TLRP Showcase

Overview 

TLRP project discussions about methodological frameworks

Early Career Learning at Work (LiNEA) Project Methodology and Theoretical Frameworks

Stephen Steadman (2004) produced the paper as an example of an extended commentary on methodological issues associated with researching learning at work. It is drawn from the TLRP project on Early Career Learning . The researchers on this project had to devise a methodology to address the problems of accessing hard information on what people need to know at work when most learning at work is informal and therefore unlikely to be readily acknowledged or scarcely remembered without some pertinent prompting.

Discussion on the nature of cause:effect models

The role of cause and effect in education as a social science  is discussed by by Stephen Gorard in TLRP RCBN Occasional Paper 43.

Discussion on the nature of generalisation

Fuzzy generalisations and best estimates of trustworthiness: a step towards transforming research knowledge about learning into effective teaching practice
by Michael Bassey (2000), former Academic Secretary of British Educational Research Association.

Qualitative Research  

Making qualitative judgements of qualityDiscussions on nature of qualitative research

The May 2004 special issue (8) of ' Building Research Capacity' on Making qualitative judgements of quality  features responses to the Cabinet Office document Quality in Qualitative Evaluation: A framework for assessing research evidence  by Liz Spencer, Jane Ritchie, Jane Lewis and Lucy Dillon of the National Centre for Social Research (2003).

Qualitative research on learning at work

The following paper is an example of an extended commentary on methodological issues associated with researching learning at work. It is drawn from the TLRP project on Early Career Learning . The researchers on this project had to devise a methodology to address the problems of accessing hard information on what people need to know at work when most learning at work is informal and therefore unlikely to be readily acknowledged or scarcely remembered without some pertinent prompting. Stephen Steadman (2005) produced the following: Early Career Learning at Work (LiNEA) Project Methodology and Theoretical Frameworks .

Use of photos, charts and documents in the interview process 

The TLRP Learning as Work  and Early Career Learning projects both used photo-elicitation and other charts and documents to help get respondents talking about aspects of their work, see for example the Steadman (2005) paper on Methodolgy and theoretical frameworks  from the latter project detailing how this approach worked in practice.

Using vignettes in qualitative research 

Emma Renold, writing in the July 2002 issue (3) of Building Research Capacity, gives an overview of Using vignettes in qualitative research .