As countries moved into lockdown, so did education and educational researchers. For researchers in the middle of data collection which was not already entirely online, this affected researchers whether they were conducting Masters, doctoral, practitioner research and working in a small or large research team.
Not only does lockdown restrict access to observing or interviewing people in face-to-face settings, it also affects what primary documentation reserachers might collect and, not insignificantly, it affects the personal lives of all concerned, whether researcher or participant.Â
In this episode Dr Alison Fox (The Open University) and Dr Carmel Capewell (Oxford Brookes University) discuss options researchers might have considered to find solutions to these unprecedented challenges. The decisions made will have been affected by pragmatics but also a researcher’s positionality and care for the wellbeing of those concerned. Changes made will have need renegotiation of permissions and consent. This has required flexibility and support from supervisory teams, research training programmes, sponsors and ethics committees in Universities.Â
Resources referred to in the podcast:
Articles/documents
Breslin, T. (2020 Time for educational researchers to take their place in the sun, ½¿É«µ¼º½ blog post, 19 May 2020, Available at: /blog/time-for-educational-researchers-to-take-their-place-in-the-sun
Chamberlain, L. (2020) Opportunities missed: Then the rains came down and washed the writing away, ½¿É«µ¼º½ blog post, 7 May 2020, Available at: /blog/opportunities-missed-then-the-rains-came-down-and-washed-the-writing-away
Derbyshire, E. (2020) Virtual teaching for children with dyslexia: The realities and disturbing absence of research, ½¿É«µ¼º½ blog post, 26 June 2020, Available at: /blog/virtual-teaching-for-children-with-dyslexia-the-realities-and-disturbing-absence-of-research
Fensham-Smith, A. (2020) Should we really call this home schooling: Reflections from the research field, ½¿É«µ¼º½ blog post, 6 May 2020, Available at: /blog/should-we-really-call-this-home-schooling-reflections-from-the-research-field
Heyes, J. (2020) Identifying the potential impact of COVID-19 on school-based sexuality education, ½¿É«µ¼º½ blog post, 16 June 2020, Available at: /blog/identifying-the-potential-impacts-of-covid-19-on-school-based-sexuality-education
Lupton, R. Thomson, S., Unwin, L and Velthuis, S. (2020) Making post-GCSE decisions during the COVID-19 crisis: The need for action, ½¿É«µ¼º½ blog post, 14 May 2020, Available at: /blog/making-post-gcse-decisions-during-the-covid-19-crisis-the-need-for-action
Ravitch, S.M. (2020) The Best Laid Plans… Qualitative Research Design During COVID-19, Social Science Space, 23 March 2020, Available at:
Robb, A. (2020) Researching the world in uncertain times> The role of bricolage, ½¿É«µ¼º½ blog post, 10 June 2020, Available at: /blog/researching-the-world-in-uncertain-times-the-role-of-bricolage
Events
½¿É«µ¼º½ Ethical guidelines for educational research (2018) (4th edition), Available at: /publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018
½¿É«µ¼º½ Principles into Practice event series:
3 August (live keynote) /event/exploring-the-impact-of-using-participatory-action-research-par-evidence-in-informing-the-teaching-environment-and-practice
10 August (live keynote) /event/from-action-research-to-intervention-the-aspirations-game
3-21 August (static presentations) /event/principles-into-practice-supporting-practitioner-research-presentations
21 August (live webinar) /event/principles-into-practice-supporting-practitioner-research-discussion-panel
½¿É«µ¼º½ Walk and Talk at a distance event 2 October /event/walk-and-talk-at-a-distance
Websites
Nvivo Community Remote Research Centre webinars, available at:
NCRM – the National Centre for Research Methods – Switching to teaching, learning and researching online – what does it mean for research methods? Webpage of resources, available at: