Coding Code: Qualitative Methods for Investigating Data Science Skills
Wednesday, January 31, 2024 4:00 - 4:30 pm EDT
Presented by: Allison Theobold (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo),
Megan Wickstrom (Montana State University), Stacey Hancock (Montana State University)
Abstract: In this January edition of the JSDSE/CAUSE webinar series, we highlight the 2023
article: Coding Code: Qualitative Methods for Investigating Data Science Skills. The
authors will discuss how to conceptualize and carry out a qualitative coding process with
students' computing code, which allows them to explore research questions about
students' learning. Despite the elevated importance of Data Science in Statistics,
there exists limited research investigating how students learn the computing concepts and
skills necessary for carrying out data science tasks. Computer Science educators have
investigated how students debug their own code and how students reason through foreign
code. While these studies illuminate different aspects of students’ programming behavior
or conceptual understanding, a method has yet to be employed that can shed light on
students’ learning processes. This type of inquiry necessitates qualitative methods, which
allow for a holistic description of the skills a student uses throughout the computing
code they produce, the organization of these descriptions into themes, and a comparison of
the emergent themes across students or across time.
Article Link:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26939169.2023.2277847
The webinar is free but pre-registration is required. Please sign up at:
https://www.causeweb.org/cause/webinar/jsdse/2024-01
Please join us!
Leigh Johnson