Clothing-comfort assessment by human perception analysis provides a sound basis for comparison of apparel garments under combined microclimates and human-activity levels of normal wear. The perception-analysis process attempts to seek out the wearing conditions that produce differences in human sensation and the descriptors used by indixiduals to describe these sensations.Details of the human perception approach to comfort are illustrated by applications to a shirt and a jeans study involving men and women. The comfort preference for cotton garments in these studies is documented using statistical analysis of the data appropriate to the perception process.

Children are at risk for school failure as a result of such factors as low academic achievement, poor school attendance, low self-esteem, and abuse and neglect. Child welfare and substance abuse professionals have incorporated the concepts of resilience and protective factors into their work with children and their families. Knowledge of the characteristics of resilience and the protective factors schools can use to increase the success of at-risk students enable school personnel to meet the needs of these students more effectively. In this article we discuss examples of protective factors in the school and classroom.

Co-produced research is said to create new knowledge through including the perspectives of those traditionally excluded from knowledge production, which in turn is expected to enhance research quality and impact. This article critically examines academic and UK voluntary sector literature concerning participatory and co-produced approaches to explore how quality is currently understood in co-produced research. Drawing on early career researchers’ experiences of a programme of co-produced research, the authors illustrate how theory and practice of co-production can differ, and the implications for conceptualising ‘research quality’ within co-produced research. Drawing on debates within qualitative research, community work and policy studies, the article outlines a potential framework for raising questions of ‘quality’, co-produced by research partners as part of the research process. Key dimensions of this framework are process, outcomes and autonomy.

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This paper draws on conversations between a group of research associates who worked on a large-scale co-produced research project, Productive Margins: Regulating for Engagement. Through our conversations and subsequent analysis, three themes emerged regarding our experiences working on the project: (1) Working across difference; (2) Engaging with arts practice; and (3) Creating the conditions for co-production. This paper reflects on these themes, and we suggest that there is a need to focus on and explore the processes of co-producing research in terms of pragmatics and epistemology.