Transformative Learning in Doctoral Education Research Methods: A Case Study of the "Dear Data" Project

• In Event: 63.017 - The Canadian Committee of Graduate Students in Education Research Symposium

Abstract

This case study (Yin, 2014) examines the transformative learning of six doctoral students resulting from a project in our education research methods course. The “Dear data” assignment was a modification of the work of Lupi and Posavec (2016) and their year-long data collection undertaking. For fifty weeks, Lupi and Posavec collected different types of personal data on a shared topic over seven days, and then transformed the data into art-based representations. They shared their art representations of topics, such as checking the time through the week, to learn about each other through personal data. The research education methods version of “Dear data” required teams of two students to collect three weeks of personal data and after seven days, reflect on the data and data-art representations with a partner.
The graduate educational goal of the “Dear data” project was to address to some of important research considerations in a safe and collaborative environment; the assignment succeeded. In an innocuous manner this project engaged our sensation, cognition, and metacognition associated with selection of a personal data subject, conducting data collection, and the production of art-data representations. We engaged the personal data collection/representation subject with our individual sensory-motor capabilities. Our unique personal social-psychological context produced an eclectic group of artistic representations, distinctive individual papers, and a wide variety of shared data-art experiences. As individuals and in groups we found the project challenging, whimsical, frustrating, with many surprising practical and philosophical applications to data collection, data representation, and other others aspects of authentic inquiry.
The transformative learning definition of this study adopts the Stevens-Long, Schapiro, & McClintock (2012, p. 184) characterization as an “intra-psychic and/or behavioral process of a learner involved in a transformative experience.” The “Dear data” educational experience was both formal and informal and this case study examines our actions, feelings, and experiences during the project. This case study uses student data/artwork, written narratives, and a focus group as multiple forms of evidence to produce a data convergence to address the following research questions:
1. What aspects of the Dear data project created opportunities for transformative learning?
2. How did the Dear data project support your development as a social science researcher?
This project produced important learning for us the novice researchers. Collecting data is a daunting but necessary task required to produce a thesis or conduct a successful inquiry. “Dear data” fostered processes from the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains to provide unique data related transformative experiences for each participant. The benefits of this project to a novice researcher are discussed in relation to other graduate student research projects and service learning.

Author

• Patrick Raymond Wells, Memorial University of Newfoundland