Keeping our Research Plumb: Theory-Driven Design and Analysis for the Study of Instructor Epistemologies

TL;DR

This paper discusses how to design and analyze research on instructor beliefs about knowledge and learning in chemistry education.

Contribution

The paper introduces a theory-driven approach to studying instructor epistemologies and highlights challenges in aligning theory with study design.

Findings

Designing research aligned with theoretical models of epistemology is complex and non-straightforward.

Examining instructors' beliefs about assessment reveals how theoretical assumptions influence study activities.

The paper suggests that unpacking theoretical assumptions can improve research coherence and outcomes.

Abstract

The field of chemistry education
is increasingly interested in
thinking beyond what content our courses explicitly teach and toward
thinking about implicit ways of knowing and learning (i.e., epistemologies)
our courses elevate. Previous scholarship gives us reason to believe
that studying epistemologies in undergraduate chemistry will provide
us with important insight into how students navigate and learn in
our courses. However, we are only beginning to explore the ways in
which instructors’ goals for knowing and learning shape (or
not) students’ experiences in our courses. If we want to make
progress in understanding student and instructor epistemologies, then
we must design research in a way that matches our theoretical model
of its ontology. To assist the community in considering how theory
might drive design and analysis in studies related to epistemology,
we trace decisions we made while exploring the dynamics underlying
instructors’ epistemology around assessment. This coherence-seeking
journey illustrates that alignment between theoretical commitments
and study activities is far from straightforward. Additionally, our
experiences suggest that it may be generative for members of our community
to unpack assumptions undergirding their theoretical framework and
explore how these show up across study activities.

Figures