Carrying out ‘small-scale’ (institutional) research

to improve teaching and learning

Dr Palitha Edirisingha and Mr Jaideep Mukherjee Beyond Distance Research Alliance

andDr Ray Randall, School of Psychology

University of Leicester, UK

European Foundation for

Quality

in e-Learning UNIQUe Award

Learning Technologist of

the Year 2009: Team AwardBeyond

DistanceRESEARCH

ALLIANCE

www.le.ac.uk/beyonddistanc

e

06 September 2011

Unisa, South Africa

• This set of slides and other resources available at http://tinyurl.com/mz-unisa2011

• Also you might find relevant resources in the PG Research session materials on this website.

Unisa, September 2011 2

Workshop objectives

• become aware of the role of small-scale research to

examine how technologies can support learning

• recognise the value of locally generated evidence as a

lever for incremental changes

• be able to critically assess different approaches to

carrying out institutional research

• understand the processes involved in conducting a small

scale research project

Unisa, September 2011

Unisa, September 2011 4

I’m

interested

in doing

research

in:

I have

been

doing

research

for

…years!

The key

challenges I

face in

doing

research

are:

My

methodology

expertise is

in:

I am interested

in (quantitative

/ qualitative /

both) research

I can share

the following

resources

and tools

with the

group:

I can share

my list of

references:

I know of

useful

resources

available at:

I can help

colleagues’

research in

following ways

Activity 1: A discovery session [15 minutes]

Over to Jai

Examples and outcomes of carrying out small-scale research at BDRA

• the BDRA experience at the University of Leicester

• Benefits to students, staff and the institution

• Partnerships with other staff, inter-discipline research.

BDRA experience at the University of Leicester

• Have worked with academics and course teams from all our University Departments

• Has led to individual and collaborative project funding

• Has resulted in publications and promotion (i.e. career progression) opportunities

• Has created efficiencies and new resource allocation opportunities in the departments

Benefits to students, staff and the institution

• Staff exposed to current and inter-disciplinary aspects of pedagogy

• Students exposed to the resulting interventions in their curriculum and teaching

• Institution benefits from efficiencies of enhanced staff productivity and (hopefully) better student learning experiences.

Partnerships with other staff, inter-disciplinary research.

• New opportunities: Staff enabled to publish beyond areas of research-led expertise in disciplines – i.e. in the pedagogy of their disciplines or pedagogy across disciplines.

• New funding: e.g. National ‘centres for excellence in teaching and learning (CETLs)’

• New avenues: Career progression and mobility opportunities for staff. Creation of expertise-banks within institutions.

Over to Ray

locally generated evidence as a lever for incremental changes

Over to Pal

What can we research?(A group activity)

• Consider potential small-scale research projects on learning and technologies

• From research topics to research questions

• Starting points:– VLE use, impact on student learning, staff engagement

– Student retention

– Transition to higher education

– Mentoring

– Podcasting and other technologies

– Students access to, and the use of personally owned technologies

– Inter-disciplinary: concepts drawn from psychology, sociology, management, political science, other…

Thinking about research:from a general area to research

questions

Before the activity, some input from me…

Four approaches …

Approach 1

Approach 1The research area

The research topic

General research questions

Specific research questions

Data collection questions

Research area

Research topic

General research

questions

Specific research

questions

Data collection questions /

items

Research area

Youth suicide

Absenteeism at work

Youth culture in high schools

Living with Tourette’s syndrome

Academic success and failures at university

Membership of volunteer

organisations(Punch, 2008)

Research area

Youth suicide

Research topic

Suicide rates among different groups [quantitative]

Factors associated with the incidence of youth suicide [quantitative]

Managing suicide behaviour among teenagers [qualitative]

Youth culture and the meaning of suicide [qualitative]

(Punch, 2008)

Research area

Youth suicide

Research topic

Factors associated with the incidence of youth suicide [quantitative]

General research questions

What is the relationship between family backgroundfactors and the incidence of youth suicide?

What is the relationship between school experience factors and the incidence of youth suicide?

(Punch, 2008)

Research area

Youth suicide

Research topic

Factors associated with the incidence of youth suicide [quantitative]

General research questions

What is the relationship between family background factors and the incidence of youth suicide?

Specific research questions

What is the relationship between family income and the incidence of youth suicide?

Do youth suicide rates differ between families of different income levels?

What is the relationship between the emotional attachment to parents and the incidence of youth suicide?

Do youth suicide rates differ between families where parents and children have a close emotional attachment, and families where they are not?

Approach 2

Research objectives

Approach 2

Research questions

Research objective Research questions

To find out why certain individuals and groupsadopt new technologies before others

1). What are the patterns of consumption of new technologies amongst different groups of adultsin the United Kingdom?

2). What reasons do different individuals provide for adopting or not adopting new technologies?

(White, 2009, p. 45)

Approach 3

Aim

s

Objectives

Research questions

Aims of the research Research objectives

To investigate the nature of transnational higher education networks of learning and teaching in geography by focusing on history, organisation, access, participation and impact.

To reconstruct the network’s history –from inception and evolution to the present day

To explain why academics participate within these networks

To explore how academics participate and to evaluate what role technology plays in their networking practice

To assess the perceived value of these networks and the impact they have on learning and teaching practice

What are the motivations of geographers to participate in these networks?

What are the incentives to join these networks?

What experiences of barriers have network members faced?

Research questions

Wakefield (PhD proposal, personal

communication)

Aims of the research Research objectives

To investigate the nature of transnational higher education networks of learning and teaching in geography by focusing on history, organisation, access, participation and impact.

To reconstruct the network’s history –from inception and evolution to the present day

To explain why academics participate within these networks

To explore how academics participate and to evaluate what role technology plays in their networking practice

To assess the perceived value of these networks and the impact they have on learning and teaching practice

Research questions

How do the members of these networks benefit within their research and learning and teaching practice?

How supported do the network members feel by their department / institution in participating these networks?

The objective Research questions

To consider [...] problems and or identify factors, actors, processes and outcomes of innovations in higher education in CEE.

1. How did the five innovative higher education institutions develop between 1989 and 2005?

2. What descriptive and analytical ideas regarding the establishment and development of the five innovative institutions are revealed by participants in the study

Romenska (2010)

Approach 4

Main research

questions

Approach 4

Subsidiary research

questions

Main question

How do young people make educational and career decisions at the end of compulsory schooling?

(White, 2009)

Main question Subsidiary questions

How do young people make educational and career decisions at the end of compulsory schooling?

1. What factors do young people consider when making their choices?

2. What sources of information do they use to help their decision-making?

3. Which individuals are influential in shaping their choices?

(White, 2009)

Workable research questions - 3 features

Answerability

• data should answer the question

• Clarity of data collection

Interconnectedness

• a meaningful connection among the questions

Substantively relevant

• questions 'interesting' and 'worthwhile'

• justify the investment and effort

(Silverman, 2010, p. 97)

From research questions to data collection questions

‘a common mistake in

questionnaire design is to ask

respondents the research

question rather than a data

collection question’ ... or ‘slightly

modified versions of the study’s

research questions’

(White, 2009, p. 45).

Research question

Interview question 1

Interview question 2

Interview question 3

Interview question 4

Questionnaire item 1

Questionnaire item 2

Questionnaire item 3

Questionnaire item 4

a process of making general questions

more specific by showing its dimensions,

aspects, factors, components, or

indicators

defining a general concept ‘downwards’

towards it's data indicators.

From specific research questions

to data collection questions

(White, 2009)

Our research interests?

Activity 2: Discovering our research interests

• Please identify potential small-scale research projects on learning and technology relevant to your own context– Please consider both intervention and non-intervention research

– Please also consider input from the Unisa Festival so far … (Gilly, George, Ormond, and other speakers)

• Identify potential research partners (if relevant)

• Write on the flip-chart a summary of your group ideas, and

• Be prepared to share your research ideas with the larger group!

In your group:

10 minutes

Activity 2: Discovering our research interests

• Please share your research ideas with the larger group

• Please try to identify potential collaborators

20 minutes

What next?

Developing the

intervention

Research design / methodology

Data collection methods

Ethical clearance

Developing instruments

Data collection &

analysis

Writing up

Dissemination

Ethical considerations

A research process

Impact!

What sort of research?

Research design

Research strategy

Quantitative Qualitative

Experimental

Cross-sectional

Longitudinal

Case study

Comparative

Bryman (2008)

Research process in more detail

Research topic and problem

RESEARCH QUESTIONS and

purpose / objective

RESEARCH STRATEGIES

Basic research

Applied research

(From Blaikie, 2010; Bryman 2008)

RESEARCH PARADIGMS

Concepts,

theories,

hypothesis and

models

Data types, forms and sources

Selection from data sources

Data collection and timing

Data reduction and analysis

'What' questions

'Why' questions

'How' questions

Inductive

Deductive

Explore

Describe

Understand

Predict

Change

Evaluate

Assess impact

Ontological considerations

Epistemological considerations

Methodological considerations

Positivism

Interpretivism

Feminism

Other

Natural social settings

Semi-natural settings

Artificial settings

Social artefacts

Research

methodology /

design

Top down

Bottom up

Primary data

Secondary data

Tertiary data

Qualitative data

Quantitative data

Qualitative methods

Quantitative methods

Mixed methods

Population

Probability sampling

Non-probability sampling

Historical

Cross-sectional

Longitudinal

Case study

Experiments

Comparative

Other?

Grand theories

Mid-range theories

Literature (as proxy for

theory)

Grounded theory

Thematic analysis

Content analysis

Criteria of good

research:

ethics, validity,

reliability,

generalisability,

other?

Adapt a tool?

Sample research instruments

Questionnaires and interview schedules

• Podcasting

• Students and staff use of VLE

• Students’ approaches to learning and studying

• E-mentoring

• Digital literacy

In small groups please consider how you might adapt

any of the following research tools:

To publish or not to publish!

THE WAY FORWARD?

Collaborative research?

The End (for now!)

Thank you for your participation…

Please visit us at …

www.le.ac.uk/beyonddistance