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Enhancing engineering education through the integration of open science principles: a strategic approach to systematic reviews
Date
2021
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to examine the role that systematic review protocols could play in accelerating the development of the discipline of engineering education and to explore how employing robust approaches developed in other fields can enhance the value of systematic reviews. The benefit of systematic reviews, as compared to narrative reviews, lies in the robust and transparent protocols employed in the collection, screening and reporting of included studies. Systematic reviews can identify gaps in the literature, highlight concepts that are accepted but lack empirical support, and help to evaluate the quality of research being produced for a specific topic. If structured correctly, systematic reviews have the potential to be further developed into meta-analyses to examine the impact of interventions. This is particularly important for a field such as engineering education that is incorporating novel techniques to examine the efficacy of our practices in multifaceted learning environments. Current efforts to develop meta-analyses are hampered by a number of factors including widely varying study design, reporting and concept overlap which suggest that engineering education as a discipline can be classed as ‘low consensus’ (Borrego, 2007). Increased strategic use of systematic reviews could allow for an exploration of potential moderating influences of study designs and act as a precursor to wider adoption of meta-analytical techniques. This article outlines how systematic reviews can be utilised to enhance the theoretical foundation of the discipline. Specifically areas identified by Borrego, Foster, and Froyd (2014) including: Progression: evidence that researchers are informed by previous studies and build upon or deepen understanding Model publications: publications that other researchers hold up as models of conduct and presentation of research studies in the field. Seminal publications: publications recognized as important or definitive because they marked new directions or provided new insights
Supervisor
Description
Publisher
Wiley and Sons Ltd
Citation
Journal of Engineering Education, 2021,110 (3), pp. 509–514
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Power_2021_Enhanced.pdf
Adobe PDF, 701.15 KB