Emerging researcher pedagogies: The “Dear Data” project

Abstract

This special edition of the Morning Watch is the second collection of papers from the Faculty of Education doctoral students who are participating in ED 702 A/B Advanced Research Methodology in Education in 2017/18.  ED 702 is a core course and is delivered over two semesters.  This year we used Patricia Leavy’s (2017) book Research Design to anchor our discussions.  Through this book we discussed quantitative, qualitative, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches.  In this course, and other courses, students become familiar with the ins and outs of research methodologies as they search for the methodology, or even methodologies, they will focus on in their own research projects. In addition to the theoretical knowledge of research methodologies, we, the course facilitators, wanted to include further experiences in our pedagogy. For us, creativity was something we felt was important and often under-represented in research courses.  We also wanted to link creativity to critical thinking in students’ minds.  Practical research knowledge was also a priority.  All of these are difficult to include in a seminar-based course.  Creativity is a complex, multifacted concept and is often not linked to critical thinking, and practical research knowledge is challenging to impart in a theoretical course. How can students experience the day-to-day logistics of a research project including unexpected challenges without actually undertaking a research project?