Themes of Tension Surrounding Research Methodologies Education in an Accelerated, Cohort-Based Doctoral Program

This single-site investigative action research study used an insider research strategy using selfdirected focus groups comprised of the four participants/researchers. These “four voices” include the Program Director of the doctoral program in instruction and leadership, a recent program graduate, and two faculty members who teach the quantitative and qualitative components of the program. Survey data from students represent the “fifth voice”. The focus of our research was to discuss the most effective ways to prepare doctoral students to use research methodologies in an accelerated, cohort-based doctoral program. Qualitative data from the focus groups were coded independently by two of the researchers to promote credibility and the secondary data set (“fifth voice”) was used to evaluate student views. The analyses produced five themes that describe the experiences and understandings of the participants in regard to research methods preparation as well as seven recommendations for rebalancing methods curriculum and methods instruction in order to improve practice. In order to triangulate findings, student data served as a corroborating voice. From the analyses and interpretation of these data, the following program changes were made to the research methodology courses: (1) a team-taught integrative methods course for qualitative and quantitative design was initiated; (2) a related course sequence change that places statistics in the more logical position of following rather than preceding research design; and (3) the formation of an ad-hoc committee that is currently examining the qualifier exam (largely methods) with the intention of restructuring it based on student feedback that suggests perhaps a more project-based assignment reflecting changes made to qualitative and quantitative methods courses and incorporating a subject or content-specific focus.