Conference: Fifth International Conference on Quantitative Ethnography (ICQE23)

This project was submitted in response to NSF 22-1 - Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide and was then directed to the Core Research (ECR) program announcement NSF 21-588. The ECR program of fundamental research in STEM education provides funding in critical research areas that are essential, broad and enduring. ECR supports projects that help synthesize, build and/or expand research foundations in the following focal areas: STEM learning, STEM learning environments, STEM workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM. The ECR program is distinguished by its emphasis on the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to (a) understand, (b) build theory to explain, and (c) suggest interventions (and innovations) to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning, and participation. This international conference, to be held at the Monash University campus in Melbourne, will build the capacity of NSF-supported communities to benefit from the highly promising research methodology of quantitative ethnography (QE). This training workshop for young scholars, embedded in conference, supports the goals of the ECR program by developing a community of early career researchers to carefully use quantitative ethnography in the conduct of basic STEM education research. These scholars will be prepared to examine and empirically test new theory consistent with the central goals of the ECR program. The funding will support: a) attendance and training at an international conference on QE for doctoral and early career researchers to be held in the U.S., b) a technical immersion preconference workshop that several of participating researchers would lead for these young scholars, and c) a broader slate of symposium speakers who represent NSF supported disciplines that QE methods can benefit significantly. The intellectual merit of the conference arises both from the appeal or promise of QE across numerous fields. The proposed activities are organized around broadening the impact of QE's intellectual merit across new disciplines. The project maintains a consistent emphasis on furnishing next-generation researchers with conceptual and software tools and methodology to address important current and future questions across the spectrum of fields NSF supports in social sciences, basic STEM education research, and the learning sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.