Open AccessGraduate Students’ Construction of Researcher Identities Explored Through Discourse Analysis
Author(s) -
C. Amelia Davis,
Jessica Nina Lester
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
qualitative research in education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 2
ISSN - 2014-6418
DOI - 10.17583/qre.2015.1473
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , identity (music) , discourse analysis , qualitative research , pedagogy , task (project management) , graduate students , psychology , mathematics education , sociology , linguistics , computer science , social science , philosophy , physics , management , acoustics , economics , programming language
While many research methods courses challenge students to make sense of their own researcher identities as they relate to research paradigms and perspectives, there is a lack of research that examines how students actually go about constructing theses identities, particularly at the level of discourse. In this study, we attended to graduate students’ talk in an introductory research methods course, taking note of how students used particular discursive resources to construct a research identity in online classroom discussions. We analyzed 93 discussion posts students were asked to make in response to a discussion board prompt after completing assigned readings related to research paradigms and researcher identity. We identified two discursive patterns through our analysis: 1) minimizing knowledge, and 2) justifying paradigmatic orientations. Our findings highlight how being asked to talk about one’s research identity is a potentially fragile task, as evidenced by disclaimers of ‘knowing’, and one that evokes justifications and connections to students’ everyday lives. We highlight implications for the teaching of research methodology, particularly qualitative methods courses.