PHYSICS PROBLEM SOLVING

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CHAPTER 2
PROCEDURES
Chapter Overview
In this chapter I will discuss the procedures used in this research. Because the
researcher in a qualitative case study engages in different tasks than in quantitative
research, I will explain how this study differs from the more common quantitative study.
A description of the research setting, a college physics course, will include a discussion
of prior research in physics problem solving and in cooperative learning. Because this
study is based on the Toulmin argument structure, this chapter focuses on the
identification of the Toulmin statements.
Readers familiar with the more common quantitative research design will note
there is not a separate “Review of the Literature” chapter in this dissertation. Instead of a
“positivist” approach to the literature, I will take a more “inductive”one. That is, the
available literature on research and theory relevant to my research goals will serve to
“frame” the discussion. I will introduce applicable ideas and findings as they are needed.
This, by the way, is consistent with a constructivist approach to qualitative research.
THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER
One of the characteristics of a qualitative case-study approach is that the
researcher is an integral part of the process. That means the research is dependent upon
the researcher’s own presuppositions, assumptions and biases. The task I faced was to
make sure that I was, first, aware of my own presuppositions, assumptions and biases,