Topic outline
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I have an active "technical" research stream in innovation and entrepreneurship - information is on my University home page. I have also developed a research stream in teaching.
Fields of investigation Research methods Projects and collaborations Paper addressing research into teaching
The following paper describes the approach that my colleagues and I are using to generate journal papers from teaching: Balan, P., Maritz, A. & McKinlay, M. 2018, 'A Structured Method for Innovating in Entrepreneurship Pedagogies', Education + Training
You are welcome to contact me if you see possibilities for using this approach in your situation. The lead author already has collaborations that are leading to journal publication.
Fields of investigation
My motivation for engaging in research into teaching was to better understand what is happening in the classroom from the students' point of view. In particular, I adopted Team-Based Learning on the basis that it increased student engagement, and I was curious to know if, in fact, it does increase engagement. This curiosity led me to explore the engagement literature, and to experiment with ways to understand what students understand by engagement at the classroom level. Important outcomes for me are that I have improved my knowledge and understanding of pedagogy, and have become more sensitive to what is happening in the classroom, particularly from the student point of view. Research has also helped me to become more creative in identifying and evaluating methods and activities to enhance student engagement.
An early journal paper described an attempt to relate institutional-level engagement research to activities at the classroom level, using AUSSE/NSSE data. This led to exploration of a range of constructs at the classroom level, using a "grounded" qualitative research approach. For example, these include:
- student engagement at the course level
- student engagement at the level of particular classroom activities
- learning motivations and expectations at the course level
- the requirements for success at the course level
- team cohesion
Research methods
My background is quantitative research (including Structural Equation Modelling), but as entrepreneurship courses have modest class sizes it is not realistic to use quantitative measures. One of my colleagues, Prof. Mike Metcalfe, introduced me to "concept mapping" as a method for analysing qualitative data. This form of Social Network Analysis allows "grounded"/abductive research using qualitative data to be carried out efficiently and quickly. This method offers a number of significant benefits over more traditional methods of qualitative analysis (such as nVivo, that I have used in the past). In particular, it:
- is a mixed method approach that combines qualitative interpretation with quantitative analysis;
- can be used to analyse data in the form of either long strings of text, or short statements;
- provides an output that identifies themes or clusters of comments;
- allows the researcher to select the number of clusters so that they can be explored at different levels of detail;
- provides a graphical output that helps to identify relationships between underlying themes (as shown below);
- provides a rigorous audit trail that allows each step in the analysis to be assessed and critiqued, allowing collaboration, verification and replication.
For example, this image shows the "themes" of reasons why students enrolled in this particular entrepreneurship course. Software was used to cluster students' qualitative statements, and the researcher selected the appropriate number of clusters and interpreted the themes. This map was presented to the class and the research method and results explained.
Another colleague and I have developed this method to make it possible to quickly analyse large amounts of qualitative data, and we have used this approach for large-scale studies.
Please contact me if you would like further information about this very useful method.
References:
Balan, P., Balan-Vnuk, E., Metcalfe, M. & Lindsay, N.J. 2015, 'Concept Mapping as a Methodical and Transparent Data Analysis Process', in Elsbach, K.D. & Kramer, R.M. (eds), Handbook of Qualitative Organizational Research: Innovative Pathways and Methods, Taylor & Francis/Routledge, New York, pp. 318-330.
Borgatti, S.P., Everett, M.G. & Johnson, J.C. 2013, Analyzing Social Networks, SAGE Publications Ltd, London, UK.
Metcalfe, M. 2007, 'Problem Conceptualisation Using Idea Networks', Systemic Practice and Action Research, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 141-150.
Metcalfe, M. 2014, How Concepts Solve Management Problems, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK.
Projects and collaborations
I am carrying out small research projects, using student evaluation data relating to my entrepreneurship classes. These have resulted in refereed conference papers and presentations that are listed on my University home page.
I have set up larger projects with University ethics/IRB approval to use identified student data:
- exploring aspects of student retention. This study of students in first, second and third year "core" management courses is providing insights that complement the literature in this field, and will yield valuable information for the University to address this important area.
- exploring the requirements for student success in their courses. This research is being carried out in several different discipline areas. This research has already resulted in two conference presentations (see the "Dissemination" tab), and papers are currently being written.
These collaborations include "teaching academics" from different schools in my university, as well as specialists in education and researchers with significant experience with large research projects.
I have given presentations and conducted workshops on my approach to research into education/teaching at an international conference (Team-Based Learning Collaborative Annual Conference 2016, Albuquerque, US) and at several universities (Canadian University Dubai, UAE; Bradford University, UK; University of the Highlands and Islands, UK; Oral Roberts University, US; University of South Australia). Details are on the "Dissemination" page on this website.
You are welcome to contact me if you have an interest in these or other areas and are receptive to the idea of setting up a collaborative research project.
Please note that the approaches and methods described above are also used in industry-based research. For example:
- my colleagues and I recently completed a large-scale study of "perceptions of ageing", carried out for the South Australian Government's Office for the Ageing. This involved the fast analysis of several very large sets of qualitative data.
- other colleagues and I collected and analysed website data for a number of small hotels in two Australian states to identify the characteristics of their business models.
