This document discusses key ethical issues and methodological considerations for conducting Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research. It outlines assumptions of qualitative research designs, including that they seek to understand meaning and experience rather than generate generalized knowledge. It also discusses eight stages of formative research to generate options and assess interventions. The document emphasizes rigor in qualitative research through credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. It explores mixed methods approaches and priorities for integrating qualitative and quantitative methods.

1. Ethical Issues in
Conducting SoTL
Research
ADLT 673, MARCH 2, 2017
MS. MEGHAN WRIGHT, MEd, VCU IRB HUMAN
SUBJECTS PROTECTION EDUCATOR

2. Agenda for March 2
 Welcome to our guest speaker, Ms. Meghan Wright,
M.Ed., Human Research Subjects Protection Educator,
VCU IRB
 Overview
 Key ethical Issues in conducting SoTL research
 Stages of formative research – ideas to consider
 Common ways to mix methodologies
 Sampling techniques (qualitative)

3. Research Quality and
Strategies for Formative
Research
CLASS SESSION 6
ADLT 673, MARCH 2. 2017

4. Assumptions of Qualitative Design
 Are concerned with process over outcomes
 Are interested in the meaning of experience –
how people make sense of their lives; the result
is insight / understanding into a problem, not
generalized knowledge
 Act as the primary instrument for data
collection and interpretation
Qualitative Researchers ….

5. Assumptions of Qualitative Design
 Involves fieldwork – the researcher physically goes
to the setting or site to observe or record behavior.
The research may also interview.
 Is descriptive—the researcher seeks to understand
in terms of words or pictures.
 Is inductive—the researcher builds abstractions,
concepts, hypotheses, and theories from details.
Qualitative Research ….

6. The concept is
“immature”
due to a lack
of theory or
previous
research
The sense that
the available
theory may be
inaccurate,
inappropriate,
incorrect, or
biased
A need exists
to explore and
describe the
phenomena
and develop
theory
The nature of
the
phenomenon
may not be
suited to
quantitative
measures
Characteristics of a Qualitative
Research Problem

7. In a paper or proposal, the
researcher should
 Specifically describe the type of design and its
approach to data collection, analysis, and report
writing*
 Narrative Inquiry
 Ethnography
 Case Studies
 Phenomenology
 Grounded Theory
* Not an inclusive list – these are some of the more common qualitative designs

8. In a paper or proposal, the researcher
should describe design characteristics
 The discipline or field where it originated
 A good definition of the design
 The typical unit of analysis for the design
 Types of problems investigated by the design
 Types of data collection
 Data analysis processes & formats for reporting
 Any other special characteristics of the design

9. 8 Stages of Formative Research
for Consideration
 To Inform
• What are people thinking now, saying now, or
doing now about the problem?
• Gather a range of ideas about the problem in
context
• Language used to talk about the problem; lay
interpretation – what do people expect? What do
they receive? How do they evaluate their
educational experience or their level of care as
patients

10. 8 Stages of Formative Research
for Consideration
 To Identify
• What are the important problems that need to be
solved?
• In the clinical or educational setting, what impedes
effectiveness?
• What’s being used at other institutions or medical
schools?

11. 8 Stages of Formative Research
for Consideration
 To Generate a List of Options for Interventions
• Options are generated through discussion with
study participants (focus groups, interviews) to
reflect on problem areas within the educational
experience or environment

12. 8 Stages of Formative Research
for Consideration
 To Foster Critical Assessment and Problem-solving
• What are the plusses and minuses of a particular
intervention?
• Considerations of feasibility, money, time
• What are the constraints and opportunity costs?
• What is the likely benefit to people?
• Who is likely to be reached?
• Is it worth the effort?

13. 8 Stages of Formative Research
for Consideration
 To Investigate How to Implement Promising
Interventions
• Details matter.
• Who when, where, how much?
• Exploration of potential supportive collaborations

14. 8 Stages of Formative Research
for Consideration
 To Monitor Responses to Interventions
• To facilitate mid-course correction
• Reflection, refinement
 To Evaluate
• What are the intervention goals, and how do we
know if we are reaching them?
• Impact?

15. 8 Stages of Formative Research
for Consideration
 To Assess How the Intervention and its Results are
Being Presented to Stakeholders (learners, public,
scientific community)
• What motives presentations to various audiences?
• What is the response to the presentation?
• How are participants, funding agencies,
accrediting bodies, and others reacting to what is
shared?

16. Triangulation: An Important Feature in
Qualitative Studies
Use of multiple measures of the same variable to increase
confidence that the data reflect the phenomenon under study
 Source triangulation: use of a variety of data sources
 Investigator triangulation: Seven different researchers
contributed to the research team in Levinson’s work; four
co-authored the book that resulted
 Methodological triangulation: use of multiple methods to
study a problem

17. Common Ways
to Mix
Methodologies
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18. Mixed Methods
A formative phases that precedes a quantitative phase can provide
info for generating hypotheses and designing an instrument
Quantitative data can be used in a formative phase, providing
background to design a qualitative study
Quantitative data on study participants can help interpret qualitative
results or highlight important subgroup differences
A qualitative phase that occurs at the end can help to interpret
quantitative findings or evaluate an intervention

19. Mixed Methods
Qualitative or quantitative techniques can be used
independently to examine a problem from different
perspectives
Qualitative (open-ended) questions can be included in
a quantitative instrument to collect limited data on
issues that cannot be answered in a structured format
Qualitative exit interviews can be conducted with a
sample of quantitative survey participants to check the
external validity or comprehensiveness of measures

20. Priority Sequence Model: Decisions
for Integrating Methods
1. Qualitative Preliminary 2. Quantitative Preliminary
qual QUANT quant QUAL
3. Qualitative Follow-Up 4. Quantitative Follow-Up
QUANT qual QUAL quant

21. Consider Your Own Study
 How might mixed methods be used to
strengthen the design, and the potential
for robust findings?
 What type of design would you consider
using? (what’s primary, what’s
secondary?, and why?

22. Rigor and Quality in Qualitative Research
Methods
Quantitative
 Internal Validity
 External Validity
 Reliability
 Objectivity
Qualitative
 Credibility (truth value)
 Transferability (applicability)
 Dependability or
Trustworthiness (consistency)
 Confirmability (neutrality)

23. Credibility
Addressed in 3 ways:
1) the techniques and methods used to ensure integrity
and accuracy of the findings;
2) the qualifications, experience, and perspective that the
the primary researcher brings to the study, and
3) the paradigm orientation and assumptions that
undergird the study (Patton, 1990)
Credibility

24. Trustworthiness
1) When researcher describes in detail how
successive interpretations of the data are
carried out and makes this available for public
scrutiny in publications;
2) Primary data should also be made available to
participants for their verification (called
“member checking” (Reissman, 1993)

25. In your own plans for a study,
 How will you increase its credibility?
 How will you enhance its trustworthiness?
 If you are using a quantitative design,
how will you assess issues of validity and
reliability?

26. Project Consultation Meeting Times
Thursday, March 16
 5:15 – 6:15 pm - Meet with Kelly Lockeman
 Quantitative Projects; mixed methods projects
 6:15- 7:30 pm – Meet with Terry Carter
 Qualitative Projects; can also discuss the
qualitative component of mixed methods
studies