A participative research for learning methodology on education doctoral training programmes
International Journal for Researcher Development
ISSN: 2048-8696
Article publication date: 18 May 2012
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to outline a participative approach to researching education doctoral students' trajectories that functions both as a form of training in research methodology and as a means of reflection on the doctoral trajectory and what doctoral students have brought to the doctoral process through their experience.
Design/methodology/approach
Ten participants formed dyads and acted as both researchers and subjects of research, using narrative accounts and interviews. The collaborative approach aimed to allow “hands‐on” experience of the selected methods, as well as full engagement in negotiating each stage of the project.
Findings
Project group meetings and the data generated by participants provided a rich source of learning about methodological issues in education research, in addition to the personal understandings emerging from such a project.
Originality/value
This project reports an approach to “hands‐on” learning of methodological and ethical issues within doctoral development programmes that could be adapted for use on similar programmes. It suggests an alternative to the more common forms of doctoral training (such as exposition, discussion, reading, or simulation) that is of real value to doctoral students in that it enables deep reflection on the journeys that have brought students to doctoral study, whilst at the same time providing a rich resource for methodological learning.
Keywords
Citation
Garland, P. and Garland, I. (2012), "A participative research for learning methodology on education doctoral training programmes", International Journal for Researcher Development, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 7-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/17597511211278625
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited