Situating multi‐modal approaches in engineering education research

Abstract

BACKGROUNDTraditionally, engineering education researchers rely on quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-or multi-method approaches for their research designs, each with its nuances, set of rules, and worldviews. Here we present a new approach that is yet to be widely accepted in engineering education research (EER): namely the multi-modal approach. This guest editorial is particularly timely because, in 2020, the EER taxonomy underwent a revision (Version 1.2), where the term "multi-modal approaches" was added to Section 12.d.iv (Finelli, 2020). With this addition to the taxonomy, it is important for EER scholars to understand what multi-modal approaches entail and how they are different from other approaches present in mixed-methods or multi-methods. To clarify this new approach further, we give examples of how multi-modal research is used in EER and other related studies. | INTRODUCTIONRooted in sociolinguistic approaches, multi-modality centers on multiple modes of communication and representation (e.g., reading, writing, and speech) to study meaning-making. In multi-modality, meaning-making includes multiple dynamics or representations of phenomena (or layers) and sensing modes by which an individual recognizes or becomes aware of the complexity of experienced phenomena (e.g., Ledin & Machin, 2017). Multiple sensing modalities are what give an individual "a wealth of information to support interaction with the world and with one another" (Turk, 2014, p. 189), and these can be interpreted through senses such as, but not limited to, hearing, seeing, touching, and feeling (e.g., Ledin & Machin, 2017). Phenomena, in the multi-modal sense, include the "binding of inputs from multiple sensory modalities and the effects of this binding" (Lachs, 2017) on individuals and accounts for the influence that one sensory modality has on another (Spence et al., 2009). Taken together, multi-modal approaches aim to capture the multi-layered and near-real-time ensemble of the intersections and dynamics of meaning-making (e.g., Archer & Newfield, 2014).Take, for example, the experience of listening to a song. When a person listens to a song, multiple events happen almost simultaneously: a person hears the song, reads the song lyrics, and thinks about how the song applies to their life. If the song connects with a person on a deeper level, their emotions manifest as excitement or joy, their heart palpitates, their mood changes, and they almost immediately begin to memorize the lyrics and tunes. Analogously, multimodal approaches try to collect many simultaneous events in order to represent the messiness and immediacy of life.Multiple layers of the phenomena include both the context and nature of discursive practices while also accounting for the convergence and divergence of its sensing modalities (Archer & Newfield, 2014). Together, the layers and immediacies of multi-modal approaches allow scholars to further nuances in meaning-making as it relates to complex realities such as access, social justice, and equity (

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