On Going (Way) Beyond One’s Data: A Proposal to Restrict Recommendations for Practice in Primary Educational Research Journals

To counteract what we see as a growing research-reporting concern, we propose the following editorial-policy change regarding the content of primary research articles in educational research journals: Contributors should restrict their discussion and conclusions to their data and not offer recommendations for educational practice nor speculate about the educational policy implications of their research. We believe that this change will be beneficial for maintaining a separation between evidence and opinion concerning the legitimate warrants of empirical research. We suggest viable accompaniments and alternatives to authors offering practical recommendations and policy speculations in primary-research journal articles. Among these is to rely on all sources of evidence, including systematic research syntheses based on the aggregated contribution of multiple research studies from different sources, with recommendations for practice tailored to specific situations so that both their validity and utility will be increased. It is hoped that our proposed policy change will initiate a conversation among researchers, editors, reviewers, and educational-policy experts with respect to the scope and purpose of primary research journal articles.     

Young adolescent psychological need profiles: Associations with classroom achievement and well‐being

Drawing on self‐determination theory, a person‐centered methodology was adopted to identify distinct pupil profiles based on their psychological need satisfaction. A sample of 586 pupils (387 male, 199 female; mean age = 12.6, range 11–15 years old) from three secondary schools reported their psychological need satisfaction, and well‐ and ill‐being, with teachers rating pupil achievement. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed five distinct profiles. Four profiles indicated synergy existed between the three needs, showing similar in‐group levels of satisfaction across the needs but in varying amounts. Univariate and multivariate analyses, controlling for school and taught subject, revealed the satisfied group displayed the highest classroom performance (F_4,540 = 7.03; p < 0.001; η_p² = 0.05), well‐being (F_8,1,136 = 45.63; p < 0.001; Wilk's Λ = 0.57; η_p² = 0.24) and lowest ill‐being (F_8,1,134 = 23.39; p < 0.001; Wilk's Λ = 0.74, η_p² = 0.14), whereas the dissatisfied group displayed the most adverse outcomes. The findings illustrate that the three psychological needs may operate interdependently and should be considered in combination rather than in isolation. The research offers practical insights into why pupils may function differently in classrooms and could inform targeted initiatives towards pupils with psychological need satisfaction deficits.     

The multiple sources of workplace stress among land-grant university faculty

Workplace stress has received a fair amount of treatment in the research literature over the past decade. What has not been examined, at least not systematically, is this same phenomena inacademe. Our study looked at stress among university faculty at a land-grant university located in the western region of the U. S. Analyses from the self-assessment mail survey (N = 786) reveals that faculty in the Hard Pure Nonlife (e. g., Astronomy, Math, Physics), Hard Applied Nonlife (e. g., Civil Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Computer Science) and Soft Applied Life (e. g., Education Administration, Special Education) experience more stress than faculty in disciplines such as Hard Pure Life (e. g., Botany, Zoology) and Soft Pure Nonlife (e. g., English, Philosophy, Communications). Careful attention was paid to the different levels of stress reported by male and female faculty, with women professors reporting a higher level of stress than their male counterparts. We provide an assessment and explanation for this finding. Research ends with several proposals for individual faculty, department chairs and academic administrators for addressing the problem of workplace pressure and work overload.