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Editorial 11(2) [1] contained some information on access rates ("hit counts") for IIER pages on our website. Tables 1 and 2 below extend the sampling to February 2003. Table 1 indicates that the steady growth in access rates continues. As we may expect, access rates fall off as contents pages become older. The decreased use of the search page may reflect the discontinuation of the IIER-specific search facility on 28 August 2002. Many readers of IIER online may bypass the search page [2], instead proceeding directly to the Curtin University of Technology Google search facility [3] now adopted for IIER, or to external search engines such as Google [4]. IIER has secured a "high profile" with Google, as readers may discover by searching for IIER (or iier), or by doing an "all of the words" search which includes "iier" as one of the words.
| Date | Home page | All vols | Vol 11 (2001) | Vol 10 (2000) | Vol 9 (1999) | Vol 8 (1998) | Vol 7 (1997) | Search |
| Apr-Aug 1999 (a) | - | - | - | - | 94/wk | 45/wk | 28/wk | 34/wk |
| Apr-Jun 2000 (b) | 191/wk | - | - | - | 84/wk | 57/wk | 48/wk | 62/wk |
| Sep-Nov 2001 (c) | 295/wk | 86/wk | 70/wk | 85/wk | 85/wk | 44/wk | 35/wk | 112/wk |
| Jan-Jun 2002 (d) | 325/wk | 88/wk | 74/wk | 81/wk | 81/wk | 38/wk | 24/wk | 114/wk |
| Feb 2003 (e)* | 420/wk* | 93/wk | 86/wk | 66/wk | 39/wk | 31/wk | 29/wk | 79/wk |
| Sampling periods: a. 12 Apr-3 Aug 1999. b. Apr 00-5 Jun 2000. c. 22 Sep 01 to 22 Nov 2001. d. 7 Jan-10 Jun 2002 (10 Jun to 1 Jul for Vol 7) e. 1-28 Feb 2003.
Counting methods: a. to d. by nph-count, e. by Webalizer v1.30. * The Vol 12 (2002) table of contents is currently on the IIER home page and therefore a rate comparable to the rates for Vols 7-11 contents pages is not available. | ||||||||
Table 2 provides examples of IIER articles that have attracted high access rates. Three of the articles cited in Table 2 were cited in Editorial 11(2), illustrating the potential for reader interest being sustained over an extended period. Other patterns of reader interest are illustrated by Sutherland (2001) (high initial interest is not sustained) and by Dunkin (1997) (an article that appears to be "recently discovered"). Access rates and other aspects of IIER's Internet profile are monitored continuously by the Editor and website editor, with ongoing research into questions such as the proportions of access rates attributable to search engine or "web crawler" activities. However it is already clear that the Internet version is securing a very much higher proportion of IIER's readership than is obtained by the printed version.
| Article and URL | 19 Oct- 18 Nov 2001* | 1 Oct- 30 Nov 2002* | 1-27 Feb 2003* |
| Dunkin, M. J. (1997). Assessing teachers' effectiveness. Issues in Educational Research, 7(1), 37-51. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier7/dunkin.html | n.a. | 85/wk | 45/wk |
| Glew, P.J. (1998). Verbal interaction and English second language acquisition in classroom contexts. Issues in Educational Research, 8(2), 83-94. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier8/glew.html | 23/wk | 46/wk | 32/wk |
| West, P. (1999). Boys' underachievement in school: Some persistent problems and some current research. Issues in Educational Research, 9(1), 33-54. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier9/west.html | 48/wk | 114/wk | 129/wk |
| Buchanan, J. and Khamis, M. (1999). Teacher renewal, peer observations and the pursuit of best practice. Issues in Educational Research, 9(1), 1-14. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier9/buchanan.html | 10/wk | 44/wk | n.a. |
| Bruce, M. E. and Robinson, G. L. (2000). Effectiveness of a metacognitive reading program for poor readers. Issues in Educational Research, 10(1), 1-20. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier10/bruce.html | 27/wk | 49/wk | 31/wk |
| Sutherland, M. (2001). Why are students with disabilities failing? Is mainstreaming the cause? Issues in Educational Research, 11(1), 41-61. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier11/sutherland.html | 48/wk | n.a. | n.a. |
| Partington, G. (2001). Qualitative research interviews: Identifying problems in technique. Issues in Educational Research, 11(2), 32-44. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier11/partington.html | n.a. | 68/wk | 60/wk |
| Peck, B. (2001). The poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. Issues In Educational Research, 11(2), 45-64. http://education.curtin.edu.au/iier/iier11/peck.html | n.a. | 49/wk | 42/wk |
| * Average number of page accesses per week during the sample period as indicated. n.a. - not available or not applicable | |||
The papers in this edition range through a number of research issues pertaining to schools, to higher education and to research methodology.
Anthony Imbrosciano & Richard Berlach looked at possible connections between intelligence, behaviour and academic success by comparing IQ scores with teacher perceptions of academic performance and general classroom behaviour.
Lauren Breen, Lisbeth T. Pike & Lucius Arco investigated the link between coursework and work-based learning in professional courses in higher education. In this study, seventy-four psychologists involved in work-based supervision of psychology postgraduates completed a questionnaire and ten were interviewed to ascertain their views regarding skills training in psychology at the postgraduate level.
The paper by Maria Northcote considered the place of online assessment in the teaching and learning context of the modern university, with a particular focus on how its adoption and design reflects teachers' pedagogies. The impact on student learning is also considered, especially as the type of assessment task assigned to students can have such an influence on their learning outcomes and developing epistemologies. The paper concludes with a recommendation to develop a more balanced approach to student assessment in online environments, one that evaluates a wider range of student learning outcomes and encourages teachers to consider their own epistemologies when designing online assessment tasks.
The expectation of students in tertiary education is the topic considered in the research by D. Darlaston-Jones, L. Pike, L. Cohen, A. Young, S. Haunold and N. Drew. Students are becoming more conscious of their customer rights and of gaps between their expectations of service delivery and the reality of that service. Not only does this service gap present a quality assurance challenge for universities, it is also likely to contribute to student withdrawal. This paper describes a study in the School of Psychology at one specific university. Implications from this study are discussed and avenues for further research explored.
Patricia Forster's paper addresses ethical and political dilemmas of classroom-based research. Ethical stances associated with research purpose, informed consent, epistemology, trust and anonymity are discussed. She also touches briefly on the politics of relations with research participants and the politics of institutional life. The paper is a personal account of ethical implications of the conduct of her doctoral study and is the result of critical reflection on the study at its conclusion. Her intended audience is doctoral and other post-graduate students who are about to undertake research projects or who are in the midst of a project.
Clare McBeath
Editor
| Please cite as: McBeath, C. (2003). Editorial. Issues In Educational Research, 13(1), iv-vii. http://www.iier.org.au/iier13/editorial1.html |