ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 outlines the methodological framework, as well as the epistemological choices the researchers made in constructing the research project on which the book is based. It considers how the researchers’ understanding of social worlds led them to choose particular ways to investigate how people in social situations make sense of their experiences; how choosing certain processes of sampling, triangulation and ethical practices helped the researchers to construct trustworthy knowledge; and how they designed the study and collected and analysed mixed methods data to answer their main research questions. The chapter also discusses the opportunities and challenges the researchers faced in collecting data in hybrid (online/offline) learning communities and analysing mediated data using concept maps, to better understand the experiences of being an Access to HE student.
