influences has placed human service practitioners and academics in a perpetual state of vulnerability. Australian universities have been challenged to make their programmes more relevant and viable to the community at large, and practitioners face increasing workloads with limited resources based on restricted fiscal allocation, and the changing relationship between government and service providers. Drawing on interview data from twenty-one (n = 21) practitioners, this article highlights their identified problems regarding the notion of professionalism in the human services with a particular focus on ethical dilemmas in human service practice. Gleaning these details will be a basis for recommending necessary professionalethics curricula content in human services programmes offered in Australian universities. Moreover, while the research data is Australian based, the authors contend that the universal theories and principles underpinning human service practice justify the significance and value of the data as an important source for international consideration in curriculum development of human service academic programmes.     

The Effects of Breathing 100 Percent Oxygen during Rest,Heavy Work,and Recovery

Abstract

The effects of breathing 100% oxygen on resting, exercise, and recovery oxygen consumptions, pulmonary ventilation volumes, and heart rates were observed on six highly conditioned male athletes. The subjects rode a bicycle ergometer at a heavy work load for five minutes, breathing either normal air or medical oxygen. Ventilation volumes were determined by the open-circuit Douglas bag method, measuring inspired and expired volumes. Gas samples were analyzed for nitrogen and oxygen concentrations on Van Slyke and Beckman gas analyzers, and heart rates were recorded via a telemetry-electrocardiograph system. The results indicated a substantial increase in resting oxygen consumption, a decrease in resting ventilation volume, a marked decline in exercise and recovery ventilation volumes, and an insignificant lowering of the energy cost of exercise during the oxygen experiments. No appreciable differences were noted in heart rates between the oxygen and air experiments.     

Effects of Isometric Work on Heart Rate,Blood Pressure,and Net Oxygen Cost

Abstract

A study was made on the effects of a 10-sec. isometric exercise, which involved much of the large musculature, upon the heart-rate, blood pressure, and net oxygen cost. Six subjects exercised in a semireclining, fixed position against a Medart spring dynamometer. Each subject pulled to 60 percent of his previously determined maximum effort. Heart rate showed a slight increase during exercise followed by a sharp rise in the few seconds following exercise. This was followed by a drop almost to the resting level within 20 to 30 sec. following exercise. Systolic pressure rose following exercise and was highest in the period immediately following exercise, then dropped slowly to resting levels within 2 1/2 min. Oxygen consumption varied widely both between subjects and between experiments in the same subject.     

Editorial Policies

Abstract

A screening test for lateral dominance was administered to 167 college women. Twenty-six showed left dominance. Of this group four were taught to bowl left-handed, six were eliminated from the study for various reasons and 16 were taught to use their preferred hand, the right. All 20 subjects preferred using their right hand. Both groups were equated as to the amount of practice and motor ability. The group using the presumably dominant left hand were significantly poorer in their bowling average than the group which, though demonstrating left dominance, were permitted to bowl with their preferred hand.