3.2 Sampling
3.2.1 Sampling of Expert Reviewers
Step 1: Selection of student reviewers
Student reviewers were recruited from the University of Oxford. All were postgraduate students, either currently studying or recently having completed either a masters or doctoral degree. 116 students were initially identified as potential reviewers, in order to cover the full range of academic disciplines and native languages selected for the study, 12 of whom were finally invited to participate (a further 12 were identified as a back-up). Each selected student was asked to provide biographical information in terms of educational qualifications, area of expertise and current academic focus (see Appendix I (2)).
Step 2: Identification and recruitment of established academics
Student reviewers identified academic experts known to them in their own areas of academic expertise. Criteria for nomination were as follows:
Essential Criteria
- Each academic expert must have a higher educational qualification, preferably a PhD.
- The academic expert must have demonstrated their academic status by having a permanent post at a highly rated department within a well-established University.
- The academic expert should have worked closely with the student and have overlapping areas of research interests.
- The academic expert should be fluent in the student's native language.
Desirable Criteria:
- The academics and student should share the same native language.
- They should have a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals, or be a leading investigator on a large-scale, funded project.
Each student was asked to nominate three academic experts and to provide contact details and a brief biography for each of three nominees. The list of nominees was reviewed by the research team to ensure they were eligible for participation. In the rare cases where the academic did not have a PhD, students were asked to nominate another academic in their stead. The final list of nominated academic experts totalled 33, out of which number 22 accepted the invitation from the project team to participate.
Step 3: Completion of review using online feedback tool
Reviewers were asked to review articles in their native language and relating to their area of academic expertise using an online review tool specially designed for the purpose of the
18
