Schedule:
All course content will be open from the start of the course and remain accessible throughout.
Week 1 Introduction
Orientation and welcome activities
Setting up personal blogs
Weeks 2 & 3 Part 1: Exploring Methods
Participants to choose one of nine methods to explore in detail each week. Each methods section includes readings and activities.
- Surveys
- Discourse analysis
- Learning Analytics
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Ethnography
- Social Network Analysis (SNA)
- Experimental intervention
- Visual analysis
Week 4 Mid-course assessment
Activity 1: Reflective writing (blog post)
Activity 2: Review research literature, followed by Multiple Choice Quiz. This second activity is an assessed part of the course, and is due at the end of week 4.
Week 5 Part 2: Data analysis
Introduction to part 2 of the course
Overview of data analysis issues and challenges
Week 6 Quantitative analysis: ‘How to lie with statistics’
Critical perspectives on quantitative data analysis
Week 7 Qualitative analysis: interpretation and subjectivity
Critical perspectives on qualitative data analysis
Week 8 Final Assessment
Peer assessment task: reflecting on data analysis case study/literature.
This task is an assessed part of the course, and is due at the end of week 8.
Assignments:
There are two assignments on this course:
- A Multiple Choice Quiz on research literature, due at the end of week 4
- A written reflection on data analysis, due at the end of week 8
Deadlines are midnight UTC-12. This is the last possible midnight anywhere. In other words, if you submit by midnight of the day of the assessment where you are, you'll be on time.
In order to pass this course, you will need to achieve 50% or more as your combined score from both assignments.
Participation
There are no prerequisites for this course.
The basic rules of netiquette should apply:
- Be concise in discussion forum exchanges. Long posts are difficult to respond to. Short posts help the discussion to move forward, and are more likely to receive responses
- Be polite and supportive exchanges. The idea of discussion in this course is to develop our understanding as a group.
- Be free from undue concern for typographical quality. Discussion fora are not formal essays or publications. We also have participants from all over the world with different first languages. Focus on the ideas expressed, rather than the exactitude of the English.
You will be able to participate fully in this course by spending 5 hours a week on the various readings and activities. There will be more to do than this should you wish to spend extra time; however, this is not a requirement. Discussion activities are a key part of course activity, so expect to spend at least 2 hours a week writing and responding to posts, either in the discussion for a or your own blog. You should also expect to contribute more than once a week. Frequent short contributions to the discussion throughout the week will be better than a single long contribution just once a week.
Learning Objectives
On this course you will learn:
- The kinds of methods researchers tend to adopt
- The contexts in which certain methods are used
- The benefits, drawbacks and ethical implications involved in particular methods
- Critical perspectives on quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques
- How to critically analyse published research on methods
Instructors and teaching assistants (TAs)
TAs will be the first point of contact in the discussion fora. Instructors will also be present in the discussions, but will focus on specific questions and threads. All discussion tasks will be focused on group exchanges, rather than direct dialogue with teaching staff. Therefore, you should expect to engage with each other as the primary objective of discussion. Instructors and TAs will participate to clarify points and push the discussion forward. TAs and instructor will endeavour to answer any queries within 24hrs, however this may not always be possible.
How to get help on this course
Note that assistance with course activities, topics and assessments should be handled differently to issues with the edX platform. To get help with any aspect of the course, choose the relevant discussion forum associated with the section you are experiencing difficulty with. The course community, as well as the teaching team, will be able to help.
To get help with a technical problem, such as difficultly with the edX platform or accessing materials, click 'Help' to send a message to edX Student Support.
Academic misconduct
As a participant in this course you are expected to refrain from cheating, plagiarism, and inappropriate conduct. The consequences for engaging in any of the above will be automatic withdrawal from the course and the cancelation of any statements of accomplishment or verified certificates.