Special Session: Taking a Deep Dive: Qualitative Methods and Identity

This special session will engage participants in how to apply multiple qualitative research methods to explore the experiences of students, particularly marginalized populations. Throughout the session, we will use our insights and experiences from our collaborative research on student veterans in engineering as an example. The session focuses on using multiple data collection methods (interviews and focus groups) across several institutions. We introduce and discuss the key event timeline and identity circle as qualitative research tools that can be used to answer important questions in engineering education for veterans and other understudied populations. We emphasize the importance of partnerships in such research. Benefits and challenges associated with data collection, synthesis, and analysis, across multiple research sites will be discussed.