Research on virtual worlds: linking quantitative and qualitative data in e-learning environments

The ‘hot’ epistemological and methodological war between educational research paradigms has been followed by the ‘cold’ war between socio-cognitive and cultural approaches triggered by Information Communication Technologies (ICT). The current scenario is characterised by the peaceful coexistence of neo-positivist approaches with qualitative features and qualitative approaches almost chaotic in their variety. On the other hand, the internationalisation of training resulting from globalisation and ICT development has given rise to Web-based multicultural environments in which people interact within virtual practice and learning communities. These digital IT environments provide vast amounts of quantitative data about user behaviour, which are linked to topological information on access and statistical analysis of use frequency. Owing to the interpersonal nature of virtual communities, a plethora of qualitative data can also be gathered from multimedia discourse about participants’ online life as well as social and professional roles, which have been transferred from face-to-face settings. Therefore it is suggested that both ethnographic and multimedia analysis methodologies should be used. It is concluded that online education research requires a qualitative approach that takes account of quantitative data. This perspective has been adopted by an international teacher education project from which empirical examples are taken.