Enhancing Research Quality through Analytical Memo Writing in a Mixed Methods Grounded Theory Study Implemented by a Multi-Institution Research Team

Abstract

In this Full Research Category paper, we will provide a detailed description of how we are using analytical memo-writing within a mixed methods grounded theory study. The goal of our work is to identify key elements from undergraduate research experiences (UREs) that can be translated into the classroom by exploring the connections between engineering students' researcher identities, perceptions of research, and epistemic thinking within the context of UREs. The qualitative phase of our study which is the focus on this paper takes a grounded theory approach as we explore our research questions using in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted by researcher pairs, transcribed, and cleaned. Preliminary analysis, which included initial coding, was conducted by researcher pairs to increase the validity of the analysis and facilitate analytical discussions between researchers. After initial coding, the researcher pairs constructed analytical memos with three parts: (1) summary of the participant (factual representation), (2) summary of salient themes/codes/analysis, and (3) connections of themes/analysis to other participants. We are using these memos to facilitate a constant comparative approach across participants, communicate and understand complex relationships between concepts, and enhance the development of our grounded theory model. As part of our description of our analytical memos, we provide details and examples from our study for each part of the memo. We also discuss the ways in which we have found the analytical memos to be helpful in our analysis. In particular, we discuss our use of the theoretical coding (three-part coding where you identify context, mechanism, and outcome) and magnitude coding (quantify qualitative data by creating Likert-type Scales for specific concepts) of our memos, which allow us to explore relationships between concepts and produce empirical support for the connections within our grounded theory model.