Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Research Methods and Information Science, Research Methods and Statistics

First Advisor

P. Bruce Uhrmacher

Second Advisor

Lolita Tabron

Third Advisor

Antonio Olmos

Keywords

Graduate statistics courses, Graduate students, Grounded theory, Pedagogy, Quantitative methods courses, Socialization

Abstract

Quantitative methods are one of the most highly technical fields of study within social sciences graduate programs. Although classroom pedagogy is an important factor connected to student success within graduate quantitative methods courses little is known on the pedagogical socialization experiences of masters and doctoral students. The purpose of this grounded theory inquiry was to discover graduate students perspectives on their pedagogical socialization experiences and the norms, values and role expectations transmitted during the teaching and learning of quantitative methods. Narrative data was collected from in-depth interviews among a theoretical sample of 31 masters and doctoral students enrolled in introductory, cognate or specialization quantitative methods courses in the United States. Interview data was digitally codified and analyzed in NVivo v. 12 using open, substantive, and theoretical strategies, memoing and the constant comparison method.

A process theory of pedagogical socialization was discovered during this investigation. Graduate students experience pedagogical socialization as a combination of transactional and transformational teaching and learning modalities which constrain and enable their learning, understanding and mastery of quantitative methods. Findings indicate that the process of pedagogical socialization within graduate quantitative methods courses influence graduate students professional identity development based on their ontological understanding of quantitative methods, themselves as graduate quantitative methods students and quantitative methods courses as an ontological thought space. Recommendations for updating the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, re-structuring graduate quantitative methods learning environments and improving faculty’s pedagogical practices using growth oriented and Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) frameworks are discussed.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Amanda Kay Thomas

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

390 pgs

Discipline

Social sciences education, Education, Social research

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