Presentation for the PGR conference. "At an early stage in our research careers we get taught about paradigms and methodologies. Sometimes we might get the impression that we need to ‘take a side’ or decide on a study approach we like best. In this presentation I will reiterate that what’s important is that “The question drives the methods, not the other way around.” (Feuer, Towne & Shavelson, 2002, p.8). In that light, we should not work from a preference for a certain methodology but start with the question. As a result, one could argue, that the distinction between quantitative and qualitative methodologies is unhelpful. This is even more so the case in recent years, where innovative research methods seem to combine different views. I will give some examples of research projects I have been involved in, where I think the distinction between what is deemed ‘qualitative’ or ‘quantitative’ has become less meaningful. These examples will include a project where classroom interactions are modelled by using Social Network Analysis, projects where large volumes of texts are analysed with computer science approaches, and how you can even can let computers help you with your audio transcription tasks. By combining disciplines and approaches, we aim to best fulfil the aims of a study: the questions leads, the methodology follows.

1. Innovative research
methods: where qualitative
meets quantitative?
Dr Christian Bokhove
PGR conference
19 June 2018

2. “I want to do something with interviews and focus
groups”
“So what do you want to find out?”
“Something with teachers, I want to ask them some
questions about their classroom practice”
Is this the best method for the question?

3. Research question with ‘perceptions’
“Yes my study will be about perceptions of teachers”
“So how do you want to find them out, a questionnaire?”
“No, I don’t like statistics, so I’ll do a qualitative study”
Is this the best method for the question?

4. “In psychology we only do experimental settings”
“So what do you want to find out?”
“I don’t know but I need an experimental group and
a control group with random assignment”
Is this the best method for the question?

5. Challenge
• Questions must lead
“The question drives the methods, not the other way
around.” (Feuer, Towne & Shavelson, 2002, p.8)

6. Research questions?
(Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011)

7. (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011)

8. (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011)

9. • Some feel they can’t choose
• Mixed methods
• ‘Best of both worlds’
• Triangulation is a challenge
Question again:
Is this the best method for the question?

10. (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011)

11. (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011)

12. Challenge
• Questions must lead
“The question drives the methods, not the other way
around.” (Feuer, Towne & Shavelson, 2002, p.8)
• Quantitative and qualitative
• Mixed seems ideal but…

13. Let move away from
the preference…..
• Really focus on the question
• This actually liberates!
• My background:computer science
• I’ve been letting go, and thought creatively about
my research methods in relation to the question.
• Now I want to give three examples of how I think I
did that…..

14. Example 1
Classroom interaction and
Social Network Analysis
• 70s Brophy & Good classroom observation
• From 80s qualitative methods
• Howe & Abedin (2014)
Start with the question: “What interaction patterns
in the classroom?”

15. Classroom observation
• Review classroom dialogue Howe and Abedin (2014)
• Quantitative vs Qualitative
• TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study) video study (Hiebert et al., 1999)
• Video observations
• National patterns of teaching (Givvin, Hiebert,
Jacobs, Hollingsworth, & Gallimore, 2005)
• Lesson signatures
15

16. (Bokhove, 2016)

17. SNA for classroom interaction
• Case to use SNA for
classroom interaction
• Making it dynamic
• Classroom interaction
(Moody, McFarland,
& Bender-deMoll, 2005)
• Technological and methodological advances
• Observation apps
• Video recording easier
• Statistical techniques and packages to capture temporal
aspects like Gephi, ERGMs, Rsiena, Statnet, Relevent

18. This project
• Use dynamic social network analysis to describe
classroom interaction
• Data analysis and visualization software
• Gephi 0.8.2 beta
• R and Rstudio with the packages statnet (Handcock,
Hunter, Butts, Goodreau, & Morris, 2008) and ndtv
(Bender-deMoll, 2014)

20. Observation apps
There also is a video available

21. What traditionally seemed
quantitative or qualitative turned
could be innovatively combined.

22. Example 2
Textmining inspection reports
• Ofsted publishes inspection reports for schools
• Hundreds per year, each many pages
• Document analysis
Start with the question: “What is the inspection writing
about”
• Hard at scale (random choice?)
• Used R with Rstudio

25. (Bokhove, 2015)

28. New work with UCL

30. What traditionally seemed
quantitative or qualitative turned
could be innovatively combined.

31. Example 3
Transcription with youtube
• Sometimes you have audio data to transcribe
• Very time-consuming
Start with the question: “How could I process more
audio in less time”
• Use Automated transcription

32. https://bokhove.net/2018/01/17/transcribing-audio-with-less-pain/
(Bokhove & Downey, pre-print)

34. • Two interviews, one classroom recording, one
hearing from the Iraq Inquiry
• After ethics approval uploaded YouTube
• Automated captioning
• Download captions e.g. www.diycaptions.com
• 65-90% ok, make amends

35. What traditionally seemed
quantitative or qualitative turned
could be innovatively combined.

36. Conclusion
Quantitative
methods
Qualitative
methods
Research
Question/aim
Has its + and –
e.g. interpretation
Has its + and –
e.g. scale
The most appropriate
Methods for your aim
You can think innovatively

37. Thank you
• Contact:
• C.Bokhove@soton.ac.uk
• Twitter: @cbokhove
• www.bokhove.net
•Most papers available somewhere; if
can’t get access just ask.
•I’ll add the references and post on
Slideshare

38. Selected references
Bokhove, C. (2015). Text mining school inspection reports
in England with R. Paper I released on my blog.
Bokhove, C. (2016). Exploring classroom interaction with
dynamic social network analysis. International Journal of
Research & Method in Education,
doi:10.1080/1743727X.2016.1192116
Bokhove, C., & Downey, C. (2018). Automated generation
of “good enough” transcripts as a first step to
transcription of audio-recorded data. Pre-print at OSF
https://osf.io/sn7w9/
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research
Methods in Education. Routledge: Abingdon.