>I've confirmed my affinity for small-scale qualitative > research on faculty (as opposed to large-scale quantitative research on > students, say). I'm still frustrated by the phrase "the open source way" > not being backed up by anything other than anecdotes. What the heck does > that mean?
That's interesting. I just spent the summer watching undergrads in a CS1 class (in a qualitative study) so I think I'd like to parse some numbers in my near future... That being said - I do think qualitative research is very important. Apropos qualitative research (& CS): You've read Margolis & Fisher - What about Garvin & Doxas? How does CS classroom hierarchy building and informal discourse shape perceptions of FOSS? Part of a qualitative discussion of an "(free & ) open source community" will look at community, identity, and other elements. Without spiraling into never-ending tangents ending in one-word questions... It may be important to consider students and moreover professors who model to students what software is (Bandura). What are professors' / students' "root metaphors" for software (Reddy, 1972)? What are there "interpretive frameworks" for understanding what software should be (proprietary|"open source") (cf. Reddy, 1972)? Which "Discourse" is used to position FOSS in CSE environments? And what are students' figured software worlds (Gee, 2012)? What are students' perceived possible "CS" selves and how does this relate to FOSS (Markus & Nurius, 1986)? -- 1 1/2 years and then quals? You might need to get on top of that dissertation topic if you're dissertating in the Spring.... _______________________________________________ tos mailing list tos@teachingopensource.org http://lists.teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
