Decoding and Disclosure in Students-as-Partners Research: A Case Study of the Political Science Literature Review

Abstract

The Decoding the Disciplines (DtD) methodology has been used to study bottlenecks to student learning in a range of disciplines. The DtD interview process involves conversations between faculty regarding disciplinary practices. This article analyzes the use of the DtD approach in a student-faculty partnership to explore questions about disciplinary learning in political science. The research team compared how faculty and two cohorts of undergraduates decode a specific disciplinary bottleneck—the task of writing a literature review in political science. Results from the interviews reveal fundamental differences in how faculty and undergraduates conduct literature reviews in this discipline, including a troubling disjuncture as undergraduates become more expert in this process. Because the research team included both students and faculty, we also explore issues of disclosure and power in student-faculty partnerships in SoTL research.

Bibliographic data

Rouse, M., Phillips, J., Mehaffey, R., McGowan, S., & Felten, P. (2017). Decoding and Disclosure in Students-as-Partners Research: A Case Study of the Political Science Literature Review. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3061

External source

https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3061