Research Methodology
Given that my research is cross-disciplinary, touching on a fairly new field, it is quite difficult to give a definite methodology which will do everything I need. There are certainly approaches which I am adopting from mainstream academia, although I am also borrowing significantly from techniques devised in the software industry, but applying academic rigour to them.
User Centred Design
The main application of my research is in developing software for a particular purpose (that is, the integration of VLE and MUVE technology). As such, I need to be putting my theories into practice continually to demonstrate that I am on the right track, which means developing software.
I am keeping a 'user centred' focus throughout, which means involving potential end-users all the way along the research process. Much like the "spiral" lifecycle model in software development, this involves a repeating cycle of evaluation and development -- a concept of piece of software is developed a little, and then users are involved to evaluate how effective it is, and then development is continued to refine it, and so on.
Exploratory Evaluation
Early work will be exploratory in nature, involving surveys and focus groups, making use of a great degree of qualitative data (although quantitative data and analysis will also be used). A substantial amount of initial ideas and concepts will be proposed based on existing systems and literature, as user interface design is a very mature field.
With general ideas and initial feedback from users, a series of fairly detailed tools specifications will be drawn up, including areas which are uncertain or open for change. Multiple approaches to an individual tool may be specified as well, and illustrations or mocked-up prototypes will be used to show these to potential users. Methods such as interviews and pencil-and-paper evaluations will be used to refine the specifications.
Grounded Theory
As a researcher, Grounded Theory has it appeal in this situation as well, because it builds theory directly from data, with no bias coming from preconvceived ideas or existing literature/research. Unfortunately, decades of user interface design have demonstrated that this doesn't always work!
Users have very definite preconceived ideas and preferences of how things work, although they are often subconscious. Drawing out some of these ideas in a quantifiable manner would a wonderful pursuit, but likely far beyond the scope of my PhD!
Nonetheless, I would like to apply certain principles from Grounded Theory while conducting evaluations such as focus groups. At the very least, it could be useful in devising theories about existing technologies in the field.
Action Research
User Centred Design obviously has great parallels to Action Research, whereby the researcher is involved directly in the situation, and notes what happens when making changes. In my work, this will manifest particularly in the later stages, when I have usable software tools which educators and learners can use. (These may simply be partially functional interface prototypes, but they will nevertheless be seemingly usable.) This will likely involve case studies and pilot studies.
Participatory Design
Given the communities of developers, researchers and educators around the technologies concerned, there is plenty of scope for input from a variety of sources. This could, in theory, have the effect of Participatory Design, whereby end-users are involved throughout the design/development process.
It will not be truly participatory, since as the researcher, I will be doing the bulk of the work of collating and sorting data on my own, and I will be using other sources of data as well (such as existing research/literature).
Analysis
And finally, the most important part! Analysing the data.
Come back in a couple of months when I've figured that part out! :-)