Advanced Research Methodologies in Distance Education and eLearning II
Cod: 13032
Department: DEED
ECTS: 7
Scientific area: Education Sciences
Total working hours: 195
Total contact time: 30

The Seminars on Advanced Topics in Research Methodologies I and II (ATRM I and ATRM II) have as general objectives the advanced training in the field of research methodologies and the development of methodological skills for carrying out original scientific research in DEEL.

Research Design; Fieldwork; Data Collection; Data Analysis; Results Presentation; Communication in Science; Knowledge Transfer.

At the end of this uc it is expected that students will be able to:

- Establish relationships between the research methodology, the object of study, the context and the objectives of the research.

- Critically analyze studies based and developed on different types of methodologies in contexts of DEEL.

- To develop the research plan according to the defined procedures and steps.

- To select the research design best suited to the object of study.

- To participate in contexts of collaborative and interdisciplinary research.

- Master conceptual and instrumental tools that allow adopting relevant practices and procedures in Open Science.

- Discuss and deepen the debate on ethical issues in research development.

Programmatic topics:

Research Design.

From Action Research to DBR in EDEL.

Ethnographic research.

Narrative research.

Experimental research.

Fieldwork and data collection. Contact with the research field;

- Interviews and Delphi technique; Observation - qualitative research;

- Types of questionnaires.

- Analysis, presentation and discussion of data in DEEL.

Methods and tools for quantitative data analysis, Methods and tools for qualitative data analysis; Mixed methods; Big Data in EDEL; Social network analysis.

- Scientific Work and Communication in Open Science. Conceptions about Open Science; Open Licenses; Open Data; Open Peer Review; Open Access Publishing6 Analysis of good practice cases in Open Science.

- Transfer of Research.

Presentation of results; Preparation and dissemination of scientific papers; Publication in journals.

Creswell, J., & Creswell, J.D (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th edition). Sage.

Jankowski, N. W. (2009). E-Research: Transformations in Scholarly Practice. Routledge.

Gutiérrez, K. D. & Jurow, A. S. (2016). Social Design Experiments: Toward Equity, by Design. Journal of the Learning Sciences. DOI: 10.1080/10508406.2016.1204548. 17

Kosinets, R. (2012). Marketing Netnography: Promo/ot(ulgat)ing a new research method. Methodological Innovations Online, 7(1), 37-45.

Scott, J. (2000). Social network analysis: a handbook. Sage Publications.

Simonson, M. (2005). Design-based research: Applications for Distance Education. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, Volume 7 (1).

The seminar contemplates autonomous and collaborative work processes, promoting activities of:

a) analysis and discussion of scientific texts

b) participation in online seminars

c) elaboration of research plans

d) analysis of studies in the field of DEEL, namely PhD theses with different research designs

e) sharing and discussing work done in restricted forums as well as in platforms and other open initiatives.

The seminar takes place on online platforms, using Web 2.0 devices. The virtual classroom expands to broader contexts where problems of research in DEEL are discussed and shared. The assignments, individual and/or group, will be part of the e-portfolio that the student develops throughout his doctoral studies. This work may focus on the analysis and design of research projects, emerging research methodologies in the field, case study analysis, field diaries, data collection and analysis techniques, analysis of reports and scientific articles.

Evaluation is part of the learning process itself. It takes place throughout the seminar being continuous, formative and procedural and promoting evaluation practices by peers. The final classification of the seminar follows the adopted regulation of evaluation and classification, being descriptive and quantitatively expressed on a scale of 0 to 20.