Journal of Social Research Methodology

Special Issue: Teaching and Learning Social Research Methods

The International Journal of Social Research Methodology has published a new special issue (volume 18, issue 5, 2015), dedicated to the teaching and learning of social research methods. Guest editors Prof Melanie Nind (Pedagogy of Methodological Learning project PI), Dr Daniel Kilburn (UCL) and Dr Rebekah Luff (National Centre for Research Methods) introduce the special issue in theirĀ Ā editorial ‘The teaching and learning of social research methods: developments in pedagogical knowledge’. An accompanying podcast discussing the special issue is also available.

Abstract:

Social research methods have been taught in a systematic and widespread way within Western academia for much of the past century. With increasing demands facing the social research community ā€“ whether from funders, universities, or the public ā€“ building and sustaining the methodological capacity to navigate challenging and unfamiliar empirical terrain is becoming ever more important. Yet despite this, to date the teaching and learning of research methods has occupied a comparatively marginal position within broader methodological discussions in the social sciences. In this special issue on developments of pedagogical knowledge in social research methods, established researchers from a range of social science disciplines, international contexts, and methodological orientations engage with questions of how research methods are taught and learnt.

Peer reviewed articles within the special issue (and already trailed on this site)Ā include:

  1. The problems and prospects in the teaching of mixed methods research,Ā Sharlene Hesse-Biber
  2. ā€˜Iā€™m not a quants personā€™; key strategies in building competence and confidence in staff who teach quantitative research methodsā€™,Ā Julie Scott Jones & John E. Goldring
  3. Embedding quantitative skills into the social science curriculum: case studies from Manchester,Ā Jennifer Buckley, Mark Brown, Stephanie Thomson, Wendy Olsen & Jackie Carter
  4. Teaching social research methods after the critical turn: challenges and benefits of a constructivist pedagogy,Ā Cosmo Howard & Michelle Brady
  5. From guided-instruction to facilitation of learning: the development of Five-level QDAas a CAQDAS pedagogy that explicates the practices of expert users,Ā Christina Silver & Nicholas H. Woolf
  6. Learning to manage and share data: jump-starting the research methods curriculum,Ā Louise Corti & Veerle Van den Eynden
  7. Using video and dialogue to generate pedagogic knowledge: teachers, learners and researchers reflecting together on the pedagogy of social research methods,Ā Melanie Nind, Daniel Kilburn & Rose Wiles

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