Reimaging Research Methodology as Data Science

Courses in research methods play a critical role in postgraduate education. However, postgraduate students face considerable challenges in learning the subject matter. The present paper introduces iMethod, a software application designed to track students' engagement with the content of research methods courses. iMethod harvested data, analysed students' engagement, and presented the outcome to a teacher through a dashboard rendered in real-time. As a proof-of-concept, a usability study on iMethod was conducted with a sample of postgraduate students and early career academics (n=37) at a research-intensive university in New Zealand. Key findings suggest that students and academic staff found iMethod a valuable application for enhancing research methods learning. In particular, students value its content for understanding fundamental concepts while valuing its inquiry facilitation and providing helpful information on research methods. Participants said iMethod could expand knowledge, offers guidance, and the content is accessible to a diverse range of students. Lastly, participants reported that iMethod facilitated easy knowledge sharing, and the interface design was user-friendly and intuitive. The paper contributes to the growing need to promote research into the curriculum design of research methodology programmes and the quality of teaching research methods courses.

To achieve better research outcomes, all countries, especially the developing countries, focus on improvement in the research skills of the academia, in particular that of novice students. Research Methods (RM) course is the common first step whereby students gain their initial skills in designing, conducting and reporting research. This research aims to significantly improve the way Research Methods course is taught in higher education settings. As part of this research, this study investigates the following research questions. First, can Lean-Agile practices infused in a Research Methods course help improve the research skills? Second, if so, what kind of customization is needed to make it a) acceptable to the Student Researchers (SRs) and Research Supervisors (RSs), and b) measurable and suitable for learning Research Methods? Finally, is there an additive causal influence on learning efficiency from Lean-Agile methods and Self-regulated learning methods? This research has designed an online educational platform for a Research Methods (RM) course that is infused with novel pedagogical approach / processes, to scaffold their learning processes with analytical solutions and interactive visualizations. The first iteration of this Design Science Research (DSR) commenced with a survey of SRs and RSs in a young university in India, as part of the Relevance Cycle; As part of Rigor Cycle, Systematic & Explorative Literature reviews are underway. Design Cycle to build an MVP based on survey inputs is also in progress; Evaluation Cycle is being planned. This DC paper elaborates on these research processes and identifies a few challenges facing a DSR-based approach.

A small number of LIS degree programs have adopted a diversified approach to research methods education, including offering an array of specialized research methods courses in addition to a general introductory course. The current study conducted an in-depth investigation of the diversified research methods curriculum of the LIS program at San Jose State University. The curriculum featured ten different research methods courses, and permitted students to make a selection to fulfill the requirement. Students tended to base their selections on individual interests, and reported a high level of satisfaction with their learning experience. The current study examined different aspects of the diversified curriculum from the student perspective, and reviewed the implications of this curricular model.

Research activity is an integral component in the formation of professions. Evidence shows that business and technical communication specialists conduct research in both academic and practitioner career fields. In other disciplines, course work has been recognized as the primary means for preparing students to conduct and consume research. Yet, no publications document the status of research methods course work for U.S. students specializing in business and technical communication. This study provides a descriptive basis for assessing three areas in those courses: research methods topics, required readings, and teaching or assessment methods. An analysis of the results leads to a proposed agenda for preparing students specializing in business and technical communication for their future work roles in both academe and industry.

Ten years after the Medical Library Association (MLA) adopted its first research policy, the 1995 Using Scientific Evidence to Improve Information Practice [1], MLA President Joanne Gard Marshall, FMLA, appointed a task force to research and publish a new official statement [2]. The resulting MLA research policy statement, The Research Imperative, was approved by the MLA Board of Directors in 2007 and “challenges MLA members to build a supportive culture that values and contributes to a research base that is recognized as an essential tool for future practice” [2]. It describes domains of research as well as basic, advanced, and specialized research skills sets. The Research Imperative encourages health sciences library and information science (LIS) practitioners to take advantage of different educational opportunities to acquire and build on that skills set. Specifically, it recommends, “4. MLA will provide and promote education and training to support health sciences information research. To accomplish this recommendation, MLA will work with academic programs to ensure that opportunities to develop quantitative and qualitative research knowledge and skills appear throughout the curriculum, provide a complete range of basic and advanced courses in quantitative and qualitative research methodology through MLA's continuing education (CE) program, and encourage graduate LIS schools to require master's degree students to undertake a research project in information science” [3]. Curricular decisions for programs leading to the LIS master's degree (MLIS) are shaped by many factors, not the least of which is the very wide variety of careers that holders of such degrees can expect to have. Many will undoubtedly work in school, public, academic, or special libraries. Many others will be information professionals in archives, museums, corporations, and other organizations. In any case, a major driver for MLIS curricula is program accreditation by the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA Standards for Accreditation do not specify exactly what courses should be taught, but the accreditation seeks evidence of various curricular elements. In particular, the standards require that a program's mission, goals, and objectives include: “the importance of research to the advancement of the field's knowledge base…the importance of the contributions of library and information studies to other fields of knowledge [and]…the importance of the contributions of other fields of knowledge to library and information studies.” Furthermore, they seek evidence that the curriculum of an accredited program “emphasizes the evolving body of knowledge that reflects the findings of basic and applied research from relevant fields” [4]. Do MLIS academic programs “ensure…opportunities to develop quantitative and qualitative research knowledge and skills?” Do they “require master's degree students to undertake a research project in information science” [3]? Evidence of such opportunities would include (but not be limited to) courses and evidence of whether research projects are required for graduation from such programs. In a comparison of LIS research course requirements with those of other master's level programs in related disciplines, Park studied the 2002 graduate catalogs of fifty-two of the then fifty-six ALA-accredited MLIS programs as well as the catalogs of master's of business administration, master's of social work, and master's of education programs at some of those schools. She found that all but three of the MLIS programs offered research methods courses, but only twenty required such a course for graduation [5]. Park reported that “LIS does not use consistent terminology across schools to identify what constitutes a ‘research methods’ course” and that the courses “vary from comprehensive coverage of both quantitative and qualitative methods to superficial inclusion of simple survey methods.” Park discussed aspects of the MLIS degree that related to research “at the consumer level” and “at the contributor level” [5]. Evidence-based LIS (and other types of evidence-based practice) are examples of the use of the consumer level of research expertise. Practitioners in many fields can confuse the two functions, especially when the word “research” is taken to include searching literature for published scientific studies, as opposed to actually carrying out such studies. The Research Imperative quite rightly calls for health sciences librarians to practice as consumers of and contributors to research in the discipline. This study seeks evidence of the current availability of required or elective research methods courses and research projects as a graduation requirement in ALA-accredited masters' programs in library and information science.

This practical action research study reports how the doctoral-level Qualitative Research Methodology course offered by a Vietnamese university evolved over four years. Since the students were quantitatively oriented and of mixed disciplinary backgrounds, they struggled with the course immensely. In particular, they were highly skeptical of the qualitative research methodology. By assigning more discipline-appropriate reading materials and changing the material assignment mechanism over four intervention cycles, the students responded increasingly positively to the course and gradually overcame their prejudice against it. In addition, popular press books seemed to create a meaningful common space between the students and the instructor. While the interventions brought about more positive student learning experiences, the instructor found them painful, and some students remained skeptical of the course. This study is useful for those professors who teach research methods courses in Ph.D. programs, especially when the students struggle with the courses.

This paper examines the attitudes of student teachers in social studies towards an educational research assignment, undertaken in an educational research methods course given at the Fatih Faculty of Education at Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey. A questionnaire containing open-ended questions and an interview were used in the data-collection process of this research. 74 student teachers answered the questionnaire; 20 of these teachers were selected for interview through a random sampling method, and they then participated in a semi-structured interview. In the light of the data, it can be said that the majority of student teachers gained basic educational research skills as a result of the course, and specifically learned how to conduct a small-scale research project. By conducting a small-scale education research project and writing a report on it, student teachers learned important educational research skills, such as how to detect problems, construct hypotheses, review literature, select a suitable research methodology, choose data-collecting instruments, gather and analyse data, cite references and write up an educational research project.

The provision of undergraduate statistics teaching varies across UK dental schools, but some challenges are faced in all schools. These include the need to (i) demonstrate the relevance of statistics to dentistry, (ii) address the phenomenon of statistical anxiety likely to be experienced, and (iii) deliver the teaching with a limited number of statistically trained staff. Our objective was to design a research methods course that combined epidemiology and statistics teaching for undergraduates at Bristol Dental School (University of Bristol) that was clinically relevant, focused on concepts and interpretation rather than calculation, and was sustainable, using new technology to enhance learning. The research methods course was introduced in 2008, extensively developed over the next two years based on student and tutor feedback, and has run with only minor updates ever since. The aim of the course is to introduce year 2 dental students to the skills needed to practice evidence-based dentistry, i.e. understand and critically appraise published research. Basic epidemiological concepts, different types of study design, summarising and interpreting data, and choosing appropriate statistical analyses are covered. The course is introduced by a face-to-face lecture. This emphasises the relevance to future careers, and pre-empts the feelings of statistical anxiety by presenting evidence that exam results for this course are not associated with having achieved an A-level in mathematics. The rest of the course is delivered using the flipped classroom approach. Didactic teaching is in the form of nine e-lectures, each lasting 20-25 minutes. These are split into chapters to allow easy navigation, and include pop-up questions. Small group (up to 10 students) structured tutorials (one per e-lecture) are used to reinforce the material covered in the e-lectures, drawing on real clinical examples from research publications. They are interactive, and also include e-voting quizzes to allow the tutors and students to gauge the level of understanding that is being achieved. At the end of the course there is a revision session and written assessment, which must be passed before students can progress to year 3 of the dental degree. Approximately 70 students take the course each year, split into eight groups, and tutorials are based on pre-prepared materials. Tutoring on this course provides an attractive opportunity to gain teaching experience, with only a modest investment in time. Therefore, it has always been possible to recruit enough statisticians or epidemiologists in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bristol to act as tutors. At least 89% of the students have passed the exam on first sitting each year, and all students have passed their re-sit exam. Marks ranged from 50-86% in 2019, and similar ranges were seen in previous years. Student feedback is consistently high, with virtually all students rating all components of the course at least satisfactory, and high percentages rating them good or excellent (e-lectures and tutorials were rated to be good or excellent by 72% and 95% of the students respectively in 2019). External examiners have been very complimentary, and only ever requested minor changes. Hence it has been possible to run a sustainable research methods course that engages students’ interest and produces excellent learning outcomes.

This article presents results from an evaluation of an online statistics lab as part of a foundations research methods course for master's-level social work students. The article discusses factors that contribute to an environment in social work that fosters attitudes of reluctance toward learning and teaching statistics in research methods courses. Students' evaluations (N = 25) suggest that implementing online statistics labs as a part of a foundations research methods course may help students form more positive attitudes toward statistics and improve their ability to read scholarly articles. Description of the course is provided, and challenges to implementation are discussed.

The way research methods course has been taught across disciplines was a combination of hands-on experience and research activities. The applied activities came in different forms such as conducting literature review, applying peer review, writing papers, etc. In class activities, which are outside the silo of research methods, are not widely popular. The activity in mind is the “Marshmallow Challenge” which gained popularity in domains such as Management, yet it has not been reported to be used in research methods courses. In this paper we report our experience in applying the “Marshmallow Challenge” in a research methods course taught to master students of Information Technology degree and discuss the lessons learned from this experience.

The undergraduate curriculum in Indonesia generally requires students to take a research methods course as a prerequisite course for the preparation of scientific reports. The objective of this course is to teach students how to present research results both orally and in writing using the styles and forms of each university. However, this course is not popular among students because the material is complex and technical. As a result, there is a gap between learning outcomes and their application when students prepare scientific reports. Improving pedagogy and teaching interventions through student-developed research projects is important in complementing lectures. The purpose of this study was to analyze the improvement of students' ability in writing scientific reports through research method courses using problem based learning (PBL). This research was a case study to report the integration of scientific report writing in research methods courses through PBL at the Universitas Islam Bandung in Indonesia. PBL was implemented by involving students in research-related tasks with the following stages: writing research questions, determining the research design, collecting data, analyzing data, and presenting research results. The research results showed that there was an increase in scientific writing skills in the good category. Normalized gain for indicators of increasing accuracy using research report formats, suitability for using literature and research methods is 0.064 and 0.209, including the low category, and the plagiarism level is 0.509, including the medium category. This finding implies that assigning students to write scientific reports using PBL in the research method classroom is useful for improving learning outcomes, presentation, reasoning, communication, ambiguous problem-solving, and reducing plagiarism. The findings of this study strengthen the findings of previous researchers, namely increase students' abilities in using formatting to prepare scientific reports, using appropriate literature, mastering research materials as well as reducing the level of plagiarism.

The authors reflect critically on their experiences of teaching research methods/methodology/techniques (MMT) courses in human geography for the first time. Through a highly reflexive process involving journaling, they engage with the broader scholarship of teaching and learning approach. Three themes characterize commonalities in their instructional experiences: (1) prior knowledge, (2) preparation, and (3) confidence. Specifically, they were challenged by needing to teach particular MMTs that they had not previously applied in their own research, by not knowing how best to prepare for teaching such courses, and by a lack of confidence with their approaches that stemmed from numerous issues.

The current study compares a traditional “scientist-practitioner” and a “research-informed” approach utilizing a sample of students from a COAMFTE accredited master’s program. Students were enrolled in a research methods course with either a “scientist-practitioner” or a “research-informed” focus. Results from both self assessment of core competencies, as well as basic research knowledge, found that both course types led to significant improvements; however neither course emerged as more significant than the other. Implications for best practices in teaching research methods in MFT training programs are discussed.

While simulations have become important pedagogical tools in many undergraduate political science courses, research methods courses seem to be an exception. This chapter explores an approach to teaching research methods that structures the course around a series of miniature simulations. These simulation exercises occur once every two weeks throughout the semester. Students are randomly grouped with two or three other students, given a fictional role (e.g., consulting firm) and scenario, and must use the entire 75-minute session to accomplish a specific research-related task or solve a research-related challenge. Each group simultaneously co-authors a report on its findings within a single Google Docs file. After briefly justifying this approach, the chapter focuses on the mechanics of these simulation sessions and reports on student learning outcomes in the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 sections of my course, "Research & Writing in Political Science."

This paper reports a case study of the manifestation of the teaching-research nexus in a research-active professor’s classroom teaching of a research methods course targeting a cohort of Master of Education (MEd) students in early childhood education (ECE). The study was conducted at a research-intensive English-medium university in Hong Kong where excellence in both teaching and research is emphasized. Data were gathered through classroom observation and interviews with the focal participant. Data analyses showed that in teaching the research methods course the focal professor aimed to train the students to become critical ‘consumers’ and novice ‘producers’ of research through a ‘PBL-triple’—problem-based, practice-based, and project-based—approach, and his identity as a prolific researcher also influenced his class teaching. Our study contributes to the literature by providing a new perspective on research-teaching relationships from the classroom.