Collaborative Research: The ProQual Institute for Interpretive Research Methods in STEM Education

The NSF ECR Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (BCSER) program contributes to the NSF mission (42 U.S. Code Chapter 16) by building the capacity of the US STEM education research workforce to design, propose, and implement high quality STEM education research. The BCSER Institutes for Methods and Practices in STEM Education Research (IMP) track supports institutes that provide participants with training and support to advance the participants' knowledge, skills, and competencies in STEM education research including in the use of cutting-edge methodological techniques. Institute participants include investigators at any stage in their career development. This institute's focus is on building capacity in STEM education research by sustaining and expanding a novel, problem-led, and quality-focused approach to interpretive research design. This project extends the impact of the first ProQual institute by training 48 scholars and providing web-accessible case study examples of key elements of the ProQual approach. The ProQual approach reconceptualizes research design as a structured, design-based process, helping STEM scholars overcome epistemological and methodological barriers in educational research. This BCSER IMP project is providing training to approximately 48 STEM faculty interested in retooling to become STEM education researchers during the lifetime of the institute. The participants engage in a suite of activities to learn how to approach STEM education research as a design problem and to gain qualitative and mixed-methodology skills to undertake their own research project. Through an innovative 4-step program, participants develop research competence while engaging in a community of practice that fosters long-term knowledge exchange. The incorporation of "ProQual-in-a-Box" resources further extends these benefits beyond direct participants, enhancing dissemination and adoption. This expansion of the first ProQual Institute will strengthen STEM education by increasing the quality of interpretive STEM research that is designed and conducted by faculty and postdocs with technical backgrounds in STEM fields. 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.