Multigenerational approach to teaching research.

Abstract

A strategy for overcoming some of the problems associated with teaching research methods in a single academic term was developed. The strategy termed "a multigenerational approach" allowed for a closer approximation to the actual research practices of social scientists by extending a community based project over several cohorts of methods students. The strategy as implemented is described. Results from an evaluation of this strategy suggest it helps overcome some of the problems identified.

Introduction

Most teachers encounter a stage in a course they are presenting where they reach one of two opposite circumstances. In one condition, they conclude, "I have basically covered the syllabus. I have reviewed the relevant theories and concepts. We have considered the most salient examples and illustrations. I really don't have that much more to offer." In this situation, the remainder of the term is "ad-libbed" with each instructor finding his or her own way to fill the remaining sessions. The antithetical experience arises when the instructor looking at the calendar concludes "I'll never have enough time to deal with everything that should be covered in this course. I'll either have to omit certain subjects or compress the material." Thus too much or too little instructional time compromise the educational process and can be traced to the same structural source, namely, the institutional schedule. A number of commentators have written about the "tyranny" of the schedule or organizational calendar (Glaser & Strauss, 1971; Zerubavel, 1979). The temporal structures of academic work have been described as "a sort of prison in which members of the organization are confined" (Ylijoki & Mantyla, 2003, p. 57). While self-paced online or correspondence courses avoid inflexible schedules much of current online course work predetermines the pace at which material is presented. Recently, a colleague who wished to extend the date of the final examinations found his attempt overridden by the software package prepared for the course.

If power is defined as the ability to control the behavior of others, then the arbitrary restriction of activities to specific days of the week and hours of the day is a classic example of the exercise of power. Such constraints are magnified when the activity must commence and terminate at pre-designated times. The authority to construct the schedule has made the responsible college or university officials into powerful staff figures. Faculty members who have tried to renegotiate their schedules will acknowledge the formidable obstacles that must be overcome to obtain even slight adjustments. Generally speaking, organizational time demands take precedence over personal time (Lewis & Weigert, 1981). Viijoki and Mantyla (2003, p. 60) assert that "although academics usually have some negotiation power in setting schedules, working according to externally imposed and controlled timetables is felt as an external constraint to which one simply has to adapt." The motivation for such efforts tends to be faculty convenience rather than learning effectiveness. The success of such negotiations is usually determined by the extent of the countervailing power that can be mobilized. The authors, all present or former departmental chairs, found faculty to be more accepting of imposed schedules which complicated instruction but were not personally inconveniencing.

What is less often discussed is the impact the schedule has on shaping the rhythm and content of the educational experience. This paper presents a unique approach to surmounting the educational limitations imposed by bureaucratically constructed course schedules that are increasingly governed by the logic of management systems along with limited faculty and space resources. This approach while acknowledging the relatively inflexibility of such rationally constructed schedules allows the lengthening of the learning experience without altering the administratively imposed course timetable. The extent to which a pre-set schedule affects the organization and presentation of course material will vary from subject to subject. An example of such an effect is reported about medical and dental education (Zakrzewska, Fry & Larkin, 2003). Emerging areas for study, new techniques and sub-specialties constantly created by science introduce new subjects into the curriculum while the established topics remain. The resulting "curriculum overload" causes "teachers to teach and students to learn in contexts that are less than optimal" (p. 39). If some topics are treated superficially because of insufficient lecture time, understanding and performance in more advanced courses will be negatively affected. This is particularly detrimental in a sequential curriculum, which assumes prior knowledge.

As a topic research methods are significantly influenced by time restrictions imposed by a course schedule. The learning objectives of such a course usually include knowledge of fundamental principles regarding research, the relationship between theory and research, conceptualization, ethical responsibilities, philosophical issues, as well as an overview of different techniques of data collection together with a consideration of research design, measurement, sampling, data analysis, and evaluation. The typical research methods course includes exercises and assignments that illustrate these various topics, as well as providing some "hands on" practice. Thus, there might be an exercise on observation, scale construction or the design of an experiment. Any attempt to involve students in genuine research often runs head-on into the roadblock of "the last day of class" and final examinations. When such attempts are made, students become frustrated by the premature ending of their project or by the submission of incomplete data and highly impressionistic conclusions. When this happens, one can justifiably ask the question of whether or not we are subverting the goal of teaching research principles by undermining the excitement, anticipation, learning, and satisfaction that could be gained through participation in and completion of a research project. Glaser and Strauss (1971) observe that "the more expectations are scheduled, the stronger the feelings of expectation, and the more disquieting are unfulfilled expectations" (p. 43).

As social scientists, we should understand that the conduct of adequate research cannot be forced into uniform blocks of time. While investigators do confront deadlines imposed by conditions of grants or publication, and the development of time lines is part of the management of research, we all know first hand that research is subject to the unexpected. In-process adjustments, rethinking initial assumptions, and serendipity all play a part in the unfolding (some would say unraveling) world of empirical investigation. Experienced researchers cope with these dilemmas by working overtime, recruiting additional assistance, renegotiating contracts and "stealing time" from other commitments. These techniques are usually not available to students who are being exposed for the first time to the research process and have not yet mastered its fundamentals. One might despair of being able to convey this reality within the limits of a semester. We believe, however, that we have been able to do so in the graduate research methods course taught in the Israeli branch of a United States university's department of sociology.

Background and Rationale for Approach

Before describing our particular teaching strategy, it may be helpful to provide a brief historical and cultural context to this branch program. In April 1993, an American sociologist associated with a women's college in Jerusalem, contacted two of his former colleagues at a United States university. The purpose of the contact was to explore the possibility of entering into a cooperative venture to provide a Master's level counseling program in Jerusalem for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community (cf., Hartman, Feir, & Schwartzbaum, 1997).

The rationale for this program is many-fold. First, within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel, men are not the primary wage-earners for their families. Instead, they are engaged in full-time religious study. Thus, married women needed employment opportunities in order to support their families. Second, family and marital counselors sensitive to the particular concerns of the Orthodox are needed within the community. Women counselors are extremely important because of the difficulty many Orthodox women have in discussing serious personal problems with male therapists. In addition, religious rules prohibit the seclusion of unmarried males and females in an enclosed place such as an office. Third, Israeli universities have very strict admission standards, traditional modes of course development and sequencing. Faculty as a rule, are also not overly attentive to student concerns. These structures and outlooks militate against the needs of this special population, such as, single-gender classes, instructors sensitive to and knowledgeable of the values and practices of the Orthodox world, and course content and assignments directly related to communal priorities. And finally, the time constraints on the lives of these women emerging from the demands of attending to large families with an average of seven children, the requirements of the Jewish calendar with its daily, monthly and annual round of preparations and involvement in charitable activities make it virtually impossible to enroll in regular university programs.

After discussion and planning, a branch program was established. The research methods course was considered to be a key course in the curriculum. The newness of the program and the great distance between the entities required a great deal of collaboration. The research class is taught jointly by a faculty member from each institution. This collaboration contributed to an ongoing process of fine tuning the course in order to better train the students.

Multigenerational Approach

A decision was made after several terms of using the traditional model of individual student projects in the required research methods course to assign a single project in which all the students would participate. This was done with full recognition that the project would not be completed by the end of the term. While individual projects could be developed that would not be completed by the end of the term, the need for sufficient respondents to produce a sample size adequate for statistical analysis recommended a group project which would allow for the pooling of data. This inaugural class was metaphorically the first generation. Each succeeding class or generation would "pick up" the project from the point that their predecessors left off. Before the end of the term, each class had the responsibility of leaving a research diary. The diary indicated the point they had reached in the project, the stages they went through to arrive at this temporary resting point, and a detailed review of the decisions including debates that accompanied each of these stages. Thus, the following year, when the new class took over, one of their first assignments was to read and discuss the notes of their predecessors. When the second generation of student researchers finished their term, they repeated the process but, in addition to leaving a diary (or trail) for their successors, they sent their report to their predecessors or the earlier generation of student researchers. The fourth cohort is now engaged in this process and depending on their progress, may possibly bring the project to completion. If this occurs, we would expect to begin the process again the following year.

The critical question is determining the extent to which this "multigenerational" approach is generally applicable. Is the success we have experienced with this instructional strategy a result of unique circumstances characteristic of a particular program or are the principles and techniques introduced appropriate for a wider audience? To respond to this question we will a) identify the conditions that would allow this strategy to be effective, b) identify how these conditions are reflected in the specific program in Israel, and c) discuss how these conditions may be satisfied by other research methods courses.

Relevance to Professional and Career Objectives

A research project that outlives the satisfaction of degree requirements is most likely to endure when seen by students to have tangible professional and career implications. The typical graduate sociology program includes students with a diversity of professional objectives. In addition to variations in specialization like criminology, the family, medical sociology, etc., there will be divergences in career orientations such as academic teaching and research or applied practice in government, industry, and human service organizations. Such differences complicate the selection of a single project that would be perceived by all students as congruent with their professional and career goals. This dilemma is not present in the Israel branch since all the students are pursuing a single interest in counseling guided by the uniform perspective of clinical sociology. The issues of adolescent deviance, community controls, and effect of these processes on family functioning resonate with the branch students and their expectations of the problems they will encounter as practicing counselors. While it would be difficult to duplicate the particular situation in Israel, it would still seem possible to identify a single project able to encompass distinct student interests. Distinctiveness in outlook and interest can exist even with discrepancy in outlook and interest. After all, we all hold that sociology provides a unifying approach. This approach should allow many separate student concerns to be accommodated by a well-chosen single class project.

The Nature of the Research Problem

In order to maintain the interest of past "generations" of students, the research problem has to have sufficient "staying power" to hold the interest of the students past the point where they received a grade for the course and in some cases earned a degree and formally left the program. In addition, the incoming cohort "inherits" a problem that they personally did not select. Thus, the problem must also have sufficient intrinsic appeal to motivate each current class to participate in a project not of their own choosing. The overarching research focus selected by the instructors for this initial project was the construction of an instrument able to yield reliable and valid measures of the propensity of Orthodox female adolescents to engage in behaviors that are judged deviant by the Orthodox community. This particular project has been able to meet the longevity test with regard to engaging the interest of successive waves of methods students for several reasons. The reasons include the following:

Controversy There is no existing consensus within the community and social service agencies as to the origins and implications of imputed deviancy. Even more to the point, wide disagreement exists as to the definition of deviant actions, not to speak of the prediction of such behaviors. Students have become very quickly involved in this controversy and have become excited about the possibility of developing a systematic way to measure the phenomena under study that might lead to an explanatory model.

Saliency The problem is of contemporary concern and has been the object of much discussion and agitation within the communal life of the student body. Student comments suggest that these factors were present. As one stated, the project "connects to our own community." Another stated that it is a "population of interest and relevance since we all have contact (with the students) and are interested in helping them." It would seem quite feasible for most research methods instructors to identify a project that shares the criteria of controversy and salience. The particular problem would obviously have to reflect the local situation including the particular interests of the students in the program.

Multistage Structure

The selected project should lend itself to a series of research stages that, while building upon each other in an integrated fashion, constitute in their own right, discrete components. Each class should become involved in a stage of the overall project that can be brought to completion within the confines of the academic term. Each stage should be seen by the students as a logical and integral part of the larger project. The instructor helps the students understand why each stage is necessary and how the research objectives would not be achieved without its successful completion. Within the spirit of flexibility, it is possible for a given class to address more than one such stage within a single term. Students enrolled in the Israeli program have completed or will confront the following research components. The "first generation" tackled most of these but the circular and ongoing process of research meant that each new generation would also consider and often make adjustments for most of these components:

Conceptualization The class had to reach an agreement about the meaning of deviance and community. What proved particularly challenging was specification of the meaning of the term Orthodox as applied to the research problem.

Operationalization Decisions on how to measure key concepts required the students to confront the problem of translating the study variables into observable terms. This in turn precipitated a reconsideration of the conceptual definitions and a deeper examination of theoretical treatments of deviance, conformity and norms.

Population and Sampling In dealing with the stages of conceptualization and operationalization, animated discussions ensued regarding the locus of deviance. Did deviance reside in the subject's behavior or in the evaluation of that behavior by others? If others, who should be included? Should it be parents, neighbors, teachers, friends, or community leaders, such as rabbis? Some students advocated self-evaluation by the adolescents themselves reflecting their recent course in symbolic interaction. At this point, the connection between theory and methods became very real to the class.

Choice of Research Method This stage brought a very interesting juxtaposition between the students' own cultural beliefs and the research process to the surface. Ethical concerns were no longer a chapter in the text but a real and serious issue with implications for their own observance of religious precepts. Adherence to the body of Jewish law referred to as shmiras haloshen or "proper speech" is a central tenet of Jewish observance. There are numerous details governing these laws and much time and study is devoted to becoming familiar with the many different categories and situations that relate to an individual's use of and reactions to verbal discourse (cf., Finkleman & Barkowitz, 1995; Greenwald, 1994). A brief example may help explain how these precepts affect the research process. The commandment "Do not accept a false report" (Exodus 23:1, The Torah: With Rashi's Commentary, Sapirstein Edition) prohibits the acceptance as fact of any negative statement concerning a person or group of persons. Accurate interpretation of a person's actions and/or words demands thorough knowledge of the setting in which the action occurred and the events that led up to it, an understanding of the person's mind set and manner of speech and much sensitivity. While certain situations permit soliciting subjective opinions about others such as investigation of a potential marriage partner, reliance on such information is generally unacceptable because of the potential damage it can inflict on the object of the comments. One can easily see how this perspective might inhibit religiously observant students from eliciting questionnaire or interview responses in general and about deviant actions in particular. After much discussion and consultations, the students resolved their ethical dilemma by asking respondents to comment not about a specific individual but about a category of individuals, namely, the typical Orthodox female high school student. Subjective opinions were thus offered about a "type" of rather than a specific individual.

Even this strategy was not without problems because of the prohibition against speaking negatively in a way that might harm collective entities such as a community, and, as in this case, a student body enrolled in a particular academic stream. The ethical questions raised by fears of soliciting and thereby hearing negative information were balanced by the religious precepts allowing exceptions for information that served demonstrable remedial purposes. This brief example illustrates an educational discourse that touched upon such critical sociological ideas as "ideal type," application of sociological findings, the reliability and validity of subjective responses, and research ethics. It is highly unlikely that such a wide-ranging consideration could have taken place in a methods course where the instructor was looking over his or her shoulder at the semester timetable.

Collecting Data It was recognized that the very same issues that complicated the student researchers' willingness to pose questions would also make sampled individuals reluctant to provide responses. The class now had to "take the role" of a potential respondent and consider all the ways of offering reassurances that would be effective given an Orthodox religious context. In addition to writing and re-writing instructions for respondents, the class re-examined each questionnaire item. A decision was made to include only questions that related to actions that were not explicitly part of the corpus of religious law. Lack of conformity to such religiously mandated behaviors would, by definition, be considered deviant and the class felt that the counseling applications of the project would be better served by measuring conformity to communal norms that fell outside of the boundary of specific religious prohibitions. The "second generation" of method students concentrated on and was able to complete a pre-test of the questionnaire before the academic term formally expired. The "third generation" and beyond will now continue the project by first analyzing the results of the pre-test. Constructing a revised instrument, drawing a sample, administering the questionnaire, processing the data, analyzing the results, drawing conclusions, and developing applications await future generations.

Student Social Structure

Extending a project beyond the limits of an academic schedule is facilitated by the existence of social ties among the past, present and future participants. When the parties engaged in the research see each other regularly, cooperate professionally, and share common social networks, their continued involvement is not solely reliant on the traction of the research program. In the Israeli branch, which caters to students residing in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, students share a common cultural background. Their residences are not very distant from each other, they have similar professional orientations, and they often continue together in a postmasters internship program. Thus, to continue the metaphor, they are part of the same multigenerational extended family structure. This particular supportive structure would seem difficult, if even possible, to duplicate elsewhere. While not an essential requirement for the success of our approach to teaching research methods, it clearly contributes to the effectiveness of the strategy. This advantage would be reduced to the extent that the composition of the student body became more heterogeneous. This could occur since, as a branch of the University of North Texas, enrollment is open to all qualified students without regard to religious orientation and affiliation. As a result of self-selection into the program, this broadening of the religious background of students has not materialized. World-wide Internet access has been alleged to create a virtual community of interpersonal links and offers at least the possibility of the successive cohorts of methods students maintaining regular contact over the life cycle of the project.

Evaluation

Students were asked to evaluate the course at the conclusion of each academic term. Their observations identify strengths and weaknesses of the "multi-generational approach." The students reported that they had difficulty integrating their work on a specific, limited phase of the overall research project with the broad coverage of all the chapter topics, issues and skills required of a graduate level course in research methods. One student wrote, "The connection between the (weekly) class exercises and the project was sometimes vague and unclear." Similarly, another wrote, "I was not always able to determine how each chapter applied to the project." A third noted that: "The link between the course assignments and project assignments was often obscure." These criticisms were summed up best by one student who wrote there is a "need to better incorporate the project into the structure of the course." Students were asked to reflect on the most and least beneficial aspect of their participation in the project. All students understood the motivation for extending the research beyond a single academic term. As one student stated, "I doubt if it would be possible to complete a project from beginning to end in one term." Having acknowledged this constraint the students, nonetheless, felt frustrated by their inability to see the project through to completion. As one student wrote, "Difficult to see an end point ... how this will all come out." Another wrote, "I personally would have better understood what we were doing if I would see the project from start to finish."

Several students also resented the fact that the "multi-generational approach" imposed a project on them. As one student wrote, "We inherited a project without any choice." Another stated, "This (project) would not have been something I would have elected to research." On the other hand, some benefits the students recognized were directly attributable to the "multi-generational approach." One student wrote, "I came to appreciate the complexity of research and how every detail and stage is important. It is like building blocks, each block contributes to the final edifice." Another chimed in, "Seeing the continuity from class (year) to class (year) was meaningful." Referring to a particular phase the student worked on, she wrote: "I saw how hard it is to produce good, objective, easily understood, non-ambiguous items, something I would not have learned if we just wrote some questions and did not debate each one." The objectives of the "multi-generational approach" are captured by the following comment of the student who wrote: "I think that the experience of participating in a study that is greater than the individual class, that spans many years, is an empowering experience, cultivating in the students an awareness and appreciation for teamwork, hard work and dedication. Also the project is less stressful and pressured for the students where the responsibility of completion does not lie entirely on them."

Conclusion

A teaching strategy for research methods was described as reducing the limiting effects of an artificially imposed schedule. The strategy termed a "multi-generational approach" more realistically approximates the actual research process and avoids conveying a distorted image of how sociologists conduct their investigations. While not exactly "standing on the shoulders of giants," students following this approach do gain an appreciation of the cumulative development of a project and the way research builds upon the efforts of earlier investigators. This benefit has to be balanced against various problems revealed by student comments and instructor observations. While each student cohort or "generation" covers the same syllabus, and becomes equally familiar with all steps of the research process, the "lab" or practice experiences of each group vary considerably depending on the particular stage of the project. This is somewhat compensated for by the vicarious participation of "later generations" in the thought process and outcomes of "preceding generations." Such reconstruction of earlier phases however is denied to the "first generation." Most of the complaints about the difficulty of connecting the project to many topics covered by the course and the difficulty of seeing "an end point" came from the first cohort. It still remains to be seen if their receipt of regular reports of "research in progress" and the final project report can overcome this limitation.

The occasional student displeasure over the inability to select their own research problem was partially offset by students' eventual realization that much professional work is contract or grant research where the problem areas are designated in advance or inherited as a result of particular interests of senior staff or the orientation and reputation of one's department or institute. The "multigenerational approach" succeeded in conveying the legitimacy and necessity of critically evaluating the decisions and results of presented research findings. Students learned the importance of introducing in-process adjustments in the research process to compensate for past deficiencies. On balance, at this juncture in the implementation of an innovative strategy for teaching research methods and design, we judge the educational advantages to outweigh the disadvantages.

References

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Avraham Schwartzbaum, Neve Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, Israel

Rudy Ray Seward, University of North Texas

David Williamson, University of North Texas

Schwartzbaum, Ph.D., is Registrar and Coordinator of the Israel Branch Program affiliated with the Department of Sociology at UNT. Seward, Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology. Williamson, Ph.D., is Chair and Director of the Israel Branch Program. Acknowledgment: Thanks for special assistance from Deborah Cosimo and Elizabeth Fisher.