Teaching Research Methods – ‘It’s all in the game!’

Recipe for Methodology House Screen One Screen TwoScreen Three Screen Four Screen Six Screen Five Character chooses research question or can choose own Character chat can be customised Outside the house a character waiting to enter the game Inside the house, overview of platform House is taller- Ground floor-qualitative and quantitative 1 st floor-philosophy 2 nd floor-approach 3 rd floor- strategy 4 th floor-data collection methods 5 th floor-time horizons Each level similar layout, extra doors to suit section Windows light up etc. Quantitative game on ground floor. Character enters room and plays a number based game. Words It has a simple definition for ease of understanding, plus the puzzle aspect to represent numbers and repetitive elements of quantitative and scientific testing Squares must be organised in the right order to finish the game and read the definition Qualitative game on ground floor. Character enters room and plays a word based game. Word match game. Cards face down, character has to pick the matching cards that have words relating to qualitative on, some are incorrect –so must avoid to finish a game Card face down Incorrect Match card Room-Task is to collect as many rings as possible in the appropriate colour for your choice of research design e.g.-blue= quals, red= quants There will be some other coloured rings, which will be subtracted from the core collected Character has to jump for rings or climb on obstacles Level up game on ground floor,character makes decision on quals or quants research and then plays level up game Summary screen of decisions so far and door to next level Summary- you have chosen Qals/Quants, now you must select a philosophy. Enter level 2 Can also collect gold keys etc. Which contain ‘sampling’ or ‘ethics’ etc. Door to level 2 Door to game room Entry door Level up door In here is a definition of quants, which has been muddled up in squares Spare square

Discussion Questions What is the most difficult element of teaching research methods? Do you think the uses of games are appropriate in a HE environment? What would you identify the main barriers to learning research methods are? What do you think is the future direction of teaching research methods?