2 Research design

A SoTL inquiry can range from being focused on a group of students or a module to projects at departmental level or institutional level and even multi-institutional international initiatives. Irrespective of the size and complexity of a SoTL project, it involves making research design decisions.

Research design includes data collection and data analysis methods, data storage and data management tools and procedures and ethical approvals. As with all research, the SoTL researcher lets the research question(s) guide the research design, such as the choice of methods of data collection and analysis.

In Session 2, you saw that learning analytics can guide the design and evaluation of a SoTL inquiry. You learned about stakeholder analysis, formulating the aim and deriving research questions and conducting the literature review for a SoTL inquiry in Session 3. In Session 4, you considered the involvement of students in a SoTL inquiry and finally, you explored the ethical considerations for SoTL in Session 4. All these aspects of a SoTL inquiry that you have encountered in earlier sessions will guide the research design.