Publisher’s note The views and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author/project team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government, or state and territory governments. Any interpretation of data is the responsibility of the author/project team. To find other material of interest, search VOCEDplus (the UNESCO/NCVER international database <>) using the following keywords: Apprenticeship; Evaluation; Industry; Outcomes; Policy; Research; Vocational education and training.
Methodology Citation analysis The bibliometric analysis was conducted by specialist information services staff using Google, Google Scholar, Publish or Perish, parliamentary databases and VOCEDplus. The time period was from each report publication date to 25 May 2015. While comprehensive, a citation analysis is a point-in-time activity; it is not a true reflection of the level of actual engagement and use of the research. Our previous work in this area suggests the peak time for academic citations is around five to six years following report publication. The complete results of the citation and media analysis are provided in the support document accompanying this report. Google analytics Included in the metrics is the collection and analysis of data from the NCVER website/portal and the VOCEDplus database, using Google analytics. It tracks how visitors interact with the websites, including how many visit, where they come from, who they are (in terms of NCVER-defined user groups), how long they spend on the website, what pages they visit and what publications they view or download. Detailed Google analytics and methodological caveats regarding the reporting period, sampling, member group scope and tracking code issues in relation to the transition from NCVER’s website to the portal (which occurred on 3 February 2014) are included in the support document. Editorial Board evaluations For this we trialled the use of NCVER’s Editorial Board as an external assessment panel, adapting the case study evaluation questions and matrices from the United Kingdom Research Excellence Framework (REF) exercise. Each editorial board member was allocated between two and four reports to review. Evaluations were conducted over the period April to June 2015. A copy of the evaluation template is provided in the support document. Stakeholder questionnaire End-user stakeholders were randomly identified from a list of current subscribers to NCVER, from within categories of people potentially interested in the topics. This list was supplemented with individuals or organisations likely to have a general interest in the VET sector. The stakeholders invited to participate for each theme are identified in table 2, along with the responses received. In addition, ten authors of the reports under consideration were invited to participate and eight completed the questionnaire. A list of those who consented to have their name identified is provided in appendix A and the questionnaire instrument is provided in the support document. Limitations in the sample In terms of the scale of this study the response rates to the surveys for both themes are satisfactory and sufficient for meaningful analysis (table 2). However, the responses are not
Richardson and Yan Sun to move quickly into employment from those who take many months to find work. 14 Tom Karmel (conference paper) 2012 This was a keynote address at the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) conference held in 2012. The author notes that industry is arguably the key stakeholder in the Australian VET sector and discusses six areas of research which raise questions about VET and industry, either in terms of how public training funds are allocated or the educational principles on which VET is based. 4 1 11 2288 26 n/a n/a 15 Steven 2014 How VET practitioners understand and use competency standards is of fundamental importance to the quality and integrity of the Australian VET system. This small study seeks to address this question by gaining insights from 30 VET practitioners. 2 2 17 2886 89 n/a n/a 16 Bridget Wibrow 2014 This overview uses information from the Student Outcomes Survey (SOS) to match the intended occupations of graduates with their destination occupation six months after training. The influence of qualification level, labour force status before training, age, completing only a module and industry area was also examined. 0 2 17 613 24 n/a n/a Total vocations theme n/a 50 259 20 881 748 n/a n/a