Discriminative validity of the behavior assessment system for children‐parent rating scales in children with recurrent abdominal pain and matched controls

Examined discriminative validity of the Parent Rating Scale (PRS) of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992, Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Services). Two groups were compared: a cohort with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) (n= 49) and children from the BASC‐PRS standardization sample (n = 49) matched on the background characteristics of age, race/ethnicity, and gender. A multivariate, two‐group discriminant function analysis was used to compare groups across standard scores from the nine clinical scales of the PRS. Results demonstrated that children with RAP could be differentiated (Wilks λ = .642, F = 6.45, df (9, 88), p < .001), and demonstrated higher scores on the Somatization, Depression, Anxiety, Attention Problems, and Withdrawal scales. Subsequent jackknifed classification analysis, diagnostic efficiency statistics, and an odds ratio for the classification analysis added to the overall validity of results. The practical utility of the BASC‐PRS is further supported in light of expanding roles for school psychologists in the assessment and treatment of children with health problems. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 145–154, 2003.     

The Research Community Philosophy and History of the Discipline of Education: A Retrospect of Collaborative Research over Two Decades. Continued—Part Two

The Research Community ‘Philosophy and History of the Discipline of Education’ was established in 1999. First an overview is given of the two main areas into which the more than 180 chapters published in 12 books can be grouped. In general the papers are addressing ‘internal’ educational research topics and more ‘external’ relations. The suite of papers in this issue continues the selection of material presented during the 2017 and 2018 meetings and follow on from the suite published in an issue of this journal earlier this year (54:3). Next, the suite of papers appearing in this issue is introduced. In this, and the preceding suite, aspects of the production and acceleration, as well as of the (re)presentation, dissemination and reception of educational research are brought into focus.     

Regulating Academic Pressure: From Fast to Slow

This paper investigates the impact of publication pressure on the ethics and the scientific integrity in the domain of mathematics and of the arts. Both research fields are specific in their methodology, being that they do not start from a classical hypothesis and researchers in these areas are not knowing what the outcome will be. The research design is open, and creativity is a main part of the research investigation. Both research fields do not rely on empirical cases nor on data collection or data handling. This could be a reason why mathematics and arts seem to be less subject to scientific misconduct. After presenting the (inter)national regulations on ethics and integrity, we will investigate a philosophical analysis in which we consider possible influences from publication pressure that became widespread over all disciplines. We will clarify if and how mathematics and the arts are sensitive to scientific research misconduct or questionable research practices.     

On the Epistemological Basis of Large‐Scale Population Studies and their Educational Use

This paper attempts to take seriously the claim that we can look for causes in order to understand the reality we live (in), and focuses therefore primarily on ‘the natural world’. It will be argued that even if we were to fully endorse the programme of looking for antecedents, a dominant driver for many educational researchers, this would still not solve the problems they commonly set out to address. It will illustrate the problem of contextualisation in using an example of educational research that uses the methodology of the randomised field trial. In these kind of studies the paradigm of causality and its experimental laboratory approach is modified to incorporate the exigencies of real life situations. The claim that these studies too do not put one in a position to derive straightforward conclusions for policy makers or more generally for educational practitioners will be substantiated. Finally, some concluding remarks will be offered that indicate what may be expected from large‐scale population studies and what their epistemological basis is.     

Significant Life Experiences and Formative Influences on the Development of Adults’ Environmental Awareness in the UK,Australia and Canada

Environmental educators in Australia (n = 82), and Canada (n = 48) wrote autobiographical statements describing the formative influences and significant life experiences (SLE) which led to their concern for the environment. Content analysis identified the influences/experiences mentioned most often, both as single factors, e.g. ‘close family’, and as groups of logically related factors, e.g. ‘people’, a group composed of the factors ‘close family’, ‘older friends'’, ‘friends'’, and ‘having children’. The final lists of single factors were similar but not identical in the two countries, and both differed slightly from the list already derived from a sample of environmental educators in the UK (n = 233). Here we present the single and grouped factors named most often in Australia, then do the same for Canada, and then compare the principal factors in all three nations.