Student Life; Student Identity; Student Experience: Ethnomethodological Methods for Pedagogical Matters

Abstract

Within psychology and, more broadly, the social sciences, the teaching of qualitative methods has become a common and required component of research methods training. Textbooks and journals that support such training are increasingly dominated by various forms of individual and (focus) group interviews as methods of data collection, whilst constructionist forms of discursive psychology, particularly those influenced by conversation analysis (CA) and ethnomethodology (EM), seem to be declining. This article aims to tilt the balance in qualitative methods teaching back towards these methods, showing that and how they are uniquely able to respecify and challenge some of traditional psychology's key assumptions about ‘experience’ and ‘identity’. To do so, EM/CA methods are shown in use. Drawing upon five separate data corpora, findings from previous and ongoing research into, broadly, student identity and the ‘student experience’ of university education are presented. Rather than attempting to recover ‘identity’ and ‘experience’ from interviewee talk, the article shows how it is possible to capture it as it emerges in and as the practice of ‘doing-being-a-student-amongst-other-students’. Reflecting on these findings, the conclusion suggests that EM/CA methods should (be encouraged to) figure far more prominently in the teaching of qualitative methods in psychology.