Author: Carol Azumah Dennis (Editor)

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Hot off the Press: EdD Thesis

Relationships, Assets and Social Capital: A Case Study Review of Youth Mentoring

by Dr Catherine Comfort

Abstract

Youth mentoring, where young people (mentees) work with adult mentors to achieve change, is a popular government and third sector intervention. Past research, concentrating on quantitative analysis of US programmes, concludes that mentoring achieves significant but modest change. Such research assumes that changes from mentoring can be externally identified and measured, often without hearing the views of those involved.

This study investigates the experiences and expectations of mentoring from the perspective of mentees, mentors, referring agencies and programme coordinators. Using social capital theory (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000), the study explores how mentoring relationships are built and their role in bringing about change.

A local authority youth mentoring programme in the UK formed the case study for investigating experiences of mentoring and perceptions of change. To allow nuanced exploration of views, an interpretive, qualitative approach was taken. Data were collected from mentors, mentees, referring agencies and coordinators via semi-structured interviews, survey, diaries, focus groups and programme feedback. Data collection and thematic analysis were informed by social capital theory.

Findings indicated that mentees actively participating in the mentoring process benefitted most. Mentees experienced unusual levels of equality in the purposeful and trusting mentoring relationship. Drawing on the relationship’s social capital, mentees enhanced their assets and enjoyed emotional support, learning and challenge. Collaborating with mentors, mentees achieved previously inaccessible outcomes. Assets developed could be used in other relationships.

The study also concludes that social capital and asset acquisition provide a theoretical basis for understanding the mentoring process. By encouraging asset and social capital exchange, mentoring develops mentees’ self-awareness, agency, and confidence, increasing the likelihood of resilience. This knowledge may be transferable to other programmes and relationships. Supporting young people’s knowledge of their needs and strengths through mentoring may contribute to their wellbeing post 2019 Covid pandemic.

You may read the full thesis here: http://oro.open.ac.uk/87092/ 

Catherine Comfort | OU people profiles (open.ac.uk)

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What are the challenges of practitioner-researchers in your field of practice?

The Second-Order Researcher

A practitioner-researcher or second-order researcher is an ‘insider’ academic who studies a phenomenon in their workplace or profession and outside the university. The first-hand researcher, or ‘outsider’, is the academic whose career lies within the university and who does not practice the profession or workplace they study (Losito, Pozzo & Somekh, 1998).

The appreciation of practitioner research in the field of education is a relatively new one, and research methodologies for professionals, such as Action Research (AR), were unheard of until Kurt Lewin coined the term in the 1940s (Baumfield, Hall & Wall, 2017). Later on, in 1996, Hargreaves (1996) suggested that the teaching profession could become a research-based profession similar to the medical one, which is established normality (Murray & Aymer, 2008). This blog post will present one issue, two possible solutions, and a question regarding research in professional practices, notably teaching, compared to the medical profession.

Issue

Murray and Aymer’s (2008) research points out a considerable difference between second-order medical research and the teaching profession. It explains that research and practice are easily combined and encouraged in the former, leading to promotion in medical practices. They note that the same is not valid for teachers whose lesson plans, activities and textbooks are not taken seriously by the Research Assessment Exercise (REF, 2021). This disparity is a shame because practitioners can often better recognise areas needing action (Costly, Elliot & Gibbs, 2010). In summary, this blog would like to raise the issue that the teaching profession is not respected academically. Therefore, teachers do not share their expertise as practitioners do in medicine.

Solutions

As far as solutions are concerned, the following two possibilities are proposed:

  • If teachers were given similar encouragement as medical doctors, both financially and regarding career development, they might be more motivated to share their expertise through publication;
  • Understanding the theories feeding educational enquiry and the craft of academic writing would help teachers to navigate their way through academia and probably contribute towards improving their practices. These skills can be achieved by working towards a professional doctorate such as the EdD. Universities such as the Open University and others in Australia, North America, and the EU offer professional doctorates to teachers and other professionals (Barnacle, 2017). Another option could include education enquiry in teacher-training courses (Burnaford, Fischer & Hobson (2001).

Nevertheless, these solutions highlight two of the many challenges professionals face if they want to share their expertise with an academic audience. Practitioner research in all fields is often undervalued and compared adversely to university research (Thomson & Gunter, 2010). Furthermore, publishing in any area is competitive, and teachers, in particular, have difficulty publishing their work without adequate training in enquiry (Davis, 2019).

Question

In conclusion, the question posed by this blog post regards your experience as a practitioner-researcher. What is the situation in your workplace? Are your colleagues interested in publishing? What are the challenges of second-order researchers in your field of practice?

By Lesley Fearn @lesleyfearn

I achieved my EdD in 2021 regarding learning and teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) using online community projects in secondary schools. This interest stems from more than thirty years of experience teaching English (as a Foreign Language) and English literature in state schools in the south of Italy. During this time, I have continually experimented with new approaches and techniques, especially with technology, to motivate students in their schooling. Other areas of interest include Fine Art and English literature that I studied as a BA and MA. As far as research is concerned, I am particularly interested in Action Research and sociocultural paradigms.
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Imposter syndrome, be gone!

baby dino

As I reflect on the end of EdD Year 2 and embark on Year 3, I am reminded by those who know me to consider and celebrate how far I have come. That is not a place I feel comfortable visiting, much less sharing. I’m not sure why that is, but I have been advised it may be the familiar imposter syndrome sitting on my shoulder. That little voice that eats away at your confidence. That says, “You are not quite good enough…yet.”  I have become more mindful of the need as a fledgling researcher to quieten that voice if I am to step into the world of education research with my voice to be heard. So, here goes…my first blog about my research area.

I came into teaching after having children and a career outside of education. Previous life experience and through twenty years in education, I have become cognizant of the significant role trust plays in the success of teams. As a teacher, I  experienced the positives and negatives of leadership. As a leader, I have created the positives and negatives of leadership and dealt with the consequences. On reflection, through it all trust has been a prevailing dynamic, both given and received.

Research into trust as a factor in effective team building, leading to successful organisations, is very well documented in numerous domains. The role of trust in schools is represented in a wealth of research from numerous viewpoints including principals, teachers, parents, students and administrators. But in amongst all this knowledge, I have yet to find a way in which I, as a leader, could take stock of the trust relationships in my schools in a meaningful way. Yes, I could create a questionnaire and take some blunt data from it, but I actually wanted something more meaningful, context specific and useful. I began exploring the possibilities in my M.Ed. and have continued this journey of discovery into my EdD.

So, what am I doing? Exploring the role of trust in school improvement, as heard through the voices of teachers. Using a phenomenological study of a group of schools, I am exploring the nuances of teachers’ experiences of trust relationships with principals, and their views of its impact on school improvement. From their knowledge, I want to explore if it is possible to create a framework to support senior leadership in ascertaining the strength and weaknesses of trust relationships with teachers in their school. Thereby providing them with an informed benchmark to aid in strategically strengthening the trust relationships which are an essential contribution to successful school improvement.

It has not been an easy endeavour so far, but then what EdD is. Studying for a professional doctorate while working full-time alongside studying, is an epic test of endurance and tenacity! The wealth of material available to consider has seen me visit many interesting rabbit holes, several of which I hope to revisit in the future! The intangible nature of trust, and its personal experience by individuals (Van Maele et al.,2014; Walker et. al., 2011)  has been a challenge to conceptualise into a phenomenological study within education. But I’m getting there, sifting through the myriad of new knowledge I have and continue to acquire. Finding data collection tools which are reliable with a strong validity, either from within in education research or the wider world, has been an unexpectedly demanding exploration. Consequently I am evolving a distinct approach using repertory grids (Emerald Publishing, 2022) to gather subjective data. Thematic exploration of the data will begin my analysis and I am establishing how this might look in a phenomenological study.

The study is very much an evolving one, with many questions still unanswered. This is something I have had to learn to be patient with, as I have grappled to want to have ‘finished’ sections of my thesis. That need to tick chapters off as I go through the stages, when in reality, over a number of months, the skill lies in working with the whole developing document as new material is assimilated to support the study. It has finally dawned on me that there is a great deal of editing and re-editing of material, but in order to do that you have to have written something first. Sounds obvious I know! Therefore my resolution for year 3 is to write every day, no matter the size of the paragraph. I know this will be a challenge because I am much more an avid reader than a writer, but I need to find a greater balance between the two if I am to make sufficient progress towards constructing a complete thesis by the end of year 4. Perhaps then, finally that little voice will whisper, “Lynne, it is good enough, submit.” I’ll let you know.

 

References

Emerald Publishing, 2022, website address, www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/how-to/observation/use-a-repertory-grid

Van Maele, D. van, Forsyth, P.B., Van Houtte, M. (2014) Trust and school life: the role of trust for learning, teaching. Leading and bridging. Dordrecht: Springer Verlag

Walker, K., Kutsyuruba, B., Noonan, B. (2011) ‘The fragility of trust in the world of school principals’, Journal of Educational Administration, 49(5), pp.471-494.

 

Bio:

Lynne is a 3rd year part-time EdD Researcher, working around the day job as Executive Principal of a Primary standalone academy trust with 420 pupils. Having completed her Primary PGCE with the OU, she went on 18 years later to complete her M.Ed in Leadership & Management also with the OU. Her research area of interest is around the trust relationship between teachers and leaders and its role in school improvement

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Closing the gap!

Photo by Miki Czetti: https://www.pexels.com

Racial inequality is becoming widely recognised in H.E. as a significant factor that affects attainment, employability and the earning potential of students who are from diverse backgrounds. The gaps in the awarding of ‘good’ degrees (a First or Higher Second) between White students and Black, some Asian and minoritized groups is a specific example of racial inequality in the Academy. This gap persists even when all other variables such as age, gender and prior attainment are controlled. In 2019, The Office for Students (OfS), the regulatory body for H.E, reported a 22pp gap between White and Black students and 10.5pp between White and Asian students. The causes are complex, exacerbated by how language and terminology is used, acronyms which homogenise diverse groups of people, and issues relating to participation and representation all underpinned by structural and institutional racism. The solutions require dismantling the Academy. 

Language and terminology impact how gaps are perceived and the way people are described. Initially the awarding gap was referred to as an ‘attainment gap’ with the blame focused on the individual for academic weakness, making the wrong course choices or having a lack of ability known as a deficit model. Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) or Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME, used by the sector) are broad terms which classify a range of marginalised groups. These terms have become politicised and are reductionist. ‘Minority’ suggests they are ‘marginal’ or less important. More Black and Asian students participate in H.E, in 2018-2019, 17.7% of university students were from Black, Asian, or mixed backgrounds. Although Black and Asian students are more likely to attend H.E they are awarded fewer ‘good’ degrees. Black and Asian people are underrepresented in senior and managerial positions in academic (the number of Black Professors in the UK for example, is only 1%) and professional services.  

The causes of the awarding gaps are a combination of complicated factors:  

  • Curricula and learning (including teaching and assessment practices) 

H.E curricula is mostly Eurocentric and one which Black, Asian and minoritized groups can’t see themselves reflected. Discriminatory assessment practices (e.g., writing in English, assumptions of previous educational experiences) favour some groups of students over others. 

  • Relationships between staff and students and among students 

Subtle, exclusionary attitudes and behaviours (unconscious and conscious biases) by teachers and students impact on teacher and student expectations and thus outcomes. Students may also have low expectations of themselves because of poor educational experiences.  

  • Psychosocial, identity factors and sense of belonging 

This is how academic confidence, motivation, the way students see themselves, student well-being, sense of belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualisation contribute to the gaps. Feeling isolated can impact on attainment. 

  • Social, cultural, and economic capital 

These students are less likely to use help-seeking strategies and may avoid formal teaching because they lack social capital; they are less aware of the advantages of networks and relationships. They don’t know how to navigate the hidden curriculum and because they’re more likely to be working, they have less economic capital and consequently time and energy for study.  

Solutions are still to be found as closing the awarding gap has only recently become a focus in H.E.

There are some things the Academy can do:  

  • Using the term awarding gap removes the onus from the individual and places responsibility with the awarding bodies. Alternative models to the deficit one can also be adopted, for example a framework of ‘Possible selves’ which explores students’ ‘hoped for’ or ‘ought to be self. This framework can help students create a positive identity, one where they see themselves as a student which gives them agency to seek support because they see themselves succeeding as a learner.  
  • Using more thoughtful, confident, specific and relevant terms to describe race and ethnicity instead of BAME/BME. 
  • Support students with transitioning to university with an induction model which is a process rather than an event to enable students integrate and feel as though they belong.  
  • Teach students how to tackle assessment to reduce anxiety and over-efforting (working twice as hard as other students).  
  • Develop a global, internationalised curriculum which recognizes different experiences and diversity and allows students to see themselves reflected.  
  • Increase representation in academic and professional services to create role models, increase aspirations and a greater sense of belonging.  
  • Educate students about the gaps and the how to access support. 

Some institutions have started to reduce their gaps and there is hope on the horizon.  

How aware were you of the awarding gaps before reading? 

by Rehana Awan

Rehana has worked at the OU in a variety of academic related and academic roles since joining in 2008. In June 2022, Rehana was appointed as a Lecturer in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Implementation in the School of Computing and Communications, part of the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Rehana is co-chair of the Black and Minority Ethnic staff network, a role she’s held for two years. She is also a committed Associate Lecturer, supporting students on DD102 Introducing the Social Sciences and she has also tutored on Access. Rehana has demonstrated her commitment to leading and managing teaching and learning as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and Fellow of the Staff and Educational Development Association (FSEDA). As a professional doctoral student, Rehana is researching student narratives and degree awarding gaps at the OU, and she has set up a Community of Practice for other PGRs also investigating awarding gaps.

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experimenting, taking risks, and testing the boundaries

“Creativity doesn’t come from laughter and fun: It comes from experimenting, taking risks, and testing the boundaries.”                                                   (Resnick, 2017, p. 128)

Photo by Steve Johnson: https://www.pexels.com/photo/multicolored-abstract-painting-1269968/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first of several posts intended to celebrate the fun, enjoyment and creativity in research unleashed by all who participated in the recent WELS PGR conference (21st May 2022). Over the next few months the blog will host abstracts, images and bios of each willing presenter. But before we get started with that, I want to say just how fantastic our key note #creativeHE were.

#creativeHE provided an abstract for their key note: 
We will take you on a journey of exploration on how experimentation, creativity and play can add that special ingredient to your research recipe and transform your experience and outputs as a doctoral researcher. Openness of mind, practice and research helps us make novel connections and see what we have in front of us in a new light as we use our individual and collective curiosity and imagination to un- and discover hidden gems based on our own inquiry, connecting with others and their ideas and perspectives. We will share some of our work within the international and cross-boundary Creativity for Learning in HE community (#creativeHE) for educators, researchers, students and the wider public, to illustrate the power of the community for experimentation and risk taking, the connections we have made and what we have achieved together. We hope to provide food-for-thought and help (doctoral) researchers consider creative approaches in their research for deeper and more diverse inquiry and illustrate how community and networks can be fundamental in creating connected experiences, boost experimentation and risk taking and build researcher confidence and competencies.

About #creativeHE
Members of #creativeHE share a common interest in creativity and innovation in learning, teaching and research. They are members of staff and students. The #creativeHE team consists currently of 15 members in 14 different institutions and organisations in 3 countries (10 core and 5 wider team members). The community is open to anybody who is interested in exploring creativity in learning and teaching within and beyond the UK.

Website: #creativeHE (wordpress.com)
Twitter: #creativeHE

#creativeHE are hosting their

The 4th Annual #creativeHE Jam – Quiet Creativity on

8th June 2022, 12.30-14.00 UK time

Why not join them. More info here: The 4th Annual #creativeHE Jam – Quiet Creativity – #creativeHE (wordpress.com)

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and the winners are ….

Congratulations to the winners of the second Open University WELS Professional Doctorate (EdD and DHSC) Poster Competition, 2022. Poster are a great way to represent your research creatively using images, shape and colour.  

Mel Green, Teaching through the Screen in 3rd place

Lynne Stabler, The role of Trust in School Improvement, in 2nd place

Jon Leer, The practice of Seclusion Room Use in Secondary Schools, in 1st place

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Talking about your research – your take away message

The delightful Mr Grebo

Talking about your research

As a PG researcher, you will inevitably have to give presentations on your research. An opportunity came up in July for me to do just that with an international group of doctoral students as an audience. Hosted by Liverpool John Moores Centre for Educational Research, I recommend you take a look.

Although I had only just completed my 1st year and so had not yet carried out any research, I was still excited to share my many ideas and thoughts.

This was the problem! How to condense a complex subject I really care about so that I can share something interesting with people who nothing about my topic or context. In about 15/20 minutes, when I had enough trouble cutting my summative assessment on the subject down to 10,000 words.

Scene setting

I needed to introduce myself and provide enough about my context that the audience could appreciate the situation. This was the (relatively!) easy part; a bit about me and my background and then linking into the work I am researching with a few headline statistics showing its scope and scale.

Narrowing the focus

Then came the hard part; deciding what to focus on – what the simple “message” was that I wanted the audience to take away with them.  I decided at this early stage my message should be

I am researching if we can use predictive analytics in Toastmasters.

We have all sat through presentations or speeches where the focus is unclear because the speaker wants to tell you everything or doesn’t really have a clear idea what their message should be. My focus was so that if someone in the audience was asked, “what was that talk about?” they could respond with that one simple message.

Content

I decided that I would use a piece of work I had recently done as the basis for my presentation. My summative assessment began with a literature review and ended with my research questions.

Constructing the narrative

Clearly, a well-constructed, academic literature review is too complex to get across in a presentation, but this is not my intention. In my 15/20 minute presentation I just want to get across my one simple message.

I approached this by working backwards.

  • What do you want the audience to know?
    • I am researching PA in Toastmasters
  • How do you get them to that conclusion?
    • Show how my journey led me there
  • What were the key steps/milestones?
    • The research gaps I found
  • How did I find these?
    • Key findings/discoveries (studies) that led me there

Remember less is more! You are just trying to get your audience to remember your one message. Do not overcomplicate as they won’t be able to process it.

If you were asked to present on your research tomorrow, what would your central message be?

You can see a recorded version of my presentation  here.

 

 

Written by

 Selina Griffin @Psylina

After completing my BA (in Classics) in the usual way at a bricks and mortar university, I discovered the Open University and completed an MA. Years later after some soul-searching, I switched fields and completed an MA in Online and Distance Education which has led to me pursuing my EdD in the realm of learning analytics. I am fortunate enough to now also work for the Open University. I also have my own personal blog where I discuss my research, running and my cat @MrGrebo

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Engaging Distance Learners in an Academic Community: Student Hub Live

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels

Congratulations to Dr Karen Foley for successfully competing her doctoral thesis. You can read it here: Engaging Distance Learners in an Academic Community: Student Hub Live – Open Research Online

This is the abstract.

Abstract

In higher education (HE), studies of effective practice relating to student retention, progression and attainment suggest that student engagement is a major factor in terms of success, and this involves a sense of belonging to a community. Studies have identified initiatives that have proved successful in traditional HE contexts, however ideas of belonging and community are problematic when translated to distance-learning contexts. Many distance-learning students, who are often mature and part-time learners, appear to be successful in their studies without identifying as a student or interacting socially with others, which calls into question the way in which belonging is conceptualised in distance-learning settings. The focus of this research was to identify the value of attending specific, live, online, interactive events at Student Hub Live (SHL) which were designed by the Open University to facilitate academic community and to provide a space outside of the curriculum for students to socialise and perform other aspects of student identity that require interaction with others. Using an ethnographic approach and grounded theory methods, chatlogs of four SHL events were analysed and the emergent themes informed semi-structured interviews which were carried out with six participants, all of whom had attended SHL events. Both sets of findings were combined and further analysed using thematic network maps. The finding was that communities of practice with shared repertoires enabled students to feel a sense of belonging through participating in discussions which created a conducive learning environment to develop skills, share experiences and feel validated. Community and belonging enabled students to deeply apply learning to their studies through sharing the experience and their experiences with others. In this sense, belonging and community matter to distance-learning students but for different reasons than for face-to-face students. The findings are relevant to other distance and face-to-face HE providers who are keen to engage students in virtual extracurricular spaces to support learning and facilitate community.

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Start writing and hope to get it right!

‘For it is not enough to know what we ought to say; we must also say it as we ought’

(Aristotle, Rhetoric, 350 B.C.E.)
Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash

During our postgraduate studies, we are encouraged to use formal prose distinct to each research community. It takes us the whole of our studies to find our academic voice and the ‘right tone’ to communicate it. This process can be facilitated by using online aids such as the academic phrasebook or purchasing one of the many addons such as REF-N-WRITE or Grammarly.

However, writing a blog post is different again. Experienced bloggers say it is liberating, but to a novice like myself, who is used to the safe and familiar ‘formal’, it is scary. This anxiety could be because there seems to be considerable confusion on what they are. Blogs are often thought of as online diaries or journals, but Prof. Dunleavy points out that this is no longer the case. He explains that they can be loosely categorised into two basic kinds: those run by a single person and those by a small group, as in this blog.

Among their many advantages, blogs are potentially powerful and immediate means of sharing ideas with an academic tone distinctive to the blogger and has its own rules. But what are those rules? How do you write creatively in a formal way that is necessary for academic blogs? There are no phrasebooks or supplements that can solve this issue. Unable to find any satisfying literature on the subject, I followed the same path as I always do:

  • Listen to the experts: Stephen King’s advises abundant reading and writing, so I have read other people’s academic blogs. My favourites are The Thesis Whisperer and Writing for Research, but there are many more and easy to find by running a website search;
  • Watch seminars by experts on blogging (while doing domestic chores such as cooking and ironing) after searching for the bloggers whose blogs I admired. For example, Professor Inger Mewburn and Dunleavy, and there are many others.

However, there is nothing left to do at a certain point but start writing and hope you get it right.

Finally, and regarding the quote by Aristotle, to write anything well, it is not enough to have something to say or even the skill with which to say it. We need to know the social norms of the community in which we find ourselves. There are no set rules in academic blogs, but I believe that the character and the language still need to be relevant. For this reason, it would be great if you could let us know your experience and beliefs concerning what they should look like and how they should feel.

Dr Lesley Fearn @lesleyfearn

I recently achieved my EdD regarding learning and teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) using online community projects in secondary schools. This interest stems from more than thirty years of experience teaching English (as a Foreign Language) and English literature in state schools in the south of Italy. During this time, I have continually experimented with new approaches and techniques, especially with technology, to motivate students in their schooling. Other areas of interest include Fine Art and English literature that I studied as a BA and MA. As far as research is concerned, I am particularly interested in Action Research and sociocultural paradigms.

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What do I mean by participants’ perspectives: do I take their word for it?

The context

When I began my EdD studies, as an OU insider researcher, I knew that I wanted to explore multiple perspectives around feedback practices and to focus non-judgementally on participants’ own perspectives.

Feedback emerges as a concern throughout the literature Carless et al, 2011 and amongst colleagues.  Empirical studies and pedagogical discussions around feedback practices tend to focus on one perspective, usually students’.  I aimed to consider all perspectives, without foregrounding one, a challenge from my ‘insider’ position Hellawell, 2006 as an OU tutor of many years.

In considering which perspectives were essential to explore to understand feedback practices within this context, three distinct participant groups emerged clearly in terms of their allocated roles within the feedback process.  These comprised those who study and pay for tuition (students), those who facilitate and deliver a pedagogical service by working directly with students (tutors) and those who design and write the module and monitor the process of its delivery and assessment, manage staff and appoint tutors (central academics).

Further, the literature tends to take a ‘problem/solution’ approach and in so doing makes prescriptive recommendations about how participants ‘should’ behave, such as what tutors should be trained to do, to make feedback effective Wakefield et al, 2014.  I wanted to explore perspectives without imposing solutions to identified ‘problems’, considering multiple viewpoints, rather than a single dominant one.

In order to stand back, to be non-partisan, I chose a broadly ethnographic methodology, informed by the principles of being exploratory, interpretive and concerned with context Blommaert, 2007.  I elicited participants’ perspectives via their questionnaire responses and semi-structured interviews conducted via telephone.

My problem

Although being an insider meant, to an extent, I was a participant, my in-depth exploration of participants’ perspectives through their own accounts did not meet ethnographic tendencies to use the multiple methods of data collection Lillis, 2008 available, such as actual tutor feedback.  I did not view events in situ, like Tuck’s ethnographic study Tuck, 2012, considering the context of tutors’ feedback production.  Yet, I could not see how to achieve this immersion in the lived experiences of participants, without imposing, as I saw it, my interpretation of their actions; I wanted to stay with participants’ own accounts of their perspectives.

Two alternative solutions

I considered identifying a case study of one student/tutor experience to allow me to explore observations of behaviour and associated documents alongside my data from semi-structured interviews and open questionnaire questions.

Another option was to stay true to my original intention and to continue to focus on an in-depth exploration focusing only on my participants’ declared perspectives.  This is what I chose to do.

My question/s

Therefore, what do I/we mean by participants’ perspectives?  What leads to the greater ‘truth’, to rely on participants’ own accounts, inevitably filtered through the researcher’s lens, or must we make potentially intrusive ‘checks’ on what participants do in practice to achieve an in-depth exploration of their perspectives?

by  Dr Jane Cobb

I have been an Associate Lecturer at the Open University since 2002, tutoring mainly English Language modules.  I live in Stourbridge in the West Midlands with my husband, two adult children and three Romanian rescue (street) dogs.  My recent EdD and my current research interests concern the multiple perspectives around feedback practices around assessed writing in HE.  This is my first venture into blogging, and I am looking forward to this creative space, where colleagues can share, debate, and discuss issues arising around their research.