GO-GN Research Methods Handbook

Methodology can be one of the most challenging aspects for doctoral researchers. When we conduct research into education and/or technology, we can be confronted with a potentially confusing array of options. This is true even for those using a well-established approach, but can be especially acute if combining approaches in a mixed-methods study or trying to develop a completely new way of doing research. Choosing the right method for what we are interested in is a key part of high quality research, and this requires us to think about the scientific and philosophical foundations of what we do. In this guide we explore some of these issues with a focus on open research, drawing on insights from researchers within the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). Open practices in research can challenge assumptions about how to create and share new knowledge. In the handbook, we draw on insights from experienced open researchers to build understanding of research in the open. The advice given applies to all research, but is of particular relevance to those interested in open approaches

“Ethnographic” thematic phenomenography: a methodological adaptation for the study of information literacy in an ontologically complex workplace

Purpose The workplace is a context of increasing interest in information literacy research, if not necessarily the most visible (Cheuk, 2017). Several studies have described contextual, relationship-based experiences of this subjective, knowledge-development focused phenomenon (Forster, 2017b). What research contexts and methods are likely to be most effective, especially in workplaces which contain professions of widely differing ontologies and epistemological realities? Approach An analysis and description of the value and validity of a ‘qualitative mixed methods’ approach in which the thematic form of phenomenography is contextualised ethnographically. Findings This paper describes a new research design for investigation into information literacy in the workplace, and discusses key issues around sampling, data collection and analysis, suggesting solutions to predictable problems. Such an approach would be centred on thematic phenomenographic data from semi-structured interviews, contextualised by additional ethnographic methods of data collection. The latter’s findings are analysed in light of the interview data to contextualise that data and facilitate a workplace-wide analysis of information literacy and the information culture it creates. Originality/value Insights from recent research studies into information literacy in the workplace have suggested the possibility of an epistemologically justifiable, qualitative mixed methods design involving an ethnographic contextualisation of a thematic phenomenographic analysis of the information culture of an ontologically varied and complex workplace - with the potential for descriptive contextualisation, categorisation and generalisability

Telling and Listening to Practice Related Stories: Views and Experiences of Final Year Midwifery Students

Stories are used to communicate culture, belief, knowledge and understanding. This study filled a gap in the evidence and explored final year midwifery students’ views and experiences of practice-related storytelling as a means for learning. The initial study of four participants used an interpretive phenomenological approach. The main study, conducted in a different university in England, was informed by social constructivism and phenomenography. A purposive sample of 15 participants was recruited from two cohorts of final year students. Data were collected between November 2015 and March 2016, through four focus groups and two semi-structured interviews. These were analysed using a seven step phenomenographic process. The findings indicate that stories are viewed as ‘vehicles’ to communicate childbearing women’s stories; ‘signposts’ to help avoid mistakes in practice; ‘batons’ to pass on learning to other students; ‘comfort blankets’ to reassure and as ‘capstones’ of learning. These metaphors are connected through the analogy of midwifery students’ journeys towards registration. Stories and storytelling link theory to practice, and engage students’ emotions. They facilitate transformational learning, and are a memorable way to learn about practice. Stories are ‘held onto’, particularly in challenging situations, and are a means for ‘containing’ students’ emotions. Students deliberately tell stories in their ‘communities of practice’, within the ‘liminal space’ of clinical practice, and when returning to university. A conceptual model illustrates how stories and storytelling are viewed and experienced by midwifery students. Storytelling is a valuable pedagogical approach to learning. Educators should ensure story-sharing is embedded in curricula, and draw on their personal ‘store of stories’ to enhance teaching. Service users’ digital and face-to-face stories should be used to enable compassionate practice. Mentors should be able to debrief their own critical experiences before passing these stories on to students. Peer storytelling and listening opportunities should be facilitated in practice and university

Affordances for Science Learning in “Bush Kinders”

The European forest kindergarten movement has recently translated into an Australian ‘bush kinder’ approach. The affordances of bush kindergarten settings with relation to the science experienced through play has not been previously investigated. This pilot project followed three kindergartens in South Eastern Australia using a bush kindergarten approach. A phenomenographic case study approach was used, in which data consisted of observations of ‘science learning through play’ during bush kinder sessions and educator interviews. Using interactive video interviews, educators were asked to comment on their perceptions of the science that formed children’s play. Findings suggest that the bush kinder environment enables children to experience and improve their understanding of a range of science ideas, however, there is an impact in the scope of children’s learning based on the educator scaffolding. It is argued here that bush kinder provides affordances for science learning and makes an important contribution to science education

Diseños empíricos en los estudios sobre traducción e interpretación en los servicios públicos

This article examines the types of research designs used in empirical studieson public service interpreting and translation (PSIT). Our data consists of 81journal articles, articles published in collected volumes, and doctoral dissertations published in English or German in 2009-2018, derived from the Translation Studies Bibliography. Our analysis is structured according to the main data usedin the research design (interactional data, interviews, textual data, questionnaires, ethnographic observations, and multi-data designs). We describe what kinds of research questions are posed, which data are used,and how the analysis is portrayed.The objectsof study are categorizedon a methodological metalevelinto(1) facts,(2) views,(3) cultural meanings and practices, (4) experiences, (5) social relations, and (6) interaction.In addition, we discuss whether the overall aim of the studies is to analyze the researched phenomenon from a factual perspective or from a social-constructivist perspective emphasizing cultural meanings. The most frequent object of study is interpreted interaction,and it seems to be the most nuanced from an analytical perspectiveas well. The other meta-level objects of study are either more varied in terms of analytical depth or not equally recognized for theirpossible research value inPSIT.Moststudies in our data take afactual perspective, and studies on cultural meanings attached to PSIT seem rare.Our results indicate a need for further development in empirical designs in PSIT researchEste artículo examina los tipos de diseños de investigación utilizados en los estudios empíricos sobre la interpretación y la traducción en los servicios públicos (TISP) sobre una muestra de 81 obras (artículos de revistas, capítulos de obras colectivas y tesis doctorales) publicadas en inglés o alemán entre 2009 y 2018 y extraídas de la base de datos Translation Studies Bibliography. El análisis se basa en los principales datos utilizados en el diseño de la investigación (interacciones, entrevistas, datos textuales, cuestionarios, observaciones etnográficas y diseños de datos múltiples). Describimos qué tipos de preguntas de investigación se plantean, qué datos se utilizan y cómo se describe el análisis. Los objetos de estudio se clasifican desde un punto de vista metodológico en (1) hechos, (2) puntos de vista, (3) significados y prácticas culturales, (4) experiencias, (5) relaciones sociales e (6) interacción. Además, se discute si el objetivo general de los estudios es analizar el fenómeno investigado desde una perspectiva fácticao desde una perspectiva socio-constructivista que enfatiza los significados culturales. El objeto de estudio más frecuente es la interacción interpretada, y parece ser el más elaborado también desde una perspectiva analítica. El resto de objetos de estudio son más variados en cuanto a la profundidad analítica o carecen de reconocimiento por su posible valor en la investigación en TISP. La mayoría de los estudios de la muestra adoptan una perspectiva fáctica y, en TISP, los estudios sobre los significados culturales son más bien raros. Nuestros resultados indican la necesidad de un mayor desarrollo de los diseños empíricos en la investigación en TISP

Mundane mattering : how materialities come to matter in everyday life in dementia care units and in end of life care

To care for someone who is at the end of their life or someone who lives with a dementia disease is not about curing. Instead, care becomes concerned with what can make a situation as good as possible. Contributing to such efforts, this thesis articulates how materialities (such as hands, coffee cups, napkins, and newspapers) participate in specific enactments of care and of daily life in dementia care settings, and where people are cared for towards the end of life. The thesis draws on interviews, workshops, and ethnographic fieldwork. In addition, visual representations in the form of illustrations and drawings were developed as a way to inquire, reflect on, and articulate issues concerning materialities. The tension in how material things are enacted as both significant and insignificant in these settings is underlined. That is, while the studies illustrate that it cannot be assumed what something ‘is’ and what it ‘does’, materialities in these settings are often routinized in such a way that they tend to be treated as definitive and trivial. It is in relation to this tension that the notion of “mundane mattering” is formulated. Mundane mattering denotes instances where informal practices of residents, patients, family members, and staff members involving seemingly mundane things present important possibilities for shaping daily life, identities, and agencies. In such instances materialities come to matter in particular and situated ways, which temporarily interfere with the trivialization of things. While these are more or less overlooked aspects of living and working in these settings, it is a complexity which staff members are already required to navigate. To create time and space for collegial reflection would not only serve to recognize this work, but it could also improve daily life for residents and their family members. The thesis shows how visual representations offer means for understanding materialities as they introduce new ways of seeing a situation, making it possible to notice what is ethically at stake. Furthermore, visual representations provide spaces for reflecting on alternative ways of living and caring in these settings

Exploring students’ articulation of value in a social research methods class: Towards a phenomenography of value making

This study describes journalism students’ value making of social research methods, such as sampling, data gathering strategies and quantitative and qualitative data analysis, by using a mixed-method approach to analyze 260 written reflection assignments. In their reflections, 26 student participants assessed the value of their new knowledge of social research methods on ten different occasions throughout the term. The qualitative analysis consisted of two stages: a content analysis and an analysis of students’ collective experience of value making (phenomenographic approach). The findings of the content analysis showed that students generally value knowledge that is seen as useful and familiar from the perspective of trainee practitioners (professional standpoint). A focus on students’ collective experience showed that value making happens when students adopt a standpoint from where to judge new knowledge and make connections between new and past knowledge and experience. Weak connections may lead students to disregard new content. The analysis of connections showed that students either reproduce the connections made by the instructor in class (performative connection) or make an original link with present and past experiences and knowledge (original connection). Performative connections produce general statements of value making, while concrete value making happens when students explicitly integrate and transfer knowledge to produce original connections with past and present personal or professional learning and experience.&nbsp

Communications Patterns in Decision Making : Phenomenography Approach in Malaysia's and Indonesia's Political Organizations

Most of communication pattern and decision-making studies focused on corporate, social and business organization. Accordingly, it is necessary to continue the study of communication pattern and decision-making that focused on political organizations. The objective of this study was to obtain an understanding of the communication pattern and the decision-making process in political organizations, in this case Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) of Malaysia and Parti Demokrasi Perjuangan (PDIP) of Indonesia. The research was designed as a qualitative research with a phenomenography approach within an interpretive paradigm. The phenomenography is an approach to reveal the variations in the ways activists in a political organization experience the organizational phenomena. Data were collected through interviews with leaders and members of both political parties. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings of this research suggest that both political parties applied downward communication patterns. PKR are also found to apply formal and informal communication patterns. The formal patterns consist of downward and upward communication. The more dominant one was downward communication, which was influenced by the members’ backgrounds and the challenges of the current political system. The informal pattern was dominated by grapevine and cross-channel communication. Meanwhile, the media for socialization is comprised of conventional and alternative media, with the latter predominantly used. Similarly, the formal communication pattern in PDIP was also dominated by downward communication while the informal one was dominated by grapevine. However, conventional media are utilized as the primary means of socialization. The finding of this study also highlights the decision-making process in PKR and PDIP, which considers three aspects; the dominant authority, experience, and context. The dominant authority became the main aspect in PKR’s decision-making process, while experience and contexts were undermined. The decision-making process in PDIP, on the other hand, emphasized experience and dominant authority, while context was undermined. This study significantly found that phenomenography is relevant approach for communication research in political organization. Furthermore, the phenomenography is potential to be developed in interpersonal communication researches. Findings of this study validated the phenomenography approach in understanding the organizational phenomena; in particular, the central role of communication pattern and decision making is empirically confirmed

Peer learning on clinical wards : supervision, student activities and the learning environment

Introduction: Worldwide, a growing number of healthcare students require clinical environments for learning. Multiple students are placed on clinical wards simultaneously with one supervisor to meet this demand. This can create stress for the supervisor and reduce the quality of learning for students. To ensure continued quality of education, some wards have formally adopted peer learning as a pedagogical framework. Peer learning has been widely shown to have advantages for students, such as developing teaching skills, teamwork, and independence. A deeper understanding is needed of the characteristics of wards that use peer learning as a pedagogical framework, and how these compare to wards that do not. In particular, it is important to explore the nature of supervision in the context of peer learning. Methods: An observational study (I) was conducted on a ward adapted to student peer learning to describe the learning environment. Student nurses, supervisors and other staff were observed, complemented by audio diaries and informal questioning. Field notes were thematically analysed. The findings on the supervisor’s role inspired study II which explored the different ways clinical supervisors view their role in students' peer learning. Semi-structured interviews were performed with 15 supervisors of student nurses from two wards adapted to student peer learning. Transcribed data were coded and analysed using a phenomenographic approach. Study III aimed to explore which of the characteristics and ways of viewing the supervisor role from studies I and II were present in other wards. To investigate this, a questionnaire was developed and psychometrically using the AMEE 7-step guide, and piloted with 46 nurse supervisors. Participants from wards that used peer learning as a pedagogical framework were compared with those that did not. We analysed the pilot results using basic statistics and multivariable discriminant analysis and Variable Importance in Projection. Results: The observational study (I) identified that a ward adapted to student peer learning had student-led learning; student-dedicated space; peer learning; personalised relationships; an inter-professional approach; and supervisors who were motivated to teach. The questionnaire study (III) found that other wards that used peer learning as a pedagogical framework shared these features, however that only the first three of these characteristics were significantly higher than in wards that did not use peer learning as a pedagogical framework. The interview study (II) found four ways in which the supervisors viewed their role in students’ peer learning: the teacher; the facilitator; the stimulator; and the team player. Discussion and conclusions: The observed ward (study I) had a community of practice centred on student learning. Peer learning supervisors’ broadest view of their role was as a team player, supporting the educational enterprise of the ward community (study II). The pilot questionnaire (study III) found differences between some characteristics of the learning environment on different types of wards. A next step is to conduct the questionnaire on a larger scale to explore further the ways in which the pedagogical framework and peer learning can affect supervision and the learning environment. Using a pedagogical framework on a clinical ward could be a key factor in developing a community of practice centred on student learning