This paper addresses Lincoln's [2010. "'What a long, strange trip it's been …': Twenty-five years of qualitative and new paradigm research." "Qualitative Inquiry" 16, no. 1: 3-9] call for greater attention to the question of rapport in qualitative research through a reflexive examination of…

Data collected from partners in a dyadic instructional setting are, by definition, not statistically independent. As a consequence, conventional parametric statistical analyses of change and influence carry considerable risk of bias. In this article, we illustrate a strategy to overcome this obstacle: the longitudinal actor-partner interdependence…

This paper reports on a number of challenges faced in tracing contributors to research projects that were originally conducted many decades previously. The need to trace contributors in this way arises in projects which focus on involving research participants in previous studies who have not been maintained on a database, or with whom the…

As applications of multilevel modelling in educational research increase, researchers realize that multilevel data collected in many educational settings are often not purely nested. The most common multilevel non-nested data structure is one that involves student mobility in longitudinal studies. This article provides a methodological review of…

Qualitative interviewing is a commonly used approach in the social sciences and is generally regarded as an effective way of developing understandings about everyday experiences and the meanings people attach to them. Where fieldwork time-frames are relatively short, a single interview with each participant is common. This paper explores the…

This paper describes the design and methodology used to assess the impact of free primary education (FPE) policy in Nairobi, Kenya. The key outcome of the study was to assess the impact of FPE on schooling outcomes among the urban poor. The study assesses the impact of FPE by examining how two non-comparable groups responded to the introduction of…

There has been a significant increase in the use of secondary data sets. Many such data sets purport to be nationally representative. Secondary data sets include research commissioned by the National Center for Education Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control, and other public entities. Research increasingly utilizes these secondary data in…

Verbal reports are a common method of data collection in studies of mathematics learning, often in studies with a longitudinal component or those employing microgenetic methods where several observations of problem-solving are made over a short period of time. Whilst there is a fairly substantial literature on reactivity to verbal reports,…

The paper investigates the attitudes of young people in England towards schooling and education and the relationship of these attitudes to intentions for educational participation and to various background characteristics of the young people. It provides an example of secondary data analysis through using the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in…

The capacity of Bayesian methods in estimating complex statistical models is undeniable. Bayesian data analysis is seen as having a range of advantages, such as an intuitive probabilistic interpretation of the parameters of interest, the efficient incorporation of prior information to empirical data analysis, model averaging and model selection.…

School systems may be usefully characterized according to Turner's proposed ideal types of sponsored and contest mobility. Germany is a critical case with respect to this typology because its secondary school system is stratified and selective, and yet it offers the opportunity for upward and downward mobility. Drawing on an analysis of a German…