scholarly journals Measuring the long-term effects of informal science education experiences: challenges and potential solutions

Author(s):  
Nancy L. Staus ◽  
John H. Falk ◽  
Aaron Price ◽  
Robert H. Tai ◽  
Lynn D. Dierking

AbstractDespite the fact that most science learning takes place outside of school, little is known about how engagement in informal science learning (ISL) experiences affects learners’ knowledge, skill development, interest, or identities over long periods of time. Although substantial ISL research has documented short-term outcomes such as the learning that takes place during a science center visit, research suggests that the genuine benefits of informal experiences are long-term transformations in learners as they pursue a “cascade” of experiences subsequent to the initial educational event. However, a number of major methodological challenges have limited longitudinal research projects investigating the long-term effects of ISL experiences. In this paper we identify and address four key issues surrounding the critical but challenging area of how to study and measure the long-term effects or impacts of ISL experiences: attribution, attrition, data collection, and analytic approaches. Our objective is to provide guidance to ISL researchers wishing to engage in long-term investigations of learner outcomes and to begin a dialogue about how best to address the numerous challenges involved in this work.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Durall ◽  
Sophie Perry ◽  
Mairéad Hurley ◽  
Evangelos Kapros ◽  
Teemu Leinonen

Informal science learning has great potential to engage diverse learners, but faces issues of persistent inequities. While systemic change is needed to address these issues at a structural level, there is also a need for practical tools to support the organisations and the educators who are working to engage audiences in informal science that is authentic, culturally responsive, interest driven and learner centered. This article presents a collection of design principles, generated through a design approach which actively involved informal science learners, practitioners and researchers from nineteen countries as contributors. We present the design approach adopted, and suggest that participatory design methods could play a role in supporting equity efforts in informal science learning since several of the educators involved in the process decided to adopt participatory methods in their own practice. We also present an overview of the design principles generated through this process, and discuss the application of an early draft of these in an authentic informal science education programme. By adopting and adapting these principles and approaches in their practices, educators can work towards creating equitable and transformative informal science learning environments and experiences.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoling Li ◽  
Xingyao Ren ◽  
Xu Zheng

Purpose – This paper aimed to analyze the short- and long-term effects of the breadth and depth of seller competition on the performance of platform companies, and investigated the underlying mechanisms of customers’ two-sided marketing tactics on the structure of the competition between sellers. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal research design was adopted by gathering daily market objective data on e-commerce platforms for 250 days, and the dynamic evolution effects was analyzed by using a vector autoregression model which compared the differences between the short- and long-term effectiveness of different customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. Findings – The breadth of competition amongst sellers improves the performance of platforms, whilst the depth of competition among sellers has a positive effect on the short-term performance. However, it has a negative effect on the long-term performance of their platforms. In both the short and long terms, advertising tactics that attract new buyers contribute more to increases in the breadth of seller competition than those that attract existing buyers do. Subsidies for new sellers decrease the depth of seller competition more than those for old sellers. Research limitations/implications – Further research could be undertaken to investigate the validity of marketing tactics other than advertising tactics, and thus expand the time windows of the available data. Practical implications – It is imperative for platform companies to implement effective control over seller competition to balance the interests of the sellers and of themselves. Originality/value – The dyadic paradigm of CRM research has been extended by considering the perspective of the electronic platform company, how the tactics of exploitation and exploration of two-sided customers impact upon seller competitive structures have been delved into and why new customers have a unique value to platform companies has been identified.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 433-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric E. Goff ◽  
Kelly Lynn Mulvey ◽  
Matthew J. Irvin ◽  
Adam Hartstone-Rose

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-210
Author(s):  
Steven M. Ortiz

The conclusion provides some final observations about the longitudinal research itself and its short- and long-term effects on the women involved. It briefly touches on the few areas of the sport marriage that have seen improvement in the past few decades, discusses the conscious decisions the women make to continue normalizing the career-dominated marriage, and reports on how the marriages fared over time. It also describes the women’s personal empowerment as a result of their participation in the research. Finally, it summarizes the advice and suggested keys to a successful sport marriage that the wives in both studies offered, based on their lived experience. This overview essentially describes how and why the wife of a male professional athlete must adapt to realities if she wants her marriage to survive her husband’s career and retirement.


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