International Journal of Research & Method in Education Special Issue: The Teaching and Learning of Research Methodology
Guest Editors: Dr Andrew Loxley, Professor Michael Grenfell and Dr Aidan Seery, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin.
The International Journal of Research & Method in Education calls for scholarly papers for a special issue focused on the teaching and learning of research methodology. There has been a significant increase in the institutionalisation and normalisation of research methodology as a sphere of teaching and learning in higher education.
The reasons for this shift are varied, but seem to coalesce around a cluster of instrumental factors: 1) a moral panic around the variable quality of research methods teaching and learning; 2) student competency and capabilities as postgraduate researchers; 3) completion rates (particularly of doctorates) and 4), the purported needs of other ‘stakeholders’ (funding agencies, employers etc.). However, this skills discourse also includes a more profound discourse about what kind of researcher(s) is being constructed by research methodology programmes (modules or whole degrees) and their relationship to the purpose and role of knowledge more generally and more specifically the contexts in which they are or will be working post-graduation.
In this Special Issue we would like to facilitate discussion around two interconnected themes which emerge from the above concerns:
1. the cultural politics of research methodology teaching and learning within higher education, and
2. reflexive and critical commentaries and exemplifications of different facets of the teaching and learning of research methodology.
The following are some questions and/or issues contributors may wish to pursue in light of the above themes:
- the relationship between skills development and the critical understanding of research methodology;
- critical discussions around the use of ICT, such as (NVivo, Max QDA) with students in non-numerical data analysis;
- the relationship and tensions between methodological efficacy and ethical necessity for students;
- the relationship between reflexivity and becoming a researcher;
- the assessment of research skills and knowledge;
- the role of research methods textbooks and other resources in learning and teaching;
- the teaching and learning of unorthodox approaches and methods.
Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. A guide for authors along with other relevant information can be found on journal's homepage.
Submissions should be marked as for the special issue and made online at the International Journal of Research & Method in Education Manuscript Central site by 7th September 2012.
For further information or queries regarding this Special Issue, please contact either Andrew Loxley loxleya@tcd.ie or Aidan Seery seeya@tcd.ie