Students’ conceptions - and misconceptions - of social research

Abstract

How knowledge of students’ conceptions of social research can influence the pedagogy of research methods is the focus of this article. This study explains how students’ conceptions of social research changed over the course of a two-semester research programme. Twenty-nine graduate students participated in focus groups, interviews, and open-ended surveys to inform the instructor’s pedagogical decisions in developing the course. Data were analyzed phenomenographically, and the categories that were identified defined changes in their conceptions of research related to affect and attitudes, the processes involved with conducting research, and the end products of their research projects. Pedagogical inferences were derived from the findings, and implications for future research were outlined.