This paper is from Session 9I: Gathering and modeling data
which comes under Topic 9: Technology and multimedia in statistics education
Paper 9I3 (Wednesday 11th, 11:00-12:30)
Virtual Environments for Teaching Qualitative Research Methods
Presenter
- Michael Bulmer (University of Queensland, Australia)
Co-author
- Katelyn Doyle (University of Queensland, Australia)
Abstract
Qualitative methods are often underrepresented in introductory statistics courses at the undergraduate level, particularly in large classes where the logistics of providing authentic experiences in qualitative data collection are challenging. To address this gap, we have extended an existing virtual environment that enables quantitative studies with human subjects to include a prototype interview system. We will give an overview of this system and our current methodology for simulating qualitative data, and then present examples of student project work carried out using the environment. These examples show the limitations of this prototype in capturing the richness of qualitative research but also the potential of the approach as the underlying technology of conversational agents improves.