Grappling with methodologies in educational research: science and engineering educators finding their way

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dc.contributor.authorJawitz, Jeff
dc.contributor.authorCase, Jennifer
dc.contributor.authorMarshall, Delia
dc.contributor.editorKgeti Setatien_ZA
dc.contributor.editorRenuka Vithalen_ZA
dc.contributor.editorCliff Malcolmen_ZA
dc.contributor.editorRubby Dhunpathen_ZA
dc.coverage.spatialSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-27T06:05:42Z
dc.date.available2014-10-27T06:05:42Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.description.abstractScience and Engineering faculties at South African tertiary institutions have seen dramatic changes since the 1980’s due to a changing student body as a result of equity and redress measures. There has also been an increasing interest in educational research that might help improve student learning. Some of these researchers are disciplinary experts taking an interest in teaching and learning, while others have moved from undergraduate scientific work to postgraduate educational qualifications. Many of these researchers have no foundations in social science research. As a result much of the research produced by this group tends to unproblematically apply the ‘scientific method’ to problems in the social sciences. As authors of this chapter, we fit the above description, and describe our journeys in developing more appropriate and critical ways of conducting research in these complex and changing higher education contexts. Our initial research efforts were conducted in largely positivist frames. While there were many opportunities to develop (and publish) within this framework, we became increasingly aware that this framework offered superficial understandings of the student experience and failed to engage with broader societal issues. Interpretivist and critical perspectives appeared to offer more productive frames within which to work, yet we struggled to make sense of and gain access to these discourses. In this chapter we analyse and describe the experiences gained from two different research projects we have pursued during the 1990’s. The first theme concerns issues around gender and engineering education, and began with a narrow focus on why women choose to study engineering and shifted to grappling more critically with notions of gender and race. The second theme concerns students’ experiences of learning, initially exploring the approaches to learning framework and in later work responding more critically to the dominant theories in this area. Some of the questions which we address include: What are the methodological challenges involved in shifting to a more interpretive and critical paradigm? Is critical theory a useful framework for researching tertiary science and engineering education?en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationJawitz, J., Case, J., & Marshall, D. (2009). <i>Grappling with methodologies in educational research: Science and engineering educators finding their way</i>. New York: Nova Science Publishers. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8794en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationJawitz, Jeff, Jennifer Case, and Delia Marshall. <i>Grappling with methodologies in educational research: Science and engineering educators finding their way</i>. New York: Nova Science Publishers. 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8794.en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationJawitz, J., Case, J. & Marshall, D. 2009. <i>Grappling with methodologies in educational research: Science and engineering educators finding their way</i>.New York:Nova Science Publishers. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8794.en_ZA
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-60692-292-7en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Book AU - Jawitz, Jeff AU - Case, Jennifer AU - Marshall, Delia AB - Science and Engineering faculties at South African tertiary institutions have seen dramatic changes since the 1980’s due to a changing student body as a result of equity and redress measures. There has also been an increasing interest in educational research that might help improve student learning. Some of these researchers are disciplinary experts taking an interest in teaching and learning, while others have moved from undergraduate scientific work to postgraduate educational qualifications. Many of these researchers have no foundations in social science research. As a result much of the research produced by this group tends to unproblematically apply the ‘scientific method’ to problems in the social sciences. As authors of this chapter, we fit the above description, and describe our journeys in developing more appropriate and critical ways of conducting research in these complex and changing higher education contexts. Our initial research efforts were conducted in largely positivist frames. While there were many opportunities to develop (and publish) within this framework, we became increasingly aware that this framework offered superficial understandings of the student experience and failed to engage with broader societal issues. Interpretivist and critical perspectives appeared to offer more productive frames within which to work, yet we struggled to make sense of and gain access to these discourses. In this chapter we analyse and describe the experiences gained from two different research projects we have pursued during the 1990’s. The first theme concerns issues around gender and engineering education, and began with a narrow focus on why women choose to study engineering and shifted to grappling more critically with notions of gender and race. The second theme concerns students’ experiences of learning, initially exploring the approaches to learning framework and in later work responding more critically to the dominant theories in this area. Some of the questions which we address include: What are the methodological challenges involved in shifting to a more interpretive and critical paradigm? Is critical theory a useful framework for researching tertiary science and engineering education? CY - New York DA - 2009 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town ED - Kgeti Setati ED - Renuka Vithal ED - Cliff Malcolm ED - Rubby Dhunpath KW - equity in higher education KW - educational research KW - positivist social science research KW - gender in engineering education KW - interpretivism KW - critical paradigm LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PP - New York PY - 2009 SM - 978-1-60692-292-7 T1 - Grappling with methodologies in educational research: science and engineering educators finding their way TI - Grappling with methodologies in educational research: science and engineering educators finding their way UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8794 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8794
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationJawitz J, Case J, Marshall D. Grappling with methodologies in educational research: Science and engineering educators finding their way. New York: Nova Science Publishers; 2009.http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8794en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisherNova Science Publishersen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyCentre for Higher Education Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.publisher.locationNew Yorken_ZA
dc.subjectequity in higher educationen_ZA
dc.subjecteducational researchen_ZA
dc.subjectpositivist social science researchen_ZA
dc.subjectgender in engineering educationen_ZA
dc.subjectinterpretivismen_ZA
dc.subjectcritical paradigmen_ZA
dc.titleGrappling with methodologies in educational research: science and engineering educators finding their wayen_ZA
dc.typeBooken_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceBook chapteren_ZA
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