In an environment of increased scrutiny and accountability, engineering education researchers are being called upon to describe and defend the tangible impacts of their work on a regular basis. The lack of scholarship within and beyond the field of engineering education on the impact of research contributes to the lack of shared language around what research impact looks like in this context—and a lack of productive conversations on how research can impact practice. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods research design, the aim of this study is to develop a valid framework that characterizes the impact of engineering education research; and describe engineering education researchers’ and practitioners’ perspectives on how research does and should influence practice in our context. Together, the two data forms enable greater insights on the problem than would be obtained by either type of data separately. This project started in Summer 2016 (one year ago). Data collection for the quantitative strand is well underway while data collection for the qualitative strand is complete. One of the key findings thus far is that the field of engineering education is closer to the development of a research impact framework than previously realized. Details on the research design and progress on the framework development will be discussed in this paper.
Dr. Jeremi London is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Provost for Academic Opportunity and Belonging at Vanderbilt University. London is a mixed methods researcher with interests in research impact, broadening participation and instructional change.
Maura Borrego is Director of the Center for Engineering Education and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and STEM Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Borrego is Senior Associaate Editor for Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and E
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