Enhancing Research Methods Pedagogy: Challenges and Solutions

1. Researching the teaching of advanced research methods: challenges for pedagogy and inclusive researchMelanie Nind 1st REUNI+D International Symposium 11 October 2013, University of Barcelona

2. Focus This symposium originates from the need to support the dissemination, exchange and debate of the contributions and results of educational research, and its implications concerning educational improvement. • Research about how advanced and innovative social research methods are taught and learned • To inform and develop the pedagogical culture surrounding research methods teaching

3. Origins • NCRM’s overall mission is to provide a strategic focal point for the identification, development and delivery of an integrated national research and training programme aimed at promoting a step change in the quality and range of methodological skills and techniques used by the UK social science community and providing support for, and dissemination of, methodological innovation and excellence within the UK.

4. The social science perspective Problem: Need for a step change in the quality and range of methodological skills and techniques used by social researchers • Solution: Training in advanced and innovative research methods – lots of it – face-to-face, VLEs – in context of quality research by top methodologists

5. The educational perspective Problem: Need to understand the distinctive pedagogical challenges that arise in teaching advanced/ innovative social science research methods • Solution: Qualitative research, conducted with methods teachers and learners, on their perspectives, experiences and practices

6. Research questions • What are the distinctive pedagogical challenges? • How do teachers & learners respond? • What is the nature of methods teachers pedagogical content knowledge?

7. Plus • What is driving any innovation in teaching and learning methods • What innovations are unfolding? • Does innovation in research methods demand innovation in teaching and learning methods?

8. Research design

9. Methodological challenges • Who are the experts for an expert panel method? • Facilitating dialogue and reflection: teachers as learners and learners as teachers; making the implicit explicit • Technicalities – online forum; unobtrusive video of teachers and learners ready for immediate video-stimulated recall and reflection sessions

10. The big challenge: research with • Communicating that we are not seeking to make judgements on others • Instead that we are seeking to foster reflection and co-construction of knowledge within a community of stakeholders • As methods teachers, learners and researchers ourselves we are inherently part of what we are studying

11. Concerns in the literature • Particular needs of social workers, nurses, geographers, teachers etc • Teaching research methods at undergraduate and postgraduate level in degree programmes • Challenges of teaching mixed methods or particular methods/methodologies • Most effective mode of delivery • Motivating learners & learner diversity

12. Concerns in the research councils • Quantitative skills deficit, even with statistical literacy (MacInnes, 2012) • Pipeline of competent people to meet demands of competitive global knowledge economy • Efficiency – affordances of VLEs

13. Educationalconcerns ‘Although there is a substantial body of literature at the disposal of teachers addressing the “how to” of research methods it does not adequately inform the teaching of methods’ (Wagner et al, 2011: 75) Limited attention given to ‘pedagogical culture’ in research methods Strategies are needed that ‘empower students in their own learning and make the connection between conceptual and procedural knowledge’ (Strayhorn 2009: 120)

14. Emerging discourse Surrounding 3 substantive themes in the literature: • active learning • experiential learning • reflexive learning

15. Pedagogical knowledge based on • Being self-taught • Action research re new approaches • Evaluation • Single/ reflective/ exploratory/ descriptive/ comparative case studies • Satisfaction survey data and occasional comparisons

16. The content issue The task of teaching research methods […] is not the transmission of a body of knowledge, or the drilling of students in the use of techniques, but rather a matter of helping them to build up relevant knowledge and capabilities, and to develop the necessary intellectual virtues. (Hammersley 2012: 2)

17. The innovation issue Innovations in teaching driven by: • need – diverse groups, low motivation • new opportunities offered by technology • innovations in methods?

18. ‘While it is reasonable to assume that new and innovative strategies are available, all too often research methods instructors teach the way they were taught. This approach to teaching preserves the normative paradigm in which the teacher is all knowing and the student is an empty vessel waiting to be filled.’ (Strayhorn 2009: 120)

19. Emerging areas being probed • Differences in approach between experienced & novice teachers/researchers • Qualitative – quantitative differences (‘failure avoidance’, active learning or experiential ‘real world’ learning; variation in dataset use) • Evidence of authentic problem-based learning • Theoretical, training and experiential influences on teaching approaches

20. Part of the challenge • Research [like teaching] is about doing (Delyser 2008) - research as ‘praxis’ • ‘… there is no better manner of mastering the fundamental principles of a practice – the practice of scientific research is no exception here – than by practicing it alongside a kind of guide or coach who provides assurance and reassurance, who sets an example and who corrects you by putting forth, in situation, precepts applied directly to the particularcase at hand’ (Bourdieu 1992, 222original emphasis)

21. Our argument • Enhancing methodological skills cannot be addressed without educational research, otherwise the solution is always ‘more’ training rather than finely tuned learning experiences • Educational research can help develop a pedagogical culture for teaching research methods and contribute to policy and practices in the social science research arena

22. There remains little evidence of a pedagogic culture for methods teaching (if the indicator is systematic debate through the literature or dialogue across disciplinary or methodological contexts, or if the indicator is a ‘substantial research base’) (Wagner et al., 2011, 85) • But interest and awareness is increasing, and dialogue and research evidence is emerging. • Discrete PCK should be the outcome of this.

23. Acknowledgements • This research is funded by NCRM • The research is being conducted with Rose Wiles and Daniel Kilburn • The advisory group and NCRM hub at the University of Southampton have provided valuable input

24. Bourdieu, P. 1992. "The Practice of Reflexive Sociology (The Paris Workshop)." In An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology, edited by P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant. Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press. Delyser, D. 2008. "Teaching Qualitative Research." Journal of Geography in Higher Education 32, no. 2:233-244. Hammersley, M. 2012. Is it possible to teach social research methods well today?: Discussion paper presented at HEA Social Sciences teaching and learning summit: Teaching research methods, University of Warwick, 21- 22 June 2012. MacInnes, J. 2012. Quantitative Methods teaching in UK Higher Education: The state of the field and how it might be improved: HEA Social Sciences teaching and learning summit: Teaching research methods, University of Warwick, 21- 22 June 2012. Strayhorn, T.L. 2009. The (in)effectiveness of various approaches to teaching research methods. In: Teaching Research Methods in the Social Sciences, ed. Garner, Wagner & Kawulich. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. Wagner, C., M. Garner, & B. Kawulich. 2011. "The state of the art of teaching research methods in the social sciences: towards a pedagogical culture." Studies in Higher Education 36, no. 1:75-88.