When carrying out SoTL, you may be venturing into a type of research that is new to you. It is helpful to examine the methods of published studies to get a better understanding of what data sources researchers have chosen to use to explore their research questions, and how they analyze that data.

How to do qualititative SoTL research in 6 easy steps

Using learning analytics in SoTL

Measuring outcomes in SoTL

*Given that the study may generate many types of data, both qualitative and quantitative, the analysis approaches may vary greatly. Qualitative researchers typically use multiple forms of data (e.g., interviews, observations, and documents) and may use inductive methods in which they build patterns, categories, or themes from the bottom up. Quantitative data analysis relies on counting and comparison in frequency or differences between variables and utilizes statistical analysis to determine significance. 

The Pell Institute offers a comprehensive guide to the tools for handling quantitative and qualitative data. 

For quantitative data – http://toolkit.pellinstitute.org/evaluation-guide/analyze/analyze-quantitative-data/.

For qualitative data – http://toolkit.pellinstitute.org/evaluation-guide/analyze/analyze-qualitative-data/  based on the NSF resource http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1997/nsf97153/

Another resource for analyzing qualitative data – https://my.vanderbilt.edu/sotl/files/2013/09/6SoTLAnalysis.pdf

*University of Cincinnati Library Guide