Interview Data Analysis

If you are looking for some assistance with analysing interview data then have a look at:
Merriam, S. (1988, p.24). The components of data analysis. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass.

If you are an active student at RMIT University you can access an electronic copy by clicking here.

DSC Ethics Committee Meeting Dates 2007

To access the meeting dates for the DSC Ethics Committee go to DSC Ethics Meeting Dates

Educational Design Research

Design research can defined generically as

A series of approaches with the intent of producing new theories, artifacts, and practices that account for and potentially impact learning and teaching in naturalistic setting (van den Akker, Gravemeijer, McKenney, & Nieveen, 2006, p.5)

Part 1 of the text introduces research design and Part 2 provides examples from the field from learning design, technology and curriculum perspectives. Part 3 considers quality and research design, Part 4 looks to the future.

Approaches are described as interventionist, iterative, process oriented, utility oriented and theory oriented. Educational design research (van den Akker et al., 2006) documents contributions from the educational research community that ‘seriously reflect on setting standards that improve the quality of this approach’ (van den Akker et al., 2006, p.3)

Design research as

a rigorous analysis of a learning problem [that] leads to quite specific ideas for interventions. Designers then build systems that use information technology to create specific teaching and learning materials and methods designed to realize learning gains predicted by theory and research. (Walker, 2006, p.9)

Techniques for generating ideas for design changes may be derived through a range of techniques typical to social research in both qualitative and quantitative paradigms.

Phases of design research as: preparing for the experiment; conducting the design experiment; and, retrospective analysis. Also considering the issues of ‘validity and trustworthiness’ (Gravemeijer & Cobb, 2006, p.47). Here we see similarities with other research approaches that incorporate action learning cylces within a naturalistic perspective but such similarities are not acknowledged within the text.

Gravemeijer, K., & Cobb, P. (2006). Design research from a learning design perspective. In J. van den Akker, K. Gravemeijer, S. McKenney & N. Nieveen (Eds.), Educational design research (pp. pp.18-51). London: Routledge.

van den Akker, J., Gravemeijer, K., McKenney, S., & Nieveen, N. (2006). Educational design research. London: Routledge.

Walker, D. (2006). Towards productive design studies. In J. van den Akker, K. Gravemeijer, S. McKenney & N. Nieveen (Eds.), Educational design research (pp. pp.8-13). London: Routledge.

Using theoretical frameworks to theorise learning

You might be interested to look at a recent refereed conference paper that uses activity theory and Bernstein's pedagogic device to look at e-learning. It is an example of using theoretical frameworks to unpack a phenomenon.

The reference is

Robertson, I. (2007, 19-20 February). E-learning practices: Exploring the potential of pedagogic space, activity theory and the pedagogic device. Paper presented at the Learning and socio-cultural theory: Exploring modern Vygotskian perspectives. International Workshop. Wollongong University

If you are interested go to http://robboian.googlepages.com/refereedconferencepapers

Educational Research Podcasts

QUT has established a site that provides access to a series of podcasts that relate to educational research. Its worth a look

Surviving Your Oral Presentation

Surviving Your Oral Presentation

This short review provides some useful guidance to surviving your oral presentation. It is drawn from the work of How to survive a thesis defence, Joe Wolfe , School of Physics
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/viva.html accessed 7 May 2007

Ø The panel is not seeking to attack or fail you.

o Students often expect questions to be difficult and attacking, and answer them accordingly. Generally, questions will be much simpler than you expect.

Ø Most questions will be sincere.

o The panel is likely to ask questions because they don’t know the answer and expect that the candidate will be able to rectify this.

Ø Be ready for a 'free kick'.

o It is relatively common that a panel will ask one (or more) questions that, invites to you to tell them (briefly) what is important, new and good in your proposal. Be prepared for an elevator talk. You should be able to produce a 3-5 minute overview which described what you are intending to do, why and how. Plus, any major limitation or ethical issues that you anticipate.

Ø Take your time.

o Let the panel finish the question

o A few seconds pause to reflect before answering seems eminently reasonable to the panel, but to the defender it seems like minutes of mute failure.

o The phrase "That's a good question" is very useful. It gives you time to think; it implies that you have understood the question and assessed it.

Ø If you don’t know the answer.

o Be honest. Don’t try to make it up as you go.

o Acknowledge that the question imposes a serious limitation on your proposal. Then go through the argument in detail – show the panel that you are serious about addressing any limitation or flaws in your proposal.

o See this as an opportunity to get some help. Ask the panel if they have any ideas on how to resolve the issue.

Ø Keep calm - and good luck!

Thanks Bruce

Learner Engagement - Some References

If your interested in learner engagement here are a few references to get going

Herrington, J., Oliver, R., & Reeves, T. (2003). Patterns of engagement in authentic online learning environments. Australian journal of educational technology, 19(1), 59-71.

Lim, C. P. (2004). Engaging learners in online learning environments. TechTrends. Linking research and practice to improve learning, 48(4), 16-23.

Martin, A. (2005). Can students' motivation and engagement change? Findings from two intervention studies, Annual AARE Conference. Parramatta: AARE, http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/mar05425.pdf.

Munns, G., & Martin, A. (2005). All about MeE: A motivation and engagement framework. Paper presented at the AARE, http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/mun05400.pdf, Parramatta.

Zyngier, D. (2004). Doing education not doing time. Engaging pedagogies and pedagogues - what does studnet engagement look like in action?, AARE Annual Conference. Doing the public good. Positioning education research. Melbourne: AARE, http://www.aare.edu.au/04pap/zyn04008.pdf.

Zyngier, D. (2005). Listening to teachers - listening to students. Substantive coversations about resitance, empowerment and engagement. Translation of research into practice (praxis), AARE Annual Conference. Parramatta: AARE, http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/zyn05091.pdf.

Thanks to Rowan

Design Based Research

The definition of design-based research proposed by Wang and Hannafin (2005) captures its critical characteristics:

a systematic but flexible methodology aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation, based on collaboration among researchers and practitioners in real-world settings, and leading to contextually-sensitive design principles and theories (p. 6)

If you would like further information go to:

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/dbr/explain01.htm

Thanks Helen.

Generalising from qualitative research

At the 2007 AVETRA conference, Falk and Guenther presented a case to support the idea of generalisation from qualitative research. They conclude that

Much of the writing surveyed in this literature review is in agreement that quakitative studies may form a basis for understanding situations other than those under investigation. The strength of this basis depends again on rigour - that of a study's design and methods for gathering and analysing information-rich data (Yin 2003a, b); its attention to validity, reliability, and triangulation (Patton 2002); and a well-developed theory emerging from the findings (Johnson and Christensen 2004) (Falk and Guenther, 2007, p.5)

That generalisability is possible:

1. from qualitative and mixed research methods, possible partly because of the replicability of the finding across several populations.
2. on the basis of theory building through the inductive approach.
3. because of the receiving audiences perceptions
4. through a combination of any or all of the above.

Go to http://www.avetra.org.au/publications/10-Guenther.pdf

Link to RMIT Ethics Proposal Template

The ethics proposal template can be found at Ethics Proposal Template

Meeting dates of the committee can be found at DSC Ethics Commmittee

Link to Research Proposal Template

The research proposal template can be found at RMIT Research Proposal

Just to let you know I did the reserach methods unit in 2005 and then was overseas last year. The proposal was around my work at Wodonga TAFE. Now that i no longer work there, it has become impossible to do. So I am looking for another concept around which to draft a proposal for completing in Semester 2, 2007.

I am strongly toying with the idea of a simple history of Australian policy on Offshore delivery of tertiary education programs. The data would be documents in the public domain and the method would be a simple document analysis.I have a strong interest in the area of off-shore delivery having spent nearly two years in off-shore TAFE programs.

I will spend this semester thinking through it and developing a written proposal