The teaching and learning of social research methods online

Abstract

Social research methods (SRM) enable social scientists to undertake research. These methods, along with research design, include quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, research ethics and data interpretation. In the UK, advanced SRM training is funded primarily through the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), with the aims of building research capacity and facilitating methodological innovation. The teaching and learning of SRM is therefore of strategic importance, yet it has often been overlooked. This research, funded by the ESRC, formed part of a wider pedagogy of methodological learning project which aimed to address this gap by better understanding the pedagogical demands of teaching SRM, and how those with more advanced methodological knowhow communicate their knowledge in ways that allow others to understand and make use of it. This study was concerned with these questions in the online context, and additionally sought to understand the roles played by digital technologies. There is limited literature in relation to these questions, particularly in the UK context.
This research focused on two UK case studies of online SRM courses: an entirely online, asynchronous quantitative methods short course run by a private company; and a university master’s level introductory SRM course, offered as a hybrid (place-based and online) or as online-only. Case study findings were generated from an analysis of course documents and forum posts, observations, semi-structured interviews and conversations with teachers, learners, and other stakeholders. Interviews included document-stimulated reflection. In addition, seven online SRM teachers, who taught a range of methods in different formats were interviewed. Fieldwork took place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (2017 -2019) when the teaching of SRM online was less common. The research drew on the concepts of Pedagogic Content Knowledge (PCK) and Pedagogical Technological Content Knowledge (TPCK), and the conceptual-empirical typology of social science research methods pedagogy (the typology).
Building on what is already known about the challenges of teaching and learning SRM, the online dimension brings additional challenges, particularly when teacher and students are temporally and physically separated. This influences the ways in which teachers plan and teach SRM online. Planning becomes the focus of teacher activity, often becoming a group activity involving online education support staff in which pedagogic decision-making may be distributed. This runs counter to the TPCK framework and the typology. SRM online pedagogy can be characterised as the combination of teachers’ knowledge of the subject, the technological support available to teachers, and online support staff’s knowledge of the technologies and how these can support teachers’ SRM pedagogy. The concept of PCK is helpful in understanding how teachers respond to the challenges of teaching SRM online, with teachers (starting to) transform their pedagogy: how they plan to teach; the content they will teach; how they teach in-situ; and the activities they get students to do. Change involves teachers letting go of the ways they taught (and were taught) in place-based classrooms and embracing the online space and being supported in learning through experience. The digital technologies of the online teaching environment can support SRM teachers’ pedagogic goals by: distributing content; connecting students with each other, the teacher and content; providing students with a sandpit practice environment and collaboration opportunities; and providing a means by which teachers can provide students with immediate feedback on their learning.
Online SRM teaching presents opportunities for teaching innovation and the further development of an SRM pedagogic culture. However, to realise these opportunities will require investment by teachers in reflecting on and evaluation of their online teaching experiences, and by institutions in digital learning support staff, and a pushing back against the deficit narrative that casts online SRM teaching as of secondary value to place-based teaching. Further research is needed to provide a wider range of exemplars, to explore in more detail the planning of online SRM courses, and to understand how teachers and learners make use of the functionality and affordances of digital technologies in support of their teaching and learning.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Debbie Collins: orcid.org/0000-0003-0378-9898

ORCID for Melanie Nind: orcid.org/0000-0003-4070-7513

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