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Research Methods

Dr. Anne Adams Dr. Laura Hills. Research Methods. Purpose of Research. Appropriate Evidence . Choosing a Research Method. Appropriate Research Method . EXERCISE . Purpose of Research (reason why) Improve your practice Improve others’ practice Change systems and procedures

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Research Methods

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  1. Dr. Anne AdamsDr. Laura Hills Research Methods

  2. Purpose of Research • Appropriate Evidence Choosing a Research Method • Appropriate Research Method • EXERCISE

  3. Purpose of Research (reason why) • Improve your practice • Improve others’ practice • Change systems and procedures • Change over-arching mind-sets / approaches and beliefs

  4. Evidence (type of data) for who: • Yourself • Colleagues • Organisations (e.g. course teams) • Communities & Organisations

  5. Quantitative / Qualitative data • Measure things you can ‘DEFINE’ and ‘QUANTIFY’ (e.g. age, frequency, errors) • Capture and ‘DESCRIBE’ things that are subjective (e.g. feelings, beliefs, expectations).

  6. Research Quality • Guided by research purpose. • Research Rigour relates to understanding its purpose. • Research Bias • Allow for stages (trial, pilot, prototype). • Be pragmatic & opportunistic - Things change !

  7. Methods (some examples)

  8. Piloting • Testing methods – trial approaches • Contrasting different methods • Collecting information • Testing applications (e.g. rapid prototyping) • Story-boarding design, intervention, approach with colleagues, tutor groups etc.

  9. Documentation • Course materials, • Standards, • Previous literature (conference / journal, web pages) • Internal reports • External reports (e.g. HEFCE)

  10. Research Diaries (Research Logs / Field Notes) • Research conducted & decisions made • Thought & creative research process • Faraday’s ‘Field Notes’: "The main interest of the Diary lies quite outside the range of propositions and experimental proofs. It centres round the methods of Faraday's attack, both in thought and in experiment: it depends on the records of the workings of his mind as he mastered each research in turn, and on his attitude not only to his own researches but also to scientific advance in general" (Bragg 1932: v).

  11. Interviews • Structure (semi-structured/ structured) • Style (expert / novice) • Setting (natural, office) • Recording the data (audio – quotes, written notes distract, phone interviews). • Biasing – talking (<15%), your opinion (NO)

  12. Focus Groups • 6 or 7 participants • Moderate to keep focus & obtain all perspectives

  13. Questionnaires • Design (quantitative / qualitative) • Purpose (obtain background info & recruit) • Wording (Jargon, bias, double negatives) • Don’t ask two questions in one!! • Scales (factual, opinion, open-ended) Likert Scales: The advice on the help pages was: • Very Good Good Acceptable Poor Very poor • I found the help page advice useful: • Strongly agree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly disagree

  14. User Trials • Test current applications with a sample of students. • Experiments where you test one type of course presentation with another. • Video students completing a sample assessment / piece of coursework to see where they actually get stuck rather than where they think they get stuck. • Video and observe interactions between students and / or students and tutors.

  15. Log Analysis • First Class interactions • Eluminate / flash-meeting logs • Analyse (quantitatively and qualitatively) • Interaction and usage patterns • Tracking individuals • Language used

  16. Subject Diaries • Written • Audio • Post-cards returned…. • Can be used to record : • Timing and type of activity (time allocation) • Thoughts and feelings (autobiographical) • Situations not accessible to researcher

  17. Participant Video • Gaining in popularity as a research method • The OU Participatory Video Group • Give participants video’s they capture data on what is important with regard to your focus of research. • Can be as focused or as open-ended as you want.

  18. Critical Incidents • Used in conjunction with other methods • Used as a data collection & analysis approach • Identify critical moment / factor • ask respondent to recall • Observe, record interactions identify incidents • Review documentation, logs identify incidents

  19. APPROVAL (all separate forms) • Data protection – to be completed by all research • Ethical approval – Standard to most universities, OU Insurance tied to this approval • SRPP – OU specific, to protect students being over-surveyed.

  20. BUT NO RIGHT OR WRONG • GOOD QUALITY RESEARCH • MOST EFFECTIVE ROUTE FOR YOU

  21. EXERCISE

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