I did some reading and made notes about key terms / approaches to Research in the Classroom.
Reading: Collecting Data in Your Classroom. Clark, J.S., Porath, S., Thiele, J. and Jobe, M
Qualitative research: “focused on collecting data that is relational, interpretive, subjective, and inductive”
Quantitative study: “collects data that are deductive, statistical, and objective”
Inductive approaches: “ focused on developing new or emerging theories, by explaining the accumulation of evidence that provides meaning to similar circumstances”
Deductive approaches: “create meaning about a particular situation by reasoning from a general idea or theory about the particular circumstances.”
The article highlights the significance of subjective knowledge to determine the best approach.
“Subjective knowledge negotiates the traditional research frameworks with the data collection possibilities of their practice, while also considering their unique educational context.”
“While qualitative approaches are inductive – observe and then generate theories, for example – qualitative researchers will typically initiate studies with some preconceived notions of potential theories to support their work.”
Mixed Methods: “combination of precise measurements (e.g., grades, test scores, survey, etc.) along with in-depth qualitative data that provide meaningful detail to those measurements”
To plan my action, I would like to gather a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, and do this in a short timeframe. I would like to engage the whole class, and I think a survey would be the best format to use.
Surveys: “come in several forms, closed-ended, open-ended, or a mix of the two. Closed-ended surveys are typically multiple-choice questions or scales (e.g. 1-5, most likely–least likely) that allow participants to rate or select a response for each question”
Closed ended questions which generate quantitative data to better understand the range of interest in different Fashion Communication industry job roles among the full group.
Open-ended questions within the survey may help me better understand the nuance of student experience and engagement.
Listing/ Ranking: “Listing can be an effective way to examine participants’ thinking about a topic. Researchers can have participants construct a list in many different ways to fit the focus of the study and then have the participants explain their list.”
Interviews and Focus Groups
Structured Interviews: “ researcher identifies a certain number of questions, in a prescribed sequence, and the researcher asks each participant these questions in the same order”
Semi-Structured Interviews: “a prescribed set of questions and protocol, just like structured interviews, but the researcher does not have to follow those questions or order explicitly”
References
Clark, J.S., Porath, S., Thiele, J. and Jobe, M. (2020). Collecting Data in Your Classroom. [online] kstatelibraries.pressbooks.pub. Available at: https://kstatelibraries.pressbooks.pub/gradactionresearch/chapter/chapt5/.