Designing a SoTL study requires thoughtful decisions about study design, methods, and disciplinary approaches to inquiry. This collection introduces a range of accessible resources to help you choose a study design that aligns with your research questions and scholarly goals.
These Google Slides, developed for the University of Virginia’s SoTL Scholars program, provide an overview of descriptive and quasi-experimental studies–two of the most popular SoTL study designs.
These Google Slides serve as an accessible entry point, complete with links out to additional resources and examples.
This table compiled by Jennifer Friberg presents a variety of different study designs, exemplar SoTL projects aligned with those designs, and qualitative and quantitative analysis options.
This table is a useful way to quickly orient to possible SoTL study designs. We appreciate how it foreshadows possible analyses, setting it apart from other resources in this collection.
There are a variety of SoTL inquiry methods: case studies, content analyses, quasi-experiments, interviews, secondary analysis of institutional data, and more. Hear from SoTL Scholars about ways they have used Arts & Humanities inquiry methods to answer SoTL research questions.
While engaging in SoTL may introduce you to new inquiry methods (particularly ones grounded in the social sciences), you can also lean on your disciplinary research expertise to answer your SoTL questions. The video is a great example of leveraging approaches from the humanities.
Your selection of inquiry methods should be guided by your research question and the research expertise you bring to your scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) work – or the research expertise you are willing to develop. Although your SoTL research may prompt you to try inquiry methods that are new to you, your disciplinary research expertise also might be relevant to answering your SoTL question. In the video below, for instance, SoTL scholars discuss using Arts & Humanities inquiry methods to answer SoTL research questions.
This worksheet, developed for the University of Virginia’s SoTL Scholars program, walks you through designing your SoTL study. Within this worksheet, you will also find a supplemental resource on brainstorming your study design with AI.
If you are looking for structured guidance on how to design a SoTL study for the first time, this worksheet is for you! If you’re feeling stuck, the AI supplement may be a useful way to brainstorm possible ideas to react to and refine.
Before beginning this worksheet, ensure that you have identified your SoTL research question(s) and started exploring relevant literature. This worksheet will walk you through the many components needed to design your SoTL research study. If you would like to use AI to brainstorm possible study designs, see the Brainstorming Study Design with AI Supplement.
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