The role of frameworks in engineering education research

Abstract

One of the most critical criteria for the Journal of Engineering Education is that manuscripts should present relevant theories and frameworks that are explained, justified, and elaborated with details of how they informed the research study. Frameworks, in general, help authors plan, organize, and perform research. They also provide "a metatheoretical language, which enables scholars to discuss any particular theory or to compare theories" (Coral & Bokelmann, 2017, p. 1). Different types of frameworks can be used for different purposes, although at times, researchers may interchangeably use the same terminology for these purposes. However, there are some characteristics of the frameworks that make them distinct based on their origins, purposes and uses. As shown in Figure 1, here I propose an organization in which seven types of frameworks can guide the following activities: (a) defining, grounding, and explaining the focus of a study; (b) planning and executing the methods of a study; and (c) planning, delivering, and reporting the effectiveness of educational innovations.This guest editorial elaborates on the diverse forms in which frameworks can inform and guide engineering education research. In the following sections, I briefly describe each and provide an example of how they were implemented in recent studies.

A Review of Research on the Quality and Use of Chemistry Textbooks

“…We also captured the theoretical and/or analytical frameworks that were used to analyze chemistry textbooks or design studies around chemistry textbooks . Several frameworks were used in multiple studies that employed theoretical frameworks: Johnstone’s Triangle, ,,,,,,,,, Cognitive Load Theory, ,, Bloom’s Taxonomy, ,, Mayer’s Multimedia Principles, , Ainsworth’s Design, Functions, Tasks (DeFT) Framework, , Robert’s Curriculum Emphases, , and the Framework on Scientific Literacy. , We identified multiple other frameworks that were each used in a single study on chemistry textbooks (e.g., the Information Processing Model, Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, Kozma and Russel’s Representational Competence, Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning, Han and Roth’s Semiotic Model, Vermunt and Verloop’s Taxonomy of Learning Activities, Wu and Shah’s Five Principles of Textual Diagrams, Constructivism, the Analogy Classification Framework, Bunge’s Five Ontological Categories, Ausubel and Novak’s Meaningful Learning, and others).…”

“…Future research studies should use frameworks to ensure and improve the rigor of investigations around chemistry textbooks. The use of frameworks would help clarify the philosophical, epistemological, theoretical, and/or methodological presuppositions driving the researchers conducting research around textbooks …”

“…The use of frameworks would help clarify the philosophical, epistemological, theoretical, and/or methodological presuppositions driving the researchers conducting research around textbooks. 89 A fourth of the studies (25%) did not specify the country of use for the textbooks in their samples. Among the studies that did not provide this information, most were published by researchers affiliated with institutions in the U.S.…”

Undergraduate student perceptions of stress and mental health in engineering culture

“…We implemented Bronfenbrenner’s ( 1979 , 2005 ) bioecological systems model as an analytical framework (Magana, 2022 ) to organize a coding scheme around individuals’ relationships to a culture. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems model was used during our data analysis to create a structure within our common codebook, which organized aspects of engineering culture found within our interview data by systemic levels.…”

The use of frameworks in chemistry education research

“…Within DBER, researchers also use frameworks that are not necessarily theoretical in nature [e.g., analytical frameworks (Luft et al, 2022;Magana, 2022)]. While there is a distinction between theoretical frameworks and other types of frameworks that may not be theoretical, other types of frameworks can still be beneficial for guiding studies and vary in purpose and intended use.…”