Case Studies in Research Methods Pedagogy - Teaching quantitative design methods through exposition

There are different pedagogical traditions surrounding the teaching of quantitative methods. This case study comprises a detailed account of pedagogy for science-based quantitative methods from an intensive international seasonal school. The case study draws upon one teacher interview, eight hours of classroom observation, written field-notes, teaching materials, two short student interviews and informal research conversations with students across the sessions. In this case, the teacher, who I call Larry, is lecturing on quantitative design within a wider context of hands-on and computational sessions. Here, Larry’s pedagogic approach is one of exposition. However, this nominally didactic teaching – the lecture – is shown to convey rich pedagogical strategies and tactics, particularly in terms of pedagogical rhetoric. The pedagogic hook (and locus) of ‘teaching through data’, a preeminent facet of quantitative teaching [1], is clearly visible, even at this conceptual and discursive content stage as theory is constantly drawn back to data.