The study addresses the direct and indirect relationship of group cohesion and productivity norm with the perceived performance effectiveness (plan and current tasks implementation and performance success in challenging conditions) and social effectiveness (satisfaction with the group/subgroup and psychological comfort in the group/subgroup) at the levels of work groups and informal subgroups. Thirty-nine work groups from fifteen Russian organizations of different activity profiles, namely services, trade, and manufacturing, took part in the study. The vast majority of them were characterized by relatively low task interdependence. Within the work groups, informal subgroups (from one to three per group) were identified. The cohesion of groups and subgroups was positively and significantly stronger associated with their social effectiveness than with performance effectiveness. The cohesion of subgroups was also indirectly related to social effectiveness of the work groups, i.e., this association was mediated by the subgroup social effectiveness. The index of productivity norm was positively related to perceived performance effectiveness only at the subgroup level, but not at the group level. The productivity norm of the subgroups was also indirectly related to the perceived performance effectiveness of the groups, i.e., this association was mediated by the subgroup performance effectiveness. The indirect relationship between subgroup productivity norm and group performance effectiveness was more complex when cohesion within subgroups was taken into account.

As the empirical literature in educational technology continues to grow, meta-analyses are increasingly being used to synthesise research to inform practice. However, not all meta-analyses are equal. To examine their evolution over the past 30 years, this study systematically analysed the quality of 52 meta-analyses (1988–2017) on educational technology. Methodological and reporting quality is defined here as the completeness of the descriptive and methodological reporting features of meta-analyses. The study employed the Meta-Analysis Methodological Reporting Quality Guide (MMRQG), an instrument designed to assess 22 areas of reporting quality in meta-analyses. Overall, MMRQG scores were negatively related to average effect size (i.e., the higher the quality, the lower the effect size). Owing to the presence of poor-quality syntheses, the contribution of educational technologies to learning has been overestimated, potentially misleading researchers and practitioners. Nine MMRQG items discriminated between higher and lower average effect sizes. A publication date analysis revealed that older reviews (1988–2009) scored significantly lower on the MMRQG than more recent reviews (2010–2017). Although the increase in quality bodes well for the educational technology literature, many recent meta-analyses still show only moderate levels of quality. Identifying and using only best evidence-based research is thus imperative to avoid bias. Implications for practice or policy: Educational technology practitioners should make use of meta-analytical findings that systematically synthesise primary research. Academics, policymakers and practitioners should consider the methodological quality of meta-analyses as they vary in reliability. Academics, policymakers and practitioners could avoid misleading bias in research evidence by using the MMRQG to evaluate the quality of meta-analyses. Meta-analyses with lower MMRQG scores should be considered with caution as they seem to overestimate the effect of educational technology on learning.

This study examined two dimensions of organizational citizenship behaviour (specifically - offering quality ideas and suggestions, providing help and support) and organizational communication skills of professionals at the work group level (e.g., department, research unit) and at the division level (e.g., management, faculty) in organizations of various professional fields, such as business, law enforcement and higher education. Ninety-one managers from eleven commercial companies, one law enforcement agency and seven higher education state institutions evaluated 624 employees (i.e., their subordinates) on two dimensions of citizenship behaviour and organizational communication using two questionnaires. It was found that the citizenship behaviours of offering quality ideas and suggestions and of providing help and support, as well as the organizational communicative skills of employees are more pronounced in work groups than in divisions in all three professional areas. Quality ideas and suggestions and organizational communication skills of employees (both at the group and at the division levels) are higher in the educational institutions and the law enforcement agency than they are in commercial companies. The help and support of employees (only at the division level) is noticeably higher in universities and in companies than in the law enforcement agency. Gender emerged as a significant predictor of two dimensions of the citizenship behaviour and, even stronger of communication in groups and divisions among company employees, as well as of the citizenship behaviour and communication at the division level in educational institutions. Neither age nor the length of group/organization membership correlated with the citizenship behaviour and communicativeness among all categories of workers (with just a few exceptions).

PURPOSE:This study explores the connections between formal quantitative group characteristics (such as group size, group composition by gender, age, and duration of group membership of individual workers, their average age, and duration of membership) with three levels of conflict (ie, interpersonal, individual-group, and individual-subgroup) of two types (ie, activity-oriented and subject-oriented).METHOD:Forty-one work groups - small-size enterprises and basic-level teams and units in medium-size companies and large corporations, with the total sample of 334 individual workers - took part in the study. The study employed the questionnaire of interpersonal conflicts in a group and the questionnaire of individual-group and micro-group conflicts as assessment tools. Subsequent regression analyses explored the relationships between group size and composition on one hand and types and levels of conflict on the other.RESULTS:The study established that group size is negatively associated with the individual-subgroup subject-oriented conflict. Also, group size moderates the connections between several formal group characteristics and conflict types and levels. These connections are detected in large-size groups but are nearly nonexistent in small-size groups. Group diversity by gender is negatively associated with the individual-group activity-oriented conflict (across all participating groups) and with the interpersonal and individual-group subject-oriented conflicts (in large-size groups only). Group composition by duration of group membership is negatively associated with the individual-subgroup subject-oriented conflict (across groups), participants' average age and duration of group membership - with both types of the individual-subgroup conflict. Out of all group characteristics under consideration, only group composition by age was not associated with either of the conflict parameters.DISCUSSION:The paper makes a special point out of the fact that group characteristics served as much stronger predictors for conflict parameters in large-size groups than either in small-size groups or in the entire sample, indicating that the increase in group size strengthens the influence of group characteristics on conflict parameters.CONCLUSION:The research findings indicate that it is important, when studying connections between group composition and conflicts within the group, to take group size and its influence on types and levels of the intragroup conflict into account.

s (WilsonLine), Education: A SAGE Full-text Collection, Francis (CSA), Medline (PubMed), ProQuest Digital Dissertations & Theses, PsycINFO (EBSCO), Australian Policy Online, British Education Index, and Social Science Information Gateway. In addition, Google Internet searches were performed to help identify gray literature, including a search for conference proceedings. Review articles and previous meta-analyses were used for branching, and the tables of contents of major journals in the field of educational technology (e. g., Educational Technology Research & Development) were manually searched. Effect size calculation and synthesis A d-type standardized mean difference effect size was used as the common metric (i. e., Cohen’s d), and then was transformed into Hedges’ g metric [15] to provide necessary correction for small sample sizes. The random effects model [6] was the main analytical approach for this meta-analysis. A mixed effects model was used to test the difference in levels of moderator variables. In a mixed analysis, average effect sizes for categories of the moderator are calculated using a random effects model. The variance component Q-Between is calculated across categories using a fixed effect model [6]. All analyses, including sensitivity and publication bias analysis, were performed in Comprehensive Meta-AnalysisTM 2.2.048 [5]. Results The findings of the meta-analysis of effects of classroom technology integration in higher education on student achievement outcomes are presented, first, overall, and then by individual research sub-question as outlined earlier. More detailed information regarding each of these follow-up meta-analyses can be found in respective publications. Overall findings The overall random-model results of the [24] study are shown in Table 1. The total of 879 effect sizes produced a weighted average effect size of 0.27 that was significantly greater than zero. The collection is significantly heterogeneous, based on findings from the fixed model where heterogeneity is tested in terms of the magnitude of Q-Total (i. e., total between-study variability). An effect size of 0.27 is considered to be small and represents a difference of 0.27sd between the mean of the treatment condition and the control condition, amounting to about an 11 % difference. These results suggest that technology-supported РОССИЙСКИЙ ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ЖУРНАЛ • 2016 ТОМ 13 No 4 294 RUSSIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL • 2016 VOL. 13 # 4 instruction is advantageous compared to either non-use or limited use, but that this advantage is relatively modest. Table 1. Overall weighted average effect size (Random Effects Model) Population Estimates k g SE Lower 95 th Upper 95th Final Collection 879 0.27* 0.02 0.24 0.31 ** Heterogeneity Analysis QT = 3,183.10 (df = 878), p < .001, I2 = 72.42 * p < .01; ** Based on the fixed effect model for k = 879 Major function of technology use The results become differentiated when effect sizes are divided by pedagogical application. These results from [24] indicate that technology that is used to support student cognition outperforms all other categories, but especially presentational support (Table 2). This effect is interpreted as a difference primarily between “technology used by students” (for content understanding) and “technology used by teachers” (for content delivery). Other functions, such as support for communication and a mixture of cognitive and presentational support, fall in between these two. Table 2. Instructional moderator variable analysis: Major function of technology use Levels of Technology Use k g Lower 95th Upper 95th QBetween Cognitive Support (CS) 186 0.36 0.28 0.44 Presentational Support (PS) 113 0.15 0.07 0.23 Communication Support 27 0.24 0.12 0.35 Mixture (CS plus PS) 485 0.25 0.21 0.30 Between Groups, df = 3 13.28, p = .004 Contrast: Cog. Supp. vs. Presentational Supp., z = 5.14, p < .0001 RUSSIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL • 2016 VOL. 13 # 4 295 РОССИЙСКИЙ ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ЖУРНАЛ • 2016 ТОМ 13 No 4 Blended learning The effects of blended learning (i. e., partly in class and partly online) were derived from the [24] database and analyzed and reported in [3]. As evident from Table 3, the random-effects weighted average effect size (= 0.334, k = 117) is larger than the overall average effect of technology use in the original metaanalysis and is in line with the findings from the other meta-analyses of blended learning [21, 26]. Apparently, there is an advantage that accrues from balancing face-to-face instruction with online learning outside of class. The mechanisms of this effect have not been determined, so one of the challenges of educational technology research of the future will be to tease out the effects of variables such as amount of time devoted to each pattern of instruction, the most effective learning strategies, and the teacher’s role in the online portion of blended learning. Table 3. Weighted average effects for blended learning Analytical Models K g SE Lower 95th Upper 95th Random Effect Model 117 0.334* 0.04 0.26 0.41 Fixed Effect Model 117 0.316** 0.02 0.28 0.36 Heterogeneity Q-total = 372.91, df = 116, p < .001 I-squared = 68.89 % τ2 = 0.11 * z = 8.62, p < .001; ** z = 15.68, p < .001. Interaction treatments Interaction treatments were defined by [4] as instructional setups in distance education that are intended to facilitate and promote interaction among students, between students and teachers, and between students and the content. This definition was used to code studies in the [24] study in classroom setting. Table 4 shows the results of this basic analysis. Conditions where interactions were greater in the treatment group, compared to the control condition, produced results that were significantly higher than when the control group was higher in the potential for interaction. As expected, when the two conditions were roughly the same (i. e., = 0.29, k = 703), the outcome was not significantly different from the former condition (i. e., = 0.34 vs. 0.29). РОССИЙСКИЙ ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ЖУРНАЛ • 2016 ТОМ 13 No 4 296 RUSSIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL • 2016 VOL. 13 # 4 Table 4. Mixed effects analysis of the degree of student-student interaction Levels k g SE Lower 95th Upper 95th QBetween Equal in control and experimental groups 703 0.29 0.02 0.25 0.33 Control group higher 127 0.16 0.04 0.07 0.24 Experimental group higher 48 0.34 0.07 0.20 0.48 Between Groups, df = 2 8.93, p = .012

The main objective of this systematic review is to synthesize the empirical evidence on how the Internet and social media may, or may not, constitute spaces for exchange that can be favorable to violent extremism. Of the 5,182 studies generated from

Although the overall research literature on the application of educational technologies to classroom instruction tends to favor their use over their non-use, these results vary considerably depending on what kind of technology is used, who it is used with and, more importantly, under what circumstances and for what instructional purposes it is used. Relatively recent, but well-developed and powerful methodology of systematic reviews, particularly quantitative syntheses (also known as meta-analyses) is especially suitable for addressing questions of that type by systematically summarizing research evidence in given areas of interest in social sciences.This meta-analysis summarizes data from 674 independent primary studies that compared higher degrees of technology use in the experimental condition with less technology in the control condition, in terms of their effects on student learning outcomes in postsecondary education. The result was an overall average weighted effect size of = 0.27 (k = 879, p < .01), indicating low but significant positive effect of technology integration on learning. The follow-up analyses revealed the influence of educational technology used for cognitive support and blended learning instructional settings designed interaction treatments, and technology integration in teacher training, especially when student-centered pedagogical frameworks are used. These findings are of potentially high interest and applied value for educational practitioners, including teachers and school administrators, as well as for instructional designers and developers of educational software.

Critical thinking (CT), or the ability to engage in purposeful, self-regulatory judgment, is widely recognized as an important, even essential, skill. This article describes an ongoing meta-analysis that summarizes the available empirical evidence on the impact of instruction on the development and enhancement of critical thinking skills and dispositions. We found 117 studies based on 20,698 participants, which yielded 161 effects with an average effect size ( g+) of 0.341 and a standard deviation of 0.610. The distribution was highly heterogeneous ( Q T = 1,767.86, p < .001). There was, however, little variation due to research design, so we neither separated studies according to their methodological quality nor used any statistical adjustment for the corresponding effect sizes. Type of CT intervention and pedagogical grounding were substantially related to fluctuations in CT effects sizes, together accounting for 32% of the variance. These findings make it clear that improvement in students’ CT skills and dispositions cannot be a matter of implicit expectation. As important as the development of CT skills is considered to be, educators must take steps to make CT objectives explicit in courses and also to include them in both preservice and in-service training and faculty development.

Critical thinking (CT) has been of longstanding interest among scholars, educators, and others who are concerned with thinking skills. The Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) is the oldest and among the most widely used and studied CT measure. It was constructed around five subscales (or CT skills): inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments. This paper describes a two part analysis of the psychometric properties of the WGCTA, based on 13 sets of subscale inter-correlations and 60 sets of subscale means retrieved from published studies. We performed a meta-analysis on the inter-correlations of the10 combinations of subscales and found that all of the average correlations that resulted were significant, but that all but one was significantly heterogeneous. Subsequently, we conducted principal components analysis on 60 subscale means of two different versions of the WGCTA. Each produced a one-factor solution, accounting for 82.69% and 79.55% of the total variance, respectively. Together these two parts of this study suggest that the WGCTA should be viewed as a measure of general competency, and that the subscales should not be interpreted individually.

A meta-analysis of the comparative distance education (DE) literature between 1985 and 2002 was conducted. In total, 232 studies containing 688 independent achievement, attitude, and retention outcomes were analyzed. Overall results indicated effect sizes of essentially zero on all three measures and wide variability. This suggests that many applications of DE outperform their classroom counterparts and that many perform more poorly. Dividing achievement outcomes into synchronous and asynchronous forms of DE produced a somewhat different impression. In general, mean achievement effect sizes for synchronous applications favored classroom instruction, while effect sizes for asynchronous applications favored DE. However, significant heterogeneity remained in each subset.

This article is about the quantitative research practices and methodologies that are used in distance education (DE). It begins with an analysis and assessment of a segment of the DE research literature, DE/classroom comparison studies, based on a recently completed meta-analysis of that literature from 1985 to 2002. Overall, the 232 studies reviewed were judged to be of poor methodological quality and severely lacking in critical information about research practices. Studies of synchronous and asynchronous DE are discussed separately and recommendations are made for improving designs and measures within these patterns. Suggestions for future quantitative research areas are provided. In discussing these findings, we recognize that high-quality research is being conducted in the field and that qualitative forms of research contribute greatly to the mosaic of evidence that is the base of available knowledge about DE. Finally, three organizations, the What Works Clearinghouse (USA), EPPI-Centre (UK), and the Campbell Collaboration (international), all devoted to improving the quality of research and research synthesis in education, are described briefly; suggestions are made as to how their philosophies and approaches for judging the worthiness of research evidence can be used to improve DE research.