Capturing Conceptions and Experiences of Research: A concept map approach

1. Capturing Conceptions and Experiences of Research: A concept map approach Petia Petrova and Mark Atlay Teaching and Learning Directorate

2. Rationale Linking research and teaching (Healey 05; Jenkins et al 07); Building academic communities in the pursuit of knowledge (Brew 06); Teaching and research skills is a challenge (Murtonen and Lehtinen 2005); Limited link between the RM module and the dissertation (Benson and Blackman 2003) Petia Petrova

3. Concept maps To examine students’ understanding (Hay 2007); To examine knowledge of a given concept (Zele 2004); To enable researcher to see how concept is understood (Kinchin and Hay 2000); Can capture emotions, feelings (Freeman 2004), and perceptions (Kinchin and Hay 2000). Petia Petrova

4. Concept Map Petia Petrova

5. Create links with previous knowledge University level Petia Petrova

6. Interest/ compulsory or otherwise? Petia Petrova

7. Frustration Failure to achieve desired results Reconsideration/ adjustment/ adaptation Methodology Design of investigation Apparent success Petia Petrova

8. Motivation Esteem Interest Within community of peers Career Petia Petrova

9. Results Communication to different audiences Stakeholders: students, community, journalists, scientists Responsibility How they could be used? Ammunition! Integrity - findings sample Petia Petrova

10. Key themes Knowing: knowledge and awareness of the research process; Acting: research and other skills that are applied in the research process; Being: the personal drive and experiences behind the research; Applying: the impact, application or relevance of the research. Petia Petrova

11. Knowing: knowledge and awareness • Knowing: • How to design a study, methodology, literature search, ethics; • How to use reliable sources/referencing; • Establishing links with previous knowledge; • Seeking advice from academics and peers on the focus and direction of research. • Awareness: • Of the purpose of the study, its rational and context ‘interest, compulsory or otherwise’; • Of the unpredictability of findings, of need to be open to other perspectives. • messy, chaotic, frustration, failure/success; Staff StudentsStaff and StudentsPhD Student Petia Petrova

12. Acting • Requires: • creativity, intellect, organisational skills; • ability to deal with external factors, acquire and function with limited resources, compromise, negotiate (sample access); • patience, perseverance, motivation, engagement, interest. In dealing with these the researcher must continue exploring/researching in a focussed way, mindful of the research question, striving to minimise bias. Staff StudentsStaff and StudentsPhD Student Petia Petrova

13. Being • The person behind the research: • Interest/inspiration • Personal ethos/world view/life experiences • Career drivers: esteem/recognition • Apprenticeship: requires training and experiences, develops abilities and skills; • Research experiences: ownership, enjoyment, enlightenment, excitement, discovery; Staff StudentsStaff and StudentsPhD Student Petia Petrova

14. Applying • Using the outcomes to: • Enhance social wellbeing, social justice, improve practice (‘importance of the topic’); • To use as ammunition/influence stakeholders, • Must be considered: • For usefulness/impact • With integrity/responsibility • Communicating outcomes to different audiences: • Dissemination/publications/conferences Staff StudentsStaff and StudentsPhD Student Petia Petrova

15. Student Research Experience Framework October 14 15

16. “Students need to be fully inducted into the culture and community of researchers. They need to develop a knowledge of that it is to engage in the subject in a research-based way, to understand the key issues and debates in the subject area and know what researchers in the subject do, in general and specifically.” (Brew 06: 15)

17. Future plans Junior Research Institutes (working title) or j-RIs: • Student owned and student centred communities linked to existing (or new) research Institutes; • A rite of passage where project students are welcomed in the research community; • Benefit from sharing experiences, peer review, mentoring and other ways of supporting each other, within and/or across levels.

18. Thank you for taking partin your research "the process of creating the map is as important as the content of the map … in drawing a concept map can also better understand the concept itself” ( Freeman 2004:153) Are there any opportunities for staff or students to reflect on research and its part in their life, career and personal development? Petia Petrova

19. References BREW, A. (2006) Research and Teaching: Beyond the divide, New York, Palgrave Macmillan. FREEMAN, L. A. (2004) The power and benefits of concept mapping: measuring use, ease of use, and satisfaction. International Journal of Science in Education 26, 151-169. HAY, D. B. (2007) Using concept maps to measure deep, surface and non-learning outcomes. Studies in Higher Education, 32, 39-57. HEALEY, M. (2005) Linking research and teaching to benefit student learning. Journal of geography in higher education, 29, 183-201. JENKINS, A., HEALEY, M. & ZETTER, R. (2007) Linking teaching and research in disciplines and departments. York, The Higher Education Academy. KINCHIN, I. M. & HAY, D. B. (2000) How a qualitative approach to concept map analysis can be used to aid learning by illustrating patterns of conceptual development. Educational Research, 42, 43-57. ZELE, E. V. (2004) Improving the usefulness of concept maps as a research tool for science education. International Journal of science education, 26, 1043-1064. October 14 Petia Petrova 19