What we talk about when we talk about research

One of the first big surprises of this project was the range of models for 'research': what they spend their time doing in microbiology looks very different from what they're doing in politics, as Rose and Richard can testify, and so on throughout the university. Jane Robertson and Gillian Blackler did an interesting study in which they interviewed students from physics, geography, and English lit., and analysed the students' use of spatial and temporal metaphors (Robertson, J. & Blackler, G. (2006) Students’ experiences of learning in a research environment, Higher Education Research and Development 25(3), pp.215-229).

Generally speaking, physics students tended to talk about research being 'out there', going 'further', and crucially, taking place at a 'higher level' then their own.

Geography students also talked about research happening 'out there', but they meant it in terms of literally 'going out into the world and gathering information', in other words, doing field work.

For English students, research involved '"looking into", "gathering", and "putting it together"' (p. 223).

I thought this was a nice way of doing research. Nadine Wills has done a lot of work about metaphors on the teachingcommons Good Practice blog, which I recommend taking a look at.