The Hidden Person within the Frustrated Student: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of a Student's Experience in a Programming Course

This research paper presents the findings of an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of a student’s experience of frustration in the context of an introductory programming course. We contend that the embodied experience of frustration is ubiquitous yet underexplored within the context of engineering and science education. After interviewing the participant, we analyzed the interview transcript using IPA, a qualitative research method that provides the researcher with a tool to generate coherent insight on complex psychological experiences. In this paper, we present seven themes that demonstrate how the student’s frustration experience was connected to his identity formation, experience in shame, and maladaptive help-seeking behaviors.

[1]  William C. Oakes,et al.  From methods to methodology: Reflection on keeping the philosophical commitments of interpretative phenomenological analysis , 2014, 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Proceedings.

[2]  Karen L. Tonso,et al.  Student Engineers and Engineer Identity: Campus Engineer Identities as Figured World , 2006 .

[3]  Erin A. Cech,et al.  Navigating the heteronormativity of engineering: the experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students , 2011 .

[4]  J. Marcia.  Development and validation of ego-identity status. , 1966, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[5]  L. Nadelson,et al.  A Path Less Traveled: Fostering STEM Majors' Professional Identity Development through Engagement as STEM Learning Assistants , 2014 .

[6]  James L. Huff.  Psychological journeys of engineering identity from school to the workplace: How students become engineers among other forms of self , 2014 .

[7]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  The Relationship between Affective States and Dialog Patterns during Interactions with AutoTutor , 2005 .

[8]  Corey Schimpf,et al.  Gender in Engineering Education Research: A Content Analysis of Research in JEE, 1998–2012 , 2016 .

[9]  Jonathan A. Smith,et al.  Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, Method and Research , 2009, QMiP Bulletin.

[10]  Mee Joo Kim,et al.  Belonging and Academic Engagement Among Undergraduate STEM Students: A Multi-institutional Study , 2015 .

[11]  A. N. Kim.  The Influences of Engineering Student Motivation on Short-Term Tasks and Long-Term Goals , 2014 .

[12]  B. Flyvbjerg.  Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research , 2006, 1304.1186.

[13]  Thomas J. Scheff,et al.  Shame in Self and Society , 2003 .

[14]  Ruth A. Streveler,et al.  Why Do Students Choose Engineering? A Qualitative, Longitudinal Investigation of Students' Motivational Values , 2010 .

[15]  J. Tangney,et al.  Shame and Guilt , 2002 .

[16]  Reed Stevens,et al.  Becoming an Engineer: Toward a Three Dimensional View of Engineering Learning , 2008 .

[17]  Jonathan A. Smith.  Evaluating the contribution of interpretative phenomenological analysis: a reply to the commentaries and further development of criteria , 2011 .

[18]  Aditya Johri,et al.  On the development of a professional identity: engineering persisters vs engineering switchers , 2009, 2009 39th IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference.

[19]  J. Jorgenson.  Engineering Selves , 2002 .

[20]  Lisa Benson,et al.  Quantitative assessment of student motivation to characterize differences between engineering majors , 2013, 2013 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE).

[21]  Susan E. Walden,et al.  “What's to keep you from dropping out?” Student Immigration into and within Engineering , 2008 .

[22]  H. Lewis.  Shame and guilt in neurosis. , 1971, Psychoanalytic review.

[23]  J. Walther,et al.  Academic Help-seeking as a Stand-alone, Metacognitive Action: An Empirical Study of Experiences and Behaviors in Undergraduate Engineering Students , 2016 .

[24]  Monique S. Ross,et al.  A unicorn's tale: Examining the experiences of Black women in engineering industry , 2016 .

[25]  Geoff Potvin,et al.  Identity, Critical Agency, and Engineering: An Affective Model for Predicting Engineering as a Career Choice , 2016 .

[26]  J. Marcia,et al.  The Identity Statuses: Origins, Meanings, and Interpretations , 2011 .

[27]  Van Vliet,et al.  Shame and resilience in adulthood: A grounded theory study. , 2008 .

[28]  Anne C. Frenzel,et al.  Measuring emotions in students learning and performance: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AE , 2011 .

[29]  W. Faulkner.  `Nuts and Bolts and People' , 2007 .

[30]  Arthur C. Graesser,et al.  Predicting Affective States expressed through an Emote-Aloud Procedure from AutoTutor's Mixed-Initiative Dialogue , 2006, Int. J. Artif. Intell. Educ..

[31]  Sidney D'Mello,et al.  The half-life of cognitive-affective states during complex learning , 2011, Cognition & emotion.

[32]  R. Pekrun.  The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions: Assumptions, Corollaries, and Implications for Educational Research and Practice , 2006 .

[33]  Denise R. Simmons,et al.  The Role of Social Capital in the Experiences of Hispanic Women Engineering Majors , 2013 .