Smith Rebolledo (2018). handbook for Exploratory AR (1)
1. Working individually, write a keyword or key
phrase next to each idea.
2. Looking at these keywords (‘codes’), identify
similarities and see whether you can put ideas
together to form categories.
3. (If possible) compare your categories with a
colleague who has done the same task.
4. Write a summary which describes the main
categories.
5. Think about ‘So what?’ How do your findings help
you to answer your research question(s)?
You have seen (and tried!) some of these steps with short
responses to questions. But qualitative data can also be
found in the form of paragraphs like the ones you can get
when asking students to write reflective notes. The coding
process will be the same – try it out in the next task!
Task 6.4 @ Look at the following extracts from a 5-minute reflective
writing task about the different interaction patterns used
by the teacher in a class. The question was: ‘What do you
think of pairwork and groupwork?’. Write as many keywords
or key phrases as you like next to each response. After
doing this, say what similarities and differences you see
by forming categories, and write a short paragraph
summarizing the data and reflecting on ‘So what?’ (in
relation to this teacher’s own puzzle - ‘Is pair work more
beneficial than group work?’).
“Agustin is my best friend, so we always try to be in the same group, and make jokes. It’s lots of fun. But for pairwork, I like studying with the girls. They’re more serious.” – Vicente “Everybody copies my answers in group work, and they ask me so many questions. I like to do the exercises on my own, and then compare with another student – I find that very useful.” –Sofia “When we work in pairs, Maria teaches me the meaning of certain words. She is like a dictionary for me.” – Carla “Groups are noisy and I don’t like to work with Vicente. He speaks English too fast. I prefer to work alone.” – Agustin “I like pairwork and groupwork, especially if I can choose who I work with.” – Maria Summary / Interpretation of findings:
