The Methods of Research

Bagwell College opens interactive research lab

KENNESAW, Ga. (Nov 15, 2019) — When Iván Jorrín-Abellán began teaching at Kennesaw State University, he saw his graduate students experiencing the same frustration that his previous students in Spain had and he had in completing his own dissertation – they were struggling with what steps to take to conduct research most effectively.

“The teaching and learning of research methods is usually frightening for students and faculty, and research methods courses are the ones our students postpone until the last possible semester,” said Jorrín-Abellán, a professor of educational research. “Why is that? One plausible answer is the lack of attention and subsequent scarcity of innovation in the teaching of research methods.”

That was Jorrín-Abellán’s inspiration to establish the Interactive Research Methods Lab (IRML) in KSU’s Bagwell College of Education. The newly opened lab is an innovative space to support students and faculty as they plan and develop their research designs for their undergraduate research assignments, master capstone projects, research proposals and dissertations.

The IRML is based on the Hopscotch model, a research framework and web-based tool that Jorrín-Abellán developed in 2015. Hopscotch utilizes textual, multimedia and web resources to guide the user through a nine-step process, including the research topic and goals, the conceptual framework, research questions and design, data gathering and analysis, and the ethical principles guiding a study.

Hopscotch was received well, with thousands of people using it around world, according to Jorrín-Abellán. However, users suggested that the platform was lacking an active learning space for students to share and discuss the methodological decisions made in the nine-steps proposed by Hopscotch.

“We learned that the lack of a social learning space within it was a major limitation, particularly because of its online nature,” Jorrín-Abellán said. “In response, we developed the Interactive Research Methods Lab as a natural evolution of Hopscotch.”

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