This book develops a theoretically rich analysis of quantification and subjectivity, tracing new linkages between educational policy and everyday life in schools, diving deeper into ‘ordinary’ schools as they encounter and navigate quantified forms of recognition. With a focus on Chile as a critical case of neoliberal experimentation, this book investigates whether intense exposure to quantified forms of meaning and sense-making in school settings could develop into metrics-driven dispositions or attachments. Contemporary demands on schools for calculation, prediction, and comparison by the use of accountability tools like high-stakes testing, league tables, consequential inspection ratings and ‘progress’ measures evidence the relentless presence of quantification in teaching and learning. This book argues the importance of bridging political, sociological and anthropological literatures together with affect and subjectivity theories to understand the complex ways in which standardisation, optimisation, automation, and surveillance crystallise into quantification-based forms of intelligibility.
Since 1986, the British government, faced with dwindling budgets and growing calls for public accountability, has sought to assess the value of scholarly work in the nation’s universities. Administrators have periodically evaluated the research of most full-time academics employed in British universities, seeking to distribute increasingly scarce funding to those who use it best. How do such attempts to quantify the worth of knowledge change the nature of scholarship? Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra examines the effects of quantitative research evaluations on British social scientists, arguing that the mission to measure academic excellence resulted in less diversity and more disciplinary conformity. Combining interviews and original computational analyses, The Quantified Scholar provides a compelling account of how scores, metrics, and standardized research evaluations altered the incentives of scientists and administrators by rewarding forms of scholarship that were closer to established disciplinary canons. In doing so, research evaluations amplified publication hierarchies and long-standing forms of academic prestige to the detriment of diversity. Slowly but surely, they reshaped academic departments, the interests of scholars, the organization of disciplines, and the employment conditions of researchers. Critiquing the effects of quantification on the workplace, this book also presents alternatives to existing forms of evaluation, calling for new forms of vocational solidarity that can challenge entrenched inequality in academia.
The body has become central to practices of self-tracking. By focusing on the relations between quantification, the body, and labor, this volume sheds light on the ways in which discourses on data collection and versions of the ›corporate self‹ are instrumental in redefining concepts of labor, including notions of immaterial and free labor in an increasingly virtual work environment. The contributions explore the functions of quantification in conceptualizing the body as a laboring body and examine how quantification contributes to disciplining the body. By doing so, they also inquire how practices of self-tracking, self-monitoring, and self-optimization have evolved historically.
"The book provides a reference point for beginning educational researchers to grasp the most pertinent elements of designing and conducting research..." —Megan Tschannen-Moran, The College of William & Mary Quantitative Research in Education: A Primer, Second Edition is a brief and practical text designed to allay anxiety about quantitative research. Award-winning authors Wayne K. Hoy and Curt M. Adams first introduce readers to the nature of research and science, and then present the meaning of concepts and research problems as they dispel notions that quantitative research is too difficult, too theoretical, and not practical. Rich with concrete examples and illustrations, the Primer emphasizes conceptual understanding and the practical utility of quantitative methods while teaching strategies and techniques for developing original research hypotheses. The Second Edition includes suggestions for empirical investigation and features a new section on self-determination theory, examples from the latest research, a concluding chapter illustrating the practical applications of quantitative research, and much more. This accessible Primer is perfect for students and researchers who want a quick understanding of the process of scientific inquiry and who want to learn how to effectively create and test ideas.
The information revolution has ushered in a data-driven reorganization of the workplace. Big data and AI are used to surveil workers and shift risk. Workplace wellness programs appraise our health. Personality job tests calibrate our mental state. The monitoring of social media and surveillance of the workplace measure our social behavior. With rich historical sources and contemporary examples, The Quantified Worker explores how the workforce science of today goes far beyond increasing efficiency and threatens to erase individual personhood. With exhaustive detail, Ifeoma Ajunwa shows how different forms of worker quantification are enabled, facilitated, and driven by technological advances. Timely and eye-opening, The Quantified Worker advocates for changes in the law that will mitigate the ill effects of the modern workplace.
Data and metrics play an unmistakably powerful role in today’s society. Over the years, their use has expanded to cover almost every sphere of everyday life. This book provides a critical investigation into what we can call a “metric culture” in which practices of self-tracking and quantification have become more popular than ever before.
This textbook introduces graduate students in education and policy research to data and statistical methods in state-level higher education policy analysis. It also serves as a methodological guide to students, practitioners, and researchers who want a clear approach to conducting higher education policy analysis that involves the use of institutional- and state-level secondary data and quantitative methods ranging from descriptive to advanced statistical techniques. This book is unique in that it introduces readers to various types of data sources and quantitative methods utilized in policy research and in that it demonstrates how results of statistical analyses should be presented to higher education policy makers. It helps to bridge the gap between researchers, policy makers, and practitioners both within education policy and between other fields. Coverage includes identifying pertinent data sources, the creation and management of customized data sets, teaching beginning and advanced statistical methods and analyses, and the presentation of analyses for different audiences (including higher education policy makers).
This book provides a clear and straightforward guide for all those seeking to conduct quantitative research in the field of education, using primary research data samples. While positioned as less powerful and somehow inferior, non-parametric tests can be very useful where the research can only be designed to accommodate data structure which is ordinal, or scale but violates a normality assumption, which is required for parametric tests. Non-parametric data are a staple of educational research, and as such, it is essential that educational researchers learn how to work with these data with confidence and rigour.
This book shows how principles of self-regulated learning are being implemented in secondary classrooms. The 14 chapters are theoretically driven and supported by empirical research and address all common high school content areas. The book comprises 29 lesson plans in English language arts, natural and physical sciences, social studies, mathematics, foreign language, art, music, health, and physical education. Additionally, the chapters address students with special needs, technology, and homework. Each chapter begins with one or more lesson plans written by master teachers, followed by narratives explaining how the lesson plans were implemented. The chapters conclude with an analysis written by expert researchers of the self-regulated learning elements in the lessons. Each lesson and each analysis incorporate relevant educational standards for that area. Different types of high schools in several states serve as venues. This powerful new book edited by Maria K. DiBenedetto provides a unique and invaluable resource for both secondary teachers and researchers committed to supporting adolescents in the development of academic self-regulation. Each chapter is jointly written by teachers who provide a wealth of materials, including lesson plans, and researchers who situate these lesson plans and academic self-regulation goals within the larger work on self-regulation. The topics covered are far broader than any other book I have seen in terms of developing academic self-regulation, covering over a dozen content areas, including literacy, mathematics, social studies, the sciences, and the arts. Teachers and scholars alike will find this book a must read. Karen Harris, EdD, Arizona State University A practical and magnificent blend of educational research and application. This book goes beyond presenting the findings of research on self regulation by connecting detailed strategies that align with the standards to the research. DiBenedetto et al. clearly illustrate how to develop self regulated learners in the classroom. A refreshing must read for all secondary educators and educational researchers seeking to be well grounded in education research and practical application techniques. Heather Brookman, PhD, Fusion Academy- Park Avenue Self-regulated learning is a research-based process by which teachers help students realize their own role in the learning process. Connecting Self-Regulated Learning and Performance with Instruction Across High School Content Areas consists of model teachers’ lessons and analyses by prominent educational psychologists in the field of self-regulated learning. The book provides teachers with the tools needed to increase students’ awareness of learning and inspires all educators to use self-regulated learning to promote engagement, motivation, and achievement in their students. The book also provides administrators with the principles needed to infuse evidenced based self-regulated learning into their curriculum and instruction. I highly recommend the book! Marty Richburg, Northside High School
