Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for Voices
Background: In engineering education research, we have made great strides in both our advanced qualitative research methodologies and the acceptance of qualitative research within the broader field. This shift in our community likely marks a shift in our epistemologies and a shift in our values, but...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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VT Publishing
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Studies in Engineering Education |
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| Online Access: | https://www.seejournal.org/articles/37 |
| _version_ | 1828112419751198720 |
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| author | Nadia Kellam Madeleine Jennings |
| author_facet | Nadia Kellam Madeleine Jennings |
| author_sort | Nadia Kellam |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: In engineering education research, we have made great strides in both our advanced qualitative research methodologies and the acceptance of qualitative research within the broader field. This shift in our community likely marks a shift in our epistemologies and a shift in our values, but we are still feeling a pull towards positivist epistemologies from funding agencies, journals, editorial boards, reviewers, and readers, which may be limiting our potential to conduct more critical and postmodern research and learn more about communities who are marginalized in engineering. Purpose: The purpose of this research project is to develop an understanding of qualitative researchers’ epistemological perspectives and values. The research question guiding this study is: Through an analysis of qualitative engineering education manuscripts published in 2019, what voices of researchers and participants appear in our work and what do they reveal about our EER community’s epistemologies and values? Method: The databases Engineering Village and Google Scholar were employed to identify journal articles that are qualitative, engineering education–focused, and published in 2019. This search resulted in 27 journal articles from eleven journals that served as the data for this project. The analysis was derived from discourse analysis and The Listening Guide and involved multiple readings. During these readings, we considered how the epistemologies present in qualitative engineering education research were reflected through a discursive examination of voices that emerged in the papers. Conclusions: Researcher and participant voices emerged in the analysis, including some that are more aligned with positivist epistemologies (e.g., apologetic, generalizable, and abstracted voices) and others that are aligned with more postmodern epistemologies (e.g., alongside, vulnerable, and storied voices). These voices provide some insight into epistemological and paradigmatic tensions within our qualitative engineering education research community. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:49:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-98f9e02c22f8405c9c032dca5fa3428b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2690-5450 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:49:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | VT Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studies in Engineering Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-98f9e02c22f8405c9c032dca5fa3428b2022-12-22T04:25:25ZengVT PublishingStudies in Engineering Education2690-54502021-12-012110.21061/see.3730Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for VoicesNadia Kellam0Madeleine Jennings1Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityBackground: In engineering education research, we have made great strides in both our advanced qualitative research methodologies and the acceptance of qualitative research within the broader field. This shift in our community likely marks a shift in our epistemologies and a shift in our values, but we are still feeling a pull towards positivist epistemologies from funding agencies, journals, editorial boards, reviewers, and readers, which may be limiting our potential to conduct more critical and postmodern research and learn more about communities who are marginalized in engineering. Purpose: The purpose of this research project is to develop an understanding of qualitative researchers’ epistemological perspectives and values. The research question guiding this study is: Through an analysis of qualitative engineering education manuscripts published in 2019, what voices of researchers and participants appear in our work and what do they reveal about our EER community’s epistemologies and values? Method: The databases Engineering Village and Google Scholar were employed to identify journal articles that are qualitative, engineering education–focused, and published in 2019. This search resulted in 27 journal articles from eleven journals that served as the data for this project. The analysis was derived from discourse analysis and The Listening Guide and involved multiple readings. During these readings, we considered how the epistemologies present in qualitative engineering education research were reflected through a discursive examination of voices that emerged in the papers. Conclusions: Researcher and participant voices emerged in the analysis, including some that are more aligned with positivist epistemologies (e.g., apologetic, generalizable, and abstracted voices) and others that are aligned with more postmodern epistemologies (e.g., alongside, vulnerable, and storied voices). These voices provide some insight into epistemological and paradigmatic tensions within our qualitative engineering education research community.https://www.seejournal.org/articles/37qualitative researchengineering education researchersepistemologymethodology |
| spellingShingle | Nadia Kellam Madeleine Jennings Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for Voices Studies in Engineering Education qualitative research engineering education researchers epistemology methodology |
| title | Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for Voices |
| title_full | Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for Voices |
| title_fullStr | Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for Voices |
| title_full_unstemmed | Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for Voices |
| title_short | Uncovering Epistemologies and Values of Our Qualitative Engineering Education Research Community: Listening for Voices |
| title_sort | uncovering epistemologies and values of our qualitative engineering education research community listening for voices |
| topic | qualitative research engineering education researchers epistemology methodology |
| url | https://www.seejournal.org/articles/37 |
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