Educational Context and Research Methodology

Abstract

The goal of this chapter is to provide information about the TSC professional development courses and about the research methodology for the studies that are described in the following chapters. Much of the information is described in a rather technical way. It is suggested to read only the first two sections of the description of the TSC professional development course and its summary (pages 99–102 and page 111) in order to get an idea of the educational context in which the research took place and then to scheme through the remaining sections. Then it is suggested to scheme the sections addressing the research methodology (pages 111–115). Rather than reading systema-tically throughout the remaining sections it is advised to move on (to Chapters 8–12 that describe the studies), returning to pertinent parts of the course description and of the methodology when needed.