HANDBOOK OF MIXED METHODS IN SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH (Book)

These resources are focused on qualitative research methods. They are particularly intended for those who are learning at and from workand support a University of Plymouth module, which can contribute to the University's Continual Professional Development (CPD) framework. Through this framework learners can achieve a Bachelors in Professional Developments or a Masters in Professional Development. Within the University's CPD programme the resources will be introduced and used by a tutor who will support and facilitate student learning through use of the resources. This will be in the form of blended learning; a mixture of face to face and use of these on-line resources. Information in this document and the tutor notes included within the PowerPoint presentations are intended to support the wider use and reuse of these Open Educational Resources.

In-depth Interviewing

There is a growing awareness in the UK and mainland Europe of the importance of higher education to the development of a knowledge-based economy. European universities are increasingly required to produce highly mobile graduates able to respond to the ever-changing needs of the contemporary workplace. Following the Bologna Declaration (19991. 19 June 1999 . “The European Higher Education Area” (Bologna Declaration), Joint Declaration of the European Ministers of Education, Bologna, higher education across Europe has expanded rapidly. This has resulted in questions being raised about the quality of the graduate labour market and the ability of graduates to meet the needs of employers. This paper analyses graduate and employer perspectives of graduate employability in four European countries (UK, Austria, Slovenia and Romania). In doing so it adds to current debates in this area.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03797720802522627

Graduate Employability, 'Soft Skills' Versus 'Hard' Business Knowledge: A European Study

Competition and strategy in higher education: Managing complexity and uncertainty

The growing importance of knowledge, research and innovation are changing the social role of universities in the globalized world One of the most popular concepts used to approach these changes in post-industrial and post-modern societies is the concept of ‘Knowledge Society’ In this paper, we will analyse the roles higher education is expected to play with regard to various knowledge society discourses We will begin with analyzing the uses of knowledge society as an intellectual device and continue by reflecting on how changes in higher education are related to knowledge society discourses in national, regional and global levels In the final section we will reflect on current challenges and expectations generated within these discourses for higher education and the implications these expectations have for higher education research

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40269077.pdf

Knowledge society discourse and higher education

Several scholars have underlined connections between academic mobility and international migration. This qualitative study explores a spectrum of academic mobility articulated by Teichler that empirically contributes to consideration of these connections. This analysis of e-mail excerpts from 20 migrant academics, living in seven countries, illuminates six distinct patterns of academic mobility and highlights key differences between regions of the world. Narrowly conceiving academic mobility in terms of traditional short-term internationalization finds many universities focused on and staffed for academic mobility between countries. Other regions have long been focused on academic mobility that occurs within countries. These patterns are a result of long-term migration. At the conceptual and practical levels, this study distinguishes between the timescales and contexts of academic mobility and the theoretical justification for doing this. The resulting analysis invites a reconsideration of assumptions abo...

Changing Academic Mobility Patterns and International Migration What Will Academic Mobility Mean in the 21st Century

This article introduces a multiple methods data collection protocol. The protocol has been designed mainly for those unsure of the practical steps needed to insure coherent data-sets with respect to the substantive, theoretical and methodological issues bearing on their research topic. The protocol is based on experience gained during several qualitative studies and over a decade of discussions with several types of researchers. It is also hoped the protocol provokes discussion amongst experienced researchers.
The interplay between purposeful selection and theories of the middle range underpins the rationale for a data collection strategy to be used in qualitative studies where intercultural interaction is obscured by phenomena grounded in two or more cultures. While this protocol will not work with all research topics, it increases data variety and participation regarding many topics, an advantage over survey-based approaches. 
The protocol highlights the communicative preferences participants have regarding the types of interaction associated with different research methods, especially interviews and data related to interviews. What remains to be done is the development of sound analysis and analytical linkages from qualitative to quantitative research in mixed-methods designs. 
URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0901419

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Multiple Methods, Communicative Preferences and the Incremental Interview Approach Protocol

This self-ethnography complements the other articles in this special issue by spotlighting a set of key challenges facing international research teams. The study is focused on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT)-based collaboration and research team dynamics. Our diverse team, drawn from researchers in five countries and three projects, argues that an ironic casualty of the powerful, global phenomena we study, is a lack of insight into what happens to generic research team dynamics, when groups are ‘stretched’ in terms of geographical distance, generations, cultural beliefs, values and norms, as well as disciplinary/specialist traditions. Good intentions are not sufficient to cope with these challenges. This is because of the emerging complexity inherent in many types of international, interdisciplinary fields of study and the complexity of the career trajectories needed to make these studies a reality. Our study underlines that there are no beliefs, values, norms and practices linked to research team dynamics, that hold across the current territory, generations, disciplines, cultures, organizations and individuals leading and conducting comparative studies—and even less reflection on the implications of this fact. Compounding this lack of awareness is a less-than-perfect understanding of the way in which ICT-based collaboration bears on research team dynamics. We assert that a holistic, critical, long-term approach to emerging insights into the global division of academic labor, serves our field better than folk psychology or the methodological parochialism that sustains convention at the expense of creativity. Careful consideration of emergent processes, relationships and linkages that explain how short-term cooperation—within projects—begins to make sense—over careers—illuminates key focal points, which, in turn qualitatively illuminates the way forward concerning conceptualization and problematization of our practice; and novel methodological routes available for those interested in attaining better outcomes, over the long term.

The methodological illumination of a blind spot: information and communication technology and international research team dynamics in a higher education research program

The aim of this chapter is to analyse how the Bologna Process influences Finnish higher education by examining what changes are related to or caused by it. The study focuses first on the social field of national higher education policy-making, and second on the study of higher education institutions examined from the perspective of academic basic units. The study is based on critical analysis of national policy documents and on a qualitative case study conducted at the University of Jyvaskyla in the spring term of 2004. The qualitative case study was based on thematic focus group interviews. The themes of the interview can be found in the Appendix 1. In order to reach a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomena taking place in higher education the choice of academic departments was influenced by studies of academic cultures (see Becher and Trowler 2001). A more detailed methodological discussion will be offered in section 5. The idea of a

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David M. Hoffman

Papers

Knowledge society discourse and higher education

Changing Academic Mobility Patterns and International Migration What Will Academic Mobility Mean in the 21st Century

Multiple Methods, Communicative Preferences and the Incremental Interview Approach Protocol

The methodological illumination of a blind spot: information and communication technology and international research team dynamics in a higher education research program

The Bologna Process in Finland