Members of our research community came together with the CreaTE research group for a joint Open Methodological Seminar on 20th of February, 2025. The day was centered around collaborative problem-solving processes and how such may be investigated with different qualitative and quantitative research methods.
First, University Lecturer Kati Sormunen gave an overview of the theoretical and empirical foundations for the methodological solutions. For instance, she talked about non-linear learning, problem-solving, and creating processes.
Our visitor from the University of Antwerp, Doctoral Researcher Joris Van Elsen gave a presentation about measuring preschoolers problem-solving through an observational instrument. He has developed a tool for observing preschoolers' problem-solving behavior which he has implemented among twelve preschoolers. After developing the measure, he conducted a study on how individual differences may be detected with the observational tool. His research has revealed that it is complex to measure problem-solving activities reliably but that with some modifications, it is possible to detect individual differences with the tool.
Then Kati gave a presentation about time-varying changes in young children's hands-on, collaborative problem-solving process. They have investigated the interactions in collaborative problem-solving processes among preschool-aged children. Children were videotaped in small groups when they worked on a collaborative project - Three Little Pigs and a Big Bad Wolf. They found that preschool children collaborate with varying actions and interactions.
After Kati, Dr. Sini Davies presented a systematic qualitative analysis of video data through the visual process-rug method. In the method, videos are divided into pre-determined parts and analyzed using pre-defined coding frameworks. This way, for instance, verbal and non-verbal actions, and the presence of materials or people are analyzed and systematically visualized. This can illustrate what processes are happening in which part of the collaborative learning and making situations.
Last, Doctoral Researcher Niina Niinimäki talked about Quantitative Ethnography (QE) and ordered network analysis with ENA-tool. With quantitative ethnography, qualitative ethnographical data is augmented with statistical methods to reveal and inspire stories from the data. They have collected data on 7th graders performing collaborative and open-ended maker projects. They analyzed student’s conversations when engaging in the project. From the coded data, the ENA-tool creates visualized networks and can also be used to compare between networks. They found co-occurrences, especially between engineering, programming, and crafting.
The interesting methodological seminar day elicited discussions on how methods may be used in different ways and how similar datasets may be analyzed using different methods.