Capitalizing on a Small Dataset to Refine a Mixed Methods Study

Learning to use computational tools is a critical aspect of many first-year engineering courses. Students in these courses can have varying degrees of prior exposure to computational tools and often exhibit a wide range of intrinsic motivation for learning these skills. Interviews with first-year engineering students were conducted to study the degree to which motivation correlated with intended major within engineering. The pilot round of interviews was conducted in the spring of 2021. This pilot study used the same data set of 8 interviews to progressively refine both the survey and interview collection in the 2021 – 2022 academic year. This paper will review the results of the pilot study and detail the process used to develop and use the finalized protocol and coding schemes for a planned series of 20 interviews in Summer 2022. While this technique developed because of limited data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been beneficial to the researcher and may provide guidance for future researchers.