A Reflexive Approach to Interview Data in an Investigation of Argument

Autor/inn/en	Mitchell, Sally; Prior, Paul; Bilbro, Rebecca; Peake, Kelly; See, Beng Huat; Andrews, Richard
Titel	A Reflexive Approach to Interview Data in an Investigation of Argument
Quelle	In: International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 31 (2008) 3, S.229-241 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1743-727X
Schlagwörter	College Freshmen; Persuasive Discourse; Interviews; Research Tools; Research Methodology; United Kingdom; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Studienanfänger; Persuasion; Persuasive Kommunikation; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Forschungsmittel; Research method; Forschungsmethode; Großbritannien; USA
Abstract	As part of an exploratory study at three universities (two in the UK and one in the USA) of how first-year students in three disciplines (biology, electrical engineering and history) learn to argue, we conducted interviews (individual and group) with university faculty and students about the place of argument in their teaching and learning. Here we reflect on the complexity of researching a term that refers both to an abstract concept and process and to diverse actual practices that often appear to be in excess of, or only partially covered by, such abstraction. We found stable, definitive data about argument hard to abstract convincingly from the interviews. The analysis instead drew our attention to how faculty and students inflected the term "argument" in diverse, nuanced ways; constructed their accounts of "argument" and of themselves as students or teachers interactively in the interview; and introduced various related terms (e.g. "analysis", "interpretation", "critique"). Reflecting on ways in which the interview can foreclose as well as open up opportunities for sense making around "argument", we concluded that an approach that anchors talk in detailed accounts of practice is most fruitful in developing our understanding. In this way, interviewing can be a valuable research tool in developing understanding of how "argument" is used in discourse and manifested in actual practices. (Contains 2 figures and 3 notes.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10