Investigating the Effects of Pre‐school Provision: Using Mixed Methods in the EPPE Research

The Effective Provision of Pre‐school Education (EPPE) project is a longitudinal study of young children between the ages of 3 and 7 years. Research began in 1997 and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to explore the effects of pre‐school education on children’s attainment and social/behavioural development at entry to school, and of any continuing effects on such outcomes at the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7). The sample included over 3,000 children and 141 pre‐school centres drawn from six different types of providers. In addition, a home sample of children who had not attended a pre‐school centre was included. In order to identify the processes that might influence centre effectiveness, observational data were collected and centre managers interviewed. In‐depth case studies of 12 more effective centres were used to explore and illuminate the processes, particularly in relation to pedagogy, associated with better child outcomes. A mixed method approach was adopted to simultaneously answer both confirmatory and exploratory questions, to support user engagement and provide triangulation. The paper argues that the mixed method approach supported the development of stronger research inferences.     

Estimation of finite population mean in simple random sampling and stratified random sampling using two auxiliary variables

In this article, we propose a new class of estimators to estimate the finite population mean by using two auxiliary variables under two different sampling schemes such as simple random sampling and stratified random sampling. The proposed class of estimators gives minimum mean squared error as compared to all other considered estimators. Some real data sets are used to observe the performances of the estimators. We show numerically that the proposed class of estimators performs better as compared to all other competitor estimators.     

‘Hunger has brought us into this jungle’: understanding mobility and immobility of Bengali immigrants in the Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

The recent history of the Chittagong Hills in Bangladesh is marked by ongoing conflicts between minority (non-Muslim and non-Bengali) locals and state-sponsored (Bengali Muslim) immigrants. In general, these immigrants are framed as land grabbers who have been receiving protection from a pro-Bengali military force. We propose instead, that the understanding of these Bengalis as a homogenous category of mobile perpetrators fails to take into account their complex histories as mobile landless peasants. Our ethnographic research reveals that the framing of the local minorities and the mobile Bengalis as two antagonistic categories with opposing interests obscures the fact that both categories have fallen victim to very similar regimes of mobilities and immobilities of the state and national and local (political, economic and military) elites. Here, we reject binary thinking that counterpoises mobility and immobility as two antagonistic concepts and argue that mobility and immobility are intrinsically related and their relationship is asymmetrical.     

Isolated, invisible, and in the closet: the life story of a Scottish Muslim lesbian

In the last three decades, there has been a significant growth in the literature on lesbian identity and relationships, but the study of lesbians from a Muslim background is conspicuously absent. This article was prompted partly by the relative absence of research into the lives of Muslim lesbians in Britain, and partly by the fact that much of the literature on Islam and homosexuality has tended to focus on homosexual men, ignoring the position of lesbian sexuality in Islam. It also charts the difficulties faced by a heterosexual researcher in conducting an interview with a lesbian and calls attention to the invisibility of self-identified Muslim lesbians in Glasgow. The life story interview is used to explore the very hidden and untold story of a Muslim lesbian; as such the article draws heavily on the subject's narrative.