Vetenskaplighet som yrkeskompetens: en intervjustudiestudie
2013 (Swedish)Report (Other academic)Alternative title
Impact of scholarly training on professional practice : an interview study (English)
Abstract [en]
According to the Swedish Higher Education Act all university education should aim at developing students' abilities to make independent and critical judgements, to identify, formulate and solve problems and to search and evaluate research based knowledge. In most vocational academic education programs an undergraduate thesis is mandatory where these skills are demonstrated and evaluated. However, programs differ in relation to what is explicitly taught on research methods and scientific work. The present pilot study is based on interviews with graduates with a few years ofwork experience, from three different professions, engineers, teachers and nurses. The interviews concern mainly two topics – their impressions of the research methods content in their education and their perceptions and reflections on what impact the specific research methods training has hadon their actual professional practice. The results show the respondents' overall uncertainty about the significance of research related knowledge in their education and they are not inclined to identify adirect connection between the research methods training in the programs and their daily professional work. However, when explicitly asked, the respondents refer to frequent use of what can be seen as different types of research related knowledge and skills in their work – but they do not identify themas such. The work with the final undergraduate thesis is generally a positive experience, mainly since it includes a personal choice of topic and an independent piece of work. The character of the theses differs between the three programs, partly due to the different characteristics of the professions.These differences in turn have an impact on what is regarded as significant experiences. The engineers value the thesis because they see it as "the real thing", something that connects to their future profession, and provides the experience to produce a scientific text. Teachers highlight their training of an ability to change perspectives and to take a critical stance, but also as a preparation fortheir own teaching of e.g. source evaluation. Nurses, who write research overviews as their theses,mainly appreciate the independence and the enhanced knowledge in their chosen field.One point of departure for this study is that the undergraduate theses in vocational academic education programs are to be seen as work-integrated learning (WIL), but where the profession aimed at is the researcher’s, rather than the profession in the specific program. The conclusion drawnis that teaching of research related skills and knowledge should be developed in closer connection to the more precise use of such abilities in different areas of professional work.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Trollhättan: Högskolan Väst , 2013. , p. 63
Series
Reports University West, ISSN 2002-6188, E-ISSN 2002-6196 ; 5
Keywords [en]
Undergraduate thesis, research training in vocational academic programs, teacher education, nurse education, engineer education
Keywords [sv]
Examensarbeten, vetenskaplighet i akademiska yrkesprogram, lärarutbildning, sjuksköterskeutbildning, ingenjörsutbildning
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
SOCIAL SCIENCE, Educational science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-5818OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-5818DiVA, id: diva2:681202
2013-12-192013-12-192019-11-27