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Computer‐based instruction in qualitative research practices
Author(s) -
Lewis R.,
Busby J.S.,
Payne K.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of computer assisted learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.583
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2729
pISSN - 0266-4909
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2729.1998.1410059.x
Subject(s) - experiential learning , domain (mathematical analysis) , qualitative research , set (abstract data type) , discipline , subject (documents) , everyday life , computer science , mathematics education , psychology , pedagogy , engineering ethics , knowledge management , sociology , epistemology , world wide web , social science , engineering , mathematical analysis , philosophy , mathematics , programming language
As a subject domain, qualitative research practice presents significant problems for instruction. It tends to be poorly codified and sometimes controversial. It is substantially skill‐based and calls on a heterogeneous set of skills. And it is a means‐domain rather than an end‐domain for research students who invariably have widely varying disciplinary and experiential backgrounds when first coming to it. The experience of teaching the subject also suggests some important obstacles to learning good practices. For example, many of the underlying skills (like testing the self‐interest of information sources) are skills developed in everyday life: yet new researchers often fail to transfer them to research work. This article describes an instructional system for qualitative research which is based on linking domain problems such as these to particular pedagogic mechanisms, and then linking these mechanisms in turn to various implementation decisions.