Search

This presentation reports the results of two online surveys: one in 2011 on teachers of qualitative research and the second in 2013 of those teaching computer assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) in the UK. Results show that qualitative research methods teaching is buoyant and popular and that teaching about the CAQDAS software is common at postgraduate level. However, CAQDAS is taught much more rarely at undergraduate level. This is in direct contrast with the situation for statistics software such as SPSS. Statistical analysis using software is commonly taught at undergraduate level across a very wide range of social science disciplines. The surveys identified the range and diversity of qualitative methods taught in universities but, in the UK at least, the dominance of one program in the use of CAQDAS. The data also reveal the reasons respondents gave for the lack of undergraduate teaching of CAQDAS which included lack of staff skills, insufficient space in the curriculum and ideological objections. The paper will conclude by examining a small number of case studies of the teaching of CAQDAS to identify the practical and pedagogic challenges faced by the teachers involved

Muller et al. (2007) suggest that video used in learning physics too often just presents just the correct explanations and there is no way of telling if the learner has internalised this correct view or has maintained any pre-existing misunderstanding. Their research suggests that people learn physics better from video explanations when first they are presented with incorrect understandings of the phenomena. Can this approach work in the social sciences?\ud \ud I chose the area of social research methods and in particular depth interviews and survey sampling to test out these ideas. In the interview case, the viewer is presented with a poorly undertaken interview and is asked to find the faults, helped by an outline of good practice and a (later) commentary on the interview. Then an interview exemplifying good practice with commentary follows. In the sampling case, both incorrect explanations by teachers and students’ own attempts at explaining key ideas in sampling are presented first before a model-based explanation of the correct principles is given.\ud \ud Early evaluation of the interview video suggests that the poor example enables them better to understand the advantages of the examples of good practice in the following interview.

Introduction\ud This paper reports on the experience of converting a face-to-face Master’s course to a wholly online, distance learning (DL) course largely following the Open University DL model but based on using and creating open educational resources (OER). Two key aspects of this conversion were that the teaching team (with one exception) were not OER enthusiasts or even experienced in DL and OER use, and that the changeover was not a special project, with special funding, but a run-of-the mill course development. \ud \ud The philosophy of the development was to use and create OERs and to make these and much of the teaching materials open to all. However, the course is not a MOOC; students are fee paying and are examined and accredited in the standard way. The original course was a MSc in social research methods and had been running for 17 years, but it needed to reach a wider recruitment market. The teaching team was overwhelmingly a research active and research focussed group of academics.\ud \ud Methods\ud The development was taken through the standard university approval process and the team then worked with two key facilitators/mentors (one a member of the teaching team), staff development support and the local learning technology technical support. There were several key tasks:\ud 1. Convert existing face-to-face curricula to OER based DL versions\ud 2. Find, appraise and adapt existing OER materials\ud 3. Create new OER materials \ud 4. Develop teacher skills with DL pedagogy and associated tools\ud 5. Develop open access web pages for the OER materials and closed VLE pages for registered students.\ud Two pilot modules were offered in Jan 2014 and the student experience was evaluated using a range of learning analytics, including a number of in-depth interviews.\ud \ud Results\ud Key issues in using existing OERs were the effort needed to find them and check their accuracy, appropriateness and suitability. Fortunately there are lots of good materials available (e.g. from the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods). To create our own OERs (principally videos) we had to develop expertise in both teaching staff and technical staff and create a suitable workflow. A key to this was mentor support. To develop teacher skills in DL software and pedagogy, we ran a series of staff development sessions, and used the two pilot modules to modify our pedagogic designs and to disseminate DL teaching skills more broadly. \ud \ud Discussion\ud The experience here shows that universities can draw on the attractions and benefits of MOOCs in standard funded courses. By the careful choice and creation of OERs we created a sustainable and cost efficient course. Choice of subject is important here: social research methods is a relatively slow changing area and OERs will remain usable for many years. This means that not all courses at all universities can follow the Open University approach, but it does show that by careful use of OERs, selection of subjects and courses, DL and openness can be achieved along with a standard funding model.

This chapter examines what the analysis of narratives, stories and biographies has added to qualitative research and looks at the sources and functions of narratives. It examines the particular content and themes of life histories or biographies. These general features are put into context for analysis by a set of practical approaches to analysis and by examination of an example narrative. The chapter ends with a discussion of the structure of narratives.

This talk will report on my experience of creating a variety of types of video learning resources and disseminating them, mainly through YouTube where my channel has over 300 subscribers and over 100,000 views.\ud \ud The videos have been created either using Camtasia screen capture software or by videoing lecture sessions. I will discuss some of the techniques for enhancing the video in pedagogically useful ways and some of the production issues for ensuring high quality production. Then I will discuss the dissemination of the videos. I have done this mainly through the OnlineQDA web-site and through YouTube. I will discuss some of the issues of producing YouTube videos and uploading them, such as length, sound quality, metadata and titles and some of the feedback they have engendered.\ud \ud I will conclude by arguing that YouTube is a way of disseminating our outputs in a way that can extend the profile of the University and can promote our reputation for good quality!\ud teaching and research.\ud \ud

This paper reports lessons learned from a range of ESRC, HEA and Jisc funded projects. Four dimensions will be discussed, economic costs, quality, dissemination and pedagogy.\ud \ud Cost issues include the expense of making video, and the variety of skills and expertise required such as interviewing, scripting and editing. Quality issues are similar to those in broadcast video but not as great. However, there are specific requirements for special needs and issues around copyright and licensing. Dissemination revolves mainly around how users find the resources and we shall examine some of the data from the projects on users’ approaches and the use of web analytics. Pedagogic issue range from determining the content of videos to models of how OERs may be embedded in teaching and learning. In particular, it became clear that learning issues defined in terms of narrow technical needs were in fact embedded in broader issues related to undertaking a research project and becoming a social researcher.

This project aimed to produce a number of case study/exemplars based on the detailed examination of how researchers undertook the qualitative analysis of their data in their research projects. The intention was to produce a range of teaching materials openly available for academic teachers and students to find and use in their teaching and learning. Five case studies were developed and a range of textual materials, audio and video capturing the details of the analytic process the researchers undertook was created. Qualitative research is a popular method and in some disciplines, such as psychology, is growing in popularity. We felt that such resources might help teaching staff deal with the larger classes and the different ways of teaching that mass education in this field requires.\ud \ud The researchers used in the case studies were all doctoral students near the end of their studies. As of writing 4 of the 5 have now gained their PhDs. They came from a range of disciplines, psychology, business studies, sociology and education and were undertaking work in a wide range of topics. Two of them used NVivo software at some stages of their analysis and one used Atlas.ti. All the materials produced were incorporated into the OnlineQDA website that has been in existence since 2005. The video materials appear on this site but have also been made available on the YouTube website.\ud \ud We obtained feedback in the design process from student user groups (in undergraduate and postgraduate classes) from workshop sessions using the materials, from conference presentations and from an online survey of 96 teachers of qualitative methods.\ud \ud Materials are freely available for use and re-use and consequently we have gradually adopted the creative commons (CC) licence on the materials to encourage re-use (http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Tutorials/index.php).

For much qualitative research analysis of social reality requires that we understand the ‘symbolic\ud world’ of those we study, that is, the meanings and interpretations that people apply to their\ud experiences. The researcher may start with some understanding of the phenomena, even before\ud finishing the collection of data, but this understanding expands during the course of the project\ud by continually checking data against interpretations until we are satisfied we have a full grasp of\ud the phenomena.

As an example, the chapter focuses on the use of one specific program, NVivo, in qualitative analysis. After discussing the general issues of software choice and the pros and cons of its use, thechapter describes how to set up a project and decide on the cases to be used in the analysis. Coding the data is a key activity, and how codes are created, organised and developed is discussed. The next analytic stage is using the coded data to develop ideas and theories and the chapter explains how to use the software to do this.

As a result of various paradigm shifts, the World Wide Web (the Web) is changing both what we teach and how we teach it. Consequently, from the point of view of distributing resources, we are now experiencing a significant change of emphasis - from instructor push towards student pull. Web-Teaching is a book about teaching, especially interactive teaching, using the Web as a communications medium. It deals with the kinds of hardware, software and networks commonly used on the Web to deliver and support instruction and learning. Overall, it has two basic thrusts: first, it gives descriptions of what is possible on the Web; second, it identifies instructional strategies that are likely to be effective.DOI:10.1080/0968776970050307

OER1131 Symposium Thursday 12 May 13.30 \ud \ud This is a very highly focused project, funded by the ESRC as part of one of its Research Methods Nodes. It forms part of the activities of the longstanding CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data AnalysiS) Networking Project at the University of Surrey that has been assisting researchers and postgraduates in learning about the use of software in qualitative data analysis for over 15 years. One of the current project's aims is to make openly available, via its web site, a large number of textual, audio and video learning resources about how to use the software in analysis. Two things are distinctive. First the target users are postgraduate and other researchers. It covers topics that would not normally be addressed at undergraduate level. Second, it is very tightly focused on use by the learners themselves. Though teachers may use the materials in teaching postgraduates this is not the target group. Because of the nature of the target group, training resources can be much more specialist, detailed and complex. Users are usually very focused on specific learning needs, which they have already identified in their research work. In addition, most of the material is addressing the use of specialist software in specialist ways. The main foci for the learning resources are: i) mixed methods research, ii) geographic information systems data used in qualitative research, iii) dealing with visual data and iv) using digital video material. Despite being tightly focused, the project also has to position itself in respect of other closely related resource materials. This includes materials on general qualitative methods (as discussed in other papers in this symposium) and the companies who write the software used in the resources who have commonly produced their own learning materials. Most of these are also open educational resources. This paper will report on how the project has addressed these issues. This work is embedded in a long-standing project and awareness of its outputs is unlikely to be an issue. However, the specialized nature of the learning resources will mean that for many learners there will be an issue of determining what their research learning needs are and whether they can be addressed by the project resources. The paper will also report on how these issues have been addressed.

OER1131 Symposium Thursday 12 May 13.30 \ud \ud There is an assumption of much learning theory that the teacher or designer has total control over the learning environment; that he or she can plan the curriculum, the learning outcomes, exercises and the general environment. But this is rarely true for most teachers and especially it is not true for designers of OERs and RLOs. In this case we must design for just one part of the overall learning experience. As Mayes and de Freitas (2007, p.17) put it, "new knowledge must be built on the foundations of already existing frameworks, through problem solving activity and feedback." But designers of RLOs either don't know what this framework is, or cannot guarantee that the user will address it before using the RLO.\ud The REQUALLO project (Reusable Qualitative Learning Objects) has been funded by the HEA for the last three years to produce RLOs to support students learning how to undertake qualitative analysis in the social sciences. In this case problems of control over the learning environment are exacerbated as the analytic activity is essentially a creative one and teachers generally want to avoid being explicit about what steps or stages the learner needs to go through.\ud \ud There are several responses that designers may take and that we have adopted for REQUALLO.\ud 1. Provide a number of entry points, with some guidance to learners as to which they ought to use. An advantage of this approach is that we have also used it as a way of presenting the RLO material that is appropriate for different levels of learner, undergrad or postgrad.\ud 2. Provide opportunities for vicarious learning. We do this by providing case studies of actual students who describe their own, sometimes hesitant, even chaotic learning of the analytic process.\ud 3. Support learners to be creative by dealing with things differently, not doing what they have done before. In REQUALLO we offer not a set of definitive stages, but a variety of approaches. We do not suggest there is a ‘best’ way to do analysis, but rather, many possible ways.

The issues concerning numeracy and quantitative skills that exist for social scientists are somewhat different from those affecting many within the natural sciences and technology-related disciplines. In general students do not need to model systems algebraically or symbolically although they do need a good sense of number (scale, size, etc.) and an understanding of some of the logical principles and thinking that underlie mathematical proofs. The main area of application of these skills is in research methods and statistics.\ud Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) benchmarks and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Training Guidelines for postgraduates are very clear about the importance of methods and statistics in the social science disciplines. However, key surveys suggest that there is ‘a crisis of numeracy’ in social science disciplines. Many students are ill equipped to undertake quantitative work and there is a shortage of suitably qualified teachers. The response by academics has been, in part, to provide a range of mathematics support for students who need it. Alongside this, teachers have adopted a range of approaches to teaching quantitative methods including teaching statistics using formulae, teaching statistics using step-by-step instructions, and even teaching statistics without either calculations or formulae.

Podeu consultar la versió catalana a recurs relacionat., Gran parte de la evaluación de la docencia se centra en lo que los docen-tes hacen en clase. Este artículo, en cambio, se ocupa de evaluar cómo se realiza la evaluación y cómo ésta influye en la forma de aprender y estudiar fuera de clase. Generalmente se asume que la manera de eva-luar determina poderosamente qué, cómo y cuánto estudian los alum-nos. Este artículo propone un conjunto de «condiciones bajo las cuales la evaluación favorece el aprendizaje» y las argumenta con referencias teóricas, evidencias empíricas y experiencias prácticas. Estas condicio-nes ofrecen, además, un marco de referencia a los docentes dispuestos a revisar la efectividad de su propia práctica evaluativa.

Podeu consultar la versió castellana a recurs relacionat., Una bona part de l'avaluació de la docència se centra en la tasca que els docents fan a classe. Aquest quadern, en canvi, s'ocupa d'avaluar la manera com es fa l'avaluació i com influeix en la manera d'aprendre i d'estudiar fora de classe. En general, es parteix de la base que la manera d'avaluar condiciona especialment el contingut, la manera i la intensitat d'estudi dels alumnes. Aquest quadern proposa un conjunt de «condicions amb les quals l'avaluació pot afavorir l'aprenentatge» i les argumenta amb referències teòriques, proves empíriques i experiències pràctiques. A més a més, aquestes condicions ofereixen un marc de referència als docents disposats a revisar l'efectivitat de la seva pròpia pràctica avaluadora.

Much evaluation of teaching focuses on what teachers do in class.\ud This article focuses on the evaluation of assessment arrangements\ud and the way they affect student learning out of class. It is assumed\ud that assessment has an overwhelming influence on what, how and\ud how much students study. The article proposes a set of ‘conditions\ud under which assessment supports learning’ and justifies these with\ud reference to theory, empirical evidence and practical experience.\ud These conditions are offered as a framework for teachers to review the\ud effectiveness of their own assessment practice.

So wie die Gesellschaft sich durch neue Technologien verändert und verändert wird, so ändert sich auch die Art und Weise, wie qualitative Forscher und Forscherinnen (welche) Daten erheben und wie sie diese analysieren. Der folgende Aufsatz skizziert diese Entwicklung entlang der in der vorliegenden FQS-Schwerpunktausgabe veröffentlichten Beiträge. Die Verbreitung von Video- und Bildtechnologien bedeutet, dass Bilder und Illustrationen zum einen als Datenmaterial, zum anderen aber auch als Erhebungswerkzeuge verwendet werden können. Da Audio- und Videodaten nun immer häufiger auch digital vorliegen, werden außerdem neue Arten der Datenverarbeitung und -analyse möglich. Die parallele Entwicklung des Internets bietet zusätzliche Möglichkeiten der Datenerhebung und neue Kontexte, die untersucht werden können. Dies wirft die Frage neu auf, wie Forscher und Forscherinnen welche Daten erheben, verarbeiten, analysieren und veröffentlichen. Digitale Technologien haben auch die Voraussetzung für neue computergestützte Analysemöglichkeiten geschaffen. Heutzutage ist eine Reihe von Analyseprogrammen erhältlich, die infolge der gewachsenen Nachfrage ständig erweitert und verbessert werden. Hieraus erwachsen neue Herausforderungen, angefangen beim Erlernen der weiterentwickelten Programme bis hin zu Fragen der Datensicherung, des Datenaustauschs und der Datenanalyse. Die Popularität von computergestützten qualitativen Analyseprogrammen (CAQDAS) ist nicht gleichzusetzen mit deren unkritischer Akzeptanz. Die Frage, inwieweit CAQDAS selbst qualitative Analysen zu leisten vermag oder ob die Programme lediglich der eigentlichen Auswertungsarbeit assistieren, ist ein Thema, das seit einiger Zeit diskutiert wird. Ein Dialog über neue Technologien ist in diesem Zusammenhang von großem Interesse, da Weiterentwicklungen durch sie denk- und ausführbar werden. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs020287, As society transforms and is transformed by new technology, so there are new ways in which qualitative researchers collect and analyse data and new forms of data to collect. This paper sets in context the contributions in this issue of FQS by examining these developments. The spread of video and photographic technology means that images can be used both as sources of data and as tools for data collection. The digital form much audio and video data now takes makes possible new ways of creating, processing and analysing such data. The parallel growth of the Internet also makes available new ways of collecting qualitative data and new settings in which to collect it. However, such developments raise issues about the way researchers collect, process and publish data and how they produce high quality analyses. Digital technology has also meant that new ways of analysing data through computer assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) are now possible. There is now a range of such software and, in response to demand, developers are still adding new features and functions that researchers need to understand. The diversity of software means that there is a need for standards for storing and exchanging qualitative data and analyses. Nevertheless, there is still much debate about the degree to which CAQDAS can itself produce qualitative analysis or merely assist with its development by human researchers. At the same time there is now evidence of analytic developments made possible by the use of new technology. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs020287, La sociedad se transforma y es transformada por las nuevas tecnologías, resultando en nuevas maneras por las cuales los investigadores cualitativos colectan y analizan los datos así como nuevos tipos de datos a colectar. Este artículo contextualiza las contribuciones hechas a este número de FQS al examinar los nuevos desarrollos en este campo. El uso ampliado de las tecnologías de vídeo y fotografías significan que las imágenes pueden ser usadas tanto como fuentes como instrumentos para la colección de datos. La forma digital que muchos de los datos de audio y vídeo ahora adquieren tornan posibles nuevas maneras de producir, procesar y analizar los datos. El crecimiento paralelo de la internet también torna posible nuevas formas y posibilidades de colectar los datos cualitativos tanto como nuevos contextos en los cuales los datos pueden ser colectados. Sin embargo, todos esos desarrollos colocan cuestiones sobre la manera a través de la cual los investigadores colectan, procesan y publican los datos y como producen análisis de alta calidad. La tecnología digital también significa que nuevas formas de analizar los datos vía Análisis de Datos Cualitativos Asistida por Computadoras (CAQDAS) son ahora posibles. Existe actualmente una gama enorme de softwares para este fin y, respondiendo a las demandas de los investigadores, se desarrollan nuevas funciones y características de los programas que los investigadores necesitan entender. La diversidad de software significa que hay necesidad de patrones comunes para armonizar e intercambiar datos y análisis cualitativos. Entretanto, hay todavía un largo debate sobre hasta qué punto el CAQDAS puede producir o solamente asistir las análisis cualitativos hechos por los investigadores humanos. Al mismo tiempo, ahora hay evidencia de desarrollos analíticos posibilitados por el uso de las nuevas tecnologías. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs020287

As society transforms and is transformed by new technology, so there are new ways in which qualitative researchers collect and analyse data and new forms of data to collect. This paper sets in context the contributions in this issue of FQS by examining these developments. The spread of video and photographic technology means that images can be used both as sources of data and as tools for data collection. The digital form much audio and video data now takes makes possible new ways of creating, processing and analysing such data. The parallel growth of the Internet also makes available new ways of collecting qualitative data and new settings in which to collect it. However, such developments raise issues about the way researchers collect, process and publish data and how they produce high quality analyses. Digital technology has also meant that new ways of analysing data through computer assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) are now possible. There is now a range of such software and, in response to demand, developers are still adding new features and functions that researchers need to understand. The diversity of software means that there is a need for standards for storing and exchanging qualitative data and analyses. Nevertheless, there is still much debate about the degree to which CAQDAS can itself produce qualitative analysis or merely assist with its development by human researchers. At the same time there is now evidence of analytic developments made possible by the use of new technology. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs020287, Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol 3, No 2 (2002): Using Technology in the Qualitative Research Process

Resumen tomado de la publicación Se realiza una revisión de las tendencias del siglo XXI en relación con la formación del profesorado universitario en distintos países del ámbito anglosajón y europeo en general. A lo largo de la presente revisión se plantean una serie de cuestiones sobre las que sería conveniente reflexionar. En relación con estas distintas cuestiones, se comentan las soluciones que se han adoptado en los distintos países. El reciente Programa de Evaluación de la Investigación ha puesto de relieve que la mayoría de los profesores de Enseñanza Superior de Reino Unido no son investigadores activos. Galicia ESP

Web‐Teaching ‐ A Guide to Interactive Teaching for the World‐Wide Web by David W. Brooks, New York: Plenum, 1997. ISBN: 0–306–45552–8. Paperback, 214 pages. $30.