Strategies for Collecting Multi-Institutional Data in Discipline-Based Education Research

TL;DR

This paper discusses strategies and challenges for conducting multi-institutional discipline-based education research, emphasizing coordination, standardization, and logistics, illustrated by a national physics education study.

Contribution

It offers practical strategies for overcoming common challenges in multi-institutional DBER studies, including IRB navigation and data standardization.

Findings

Successful collection of diverse data from 31 instructors across 28 institutions.

Identified key challenges and proposed actionable strategies for multi-institutional research.

Provided an applied example demonstrating these strategies in a national physics education project.

Abstract

Multi-institutional studies are critical for advancing discipline-based education research (DBER) because they allow us to determine where and for whom research findings are applicable. Despite this benefit, such studies remain relatively rare due to the complexities of coordinating data collection across different institutions. In this paper, we describe key challenges and propose actionable strategies for implementing multi-institutional DBER studies. We focus on navigating Institutional Review Board procedures, recruiting participants from a range of institution types, standardizing data sources across institutions, and managing logistics. We also provide an applied example of these strategies from a national research project in which we collected concept inventory data, social network surveys, and classroom observations from 31 introductory physics instructors at 28 institutions in the United States.