This study examines the limitations and ableist assumptions embedded in quantitative survey instruments used to gather data on postsecondary students with disabilities. Specifically, three National Center for Educational Statistics postsecondary surveys were examined as data sources. Employing a critical disability studies lens and discourse…

Discourse-based interviews allow researchers to gather data about a writer's understanding of what informs a task. This method was essential for a research team seeking to understand the impact of programmatic learning objectives on student writing development. Three decisions in the approach to this research project sought to center the student…

This article deals with the challenges of data collection from a Conversation Analysis (CA) perspective to researching synchronous, audio-visual eTandems. Conversation analysis is a research tradition that developed out of ethnomethodology and is concerned with the question of how social interaction in naturally occurring situations is organized.…

Researchers regularly deal with ethical considerations when writing up their research. However, such considerations are rarely addressed in existing research ethics literature. Here, the focus tends to be on ethical considerations that arise in relation to research proposals and "protocols," that is, during the "process" of…

This chapter aims to answer some of the questions that emerge when carrying out educational ethnography in a blended learning environment. The authors first outline how Virtual Ethnography (VE) has been developed and applied by other researchers. Then, to better illustrate the approach, they describe a doctoral research project that implemented…

This handbook has been conceived as a guide for young researchers embarking on the exciting journey of investigating different aspects of plurilingual education. The text can also serve to review ideas previously encountered, and perhaps as a means of interrogating research methodologies in plurilingual contexts for those who already have ample…

Research has shown that educators may be reluctant to implement group work in their teaching due to concerns about students partaking in off-task behaviours. However, such off-task interactions have been shown to promote motivation, trust, and rapport-building. This paper details a study in which student groups were video recorded as they engaged…

In order to improve her practice, a teacher educator explored emotions as catalysts for teaching and learning by asking the research question, "How can I support preservice teachers' emotional intelligence (EI), as well as my own, as we negotiate the impact of strong emotions in the pedagogical environment?" Three levels of reflection…

Demographic data on students are now routinely collected in universities. However, these data do not include information on sexual orientation and gender identity. In Australia there has been public resistance to tracking the enrollment and retention of gay, lesbian, and transgender people in tertiary education. This article interrogates this…

More and more educational institutions are moving towards online distance learning. Although asynchronous online learning overcomes the constraints of time, place and pace, online distance learners feel isolated due to the lack of real-time communications. One possible solution for overcoming this sense of isolation is regulating student online…

This commentary reflects on the contributions to learning analytics and theory by a paper that describes how multiple theoretical frameworks were woven together to inform the creation of a new, automated discourse analysis tool. The commentary highlights the contributions of the original paper, provides some alternative approaches, and touches on…

Although PhD supervision has been recognised as an educative process and a complex pedagogy for decades, there is little research into on-site pedagogic processes. Informed by social constructionism and a Foucauldian approach, this qualitative case study explores how learning opportunities were created by analysing both a supervisor's verbal…

Online forums (synchronous and asynchronous) offer exciting data opportunities to analyze how people influence one another through their interactions. However, researchers must address several analytic difficulties involving the data (missing values, nested structure [messages within topics], non-sequential messages), outcome variables (discrete…

The number of English language learners (ELLs) in the United States has increased dramatically. Given this increase it is vital for teacher education programs at the pre-service level and professional learning programs at eh in-service level to address the needs of ELLs. This article presents a teacher preparation model--"a language-based…

Using several approaches of data collection over a period of 10 months, the author combines participant observations, conversational interviews, photo-elicitations, and various other serendipitous types of information gathering in performative spaces of actions and re-actions, demonstrating the contestatory negotiations of two transnational female…