The aim of this workshop was to reflect on research methods used in descriptions and interpretations of learning especially those that explore the dynamics of social context and the role of inter – and intra- personal identities within the construction of the learning self.

We developed this workshop as part of our Learning Lives project to help us reflect on methods and theoretical approaches to our challenge.

We  invited colleagues to present on a series of questions mixing practical concerns exploring methods and research procedures and  more abstruse and methodological issues n considering questions of theoretical categorisation and definition as well those of interpretation and credibility.

We asked people to consider

1. What methods have you used in your research on learning in and across different social contexts? What is (are) the logics of inquiry that inform such work? What are some key methodological implications?
2. How have you captured multiple perspectives pertaining to ‘episodes’ or ‘moments’? How have you approached the problem of researching change over periods of time? What scales of time have you worked with and what are the key issues in this challenge?
3. How (and why) have you described and theorised the life-worlds of young people in your research?
4. What have been the main challenges in working intensely with individuals or small groups of people? How have you dealt with the challenge of generalisability, and up-scaling?
5. How useful has been your research ? to whom? What other kinds research (findings and/or methods) do you wish you could have also used or had access to?
6. What motivated your research and why? Have these motivations changed over time or are research agendas sable?
7. What future directions do you see for these kinds research challenges?

The workshop was provocative and will feed into the Learning Lives projects at the University of Oslo. I contributed a co-authored paper on exploring learner identity which I will post after revising.