Special Education Department research database goes live

A commissioned online research and policy database of 1,693 publications, arising from special educational needs (SEN) research and policy activity on the island of Ireland since 2000, developed by the Special Education Department at St Patrick’s College, has been launched on the website of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). The database is searchable by author, theme, category of special educational need, year, type of publication and institution. The project team led by Dr Joseph Travers, Director of Special Education in the College included Dr Cathal Butler, Dr Margaret O' Donnell and Ms Celine O Connell.

The purposes of the inventory are threefold. First, it aims to provide a valuable online searchable research database for the National Council of Special Education and others conducting research or working in the field of special education. Second, it aims to provide for a more efficient use of research resources as it helps to highlight the evidence base on which to build. Third, the inventory highlights gaps in the special education research knowledge base.

In conjunction with the database a report entitled  An Inventory of Research and Policy Related Publications in the Field of Special Education on the Island of Ireland since 2000 accompanies the database. This report on the process of conducting the inventory and building the database is structured into the following sections:

• The introduction setting out the context and purpose of the inventory and database;
• The methodology used for the inventory and construction of the database;
• The structure of the entries according to categories of special educational need, themes and authors;
• Exploratory reflections on the range of themes and recommendations.

There are also two supplementary documents, which contain an A-Z list of all the references in the inventory by author, and a document listing all references according to themes and categories of special educational need where appropriate.

National Council for Special Education research database

Inventory of research and policy related publications

 

 

 

 

Last Updated: Friday May 06 2011