Workshops as a Research Methodology

Abstract

This paper contributes to knowledge on workshops as a research methodology, and specifically on how such workshops pertain to e-learning. A literature review illustrated that workshops are discussed according to three different perspectives: workshops as a means, workshops as practice, and workshops as a research methodology. Focusing primarily on the latter, this paper presents five studies on upper secondary and higher education teachers' professional development and on teaching and learning through video conferencing. Through analysis and discussion of these studies' findings, we argue that workshops provide a platform that can aid researchers in identifying and exploring relevant factors in a given domain by providing means for understanding complex work and knowledge processes that are supported by technology (for example, e-learning). The approach supports identifying factors that are not obvious to either the participants or the researchers prior to commencing the workshop process. This paper also discusses the facilitator's different clinical and ethnographic roles and highlights the risks and ethical issues involved during both the workshop process and the workshop data analysis. As such, these collaborative and immersive aspects frame workshops as a research approach that has the potential to advance meaning negotiation between researchers and participants.