Complete thesis - Murdoch University

has recourse to in order to achieve a successful RE task: the beliefs held affect how theRE student learns to become a competent practitioner. The view taken in this studyis that the discipline is a social one, requiring construction and interpretation in orderto create an evolved fit between the system views of all stakeholders.The discipline of education (and its research) can also be tackled from positivist andnon-positivist perspectives. Again, the stance taken in this study is that subjectiveinterpretation and reflection provide insight to the research context. Thus this researchstudy is situated within a broadly based constructivist epistemology and the data isviewed through a variety of lenses including those of lifelong learning and adult education• the research process, including theme, level of organisational involvement, extent ofchange, role of researcher◦ the research process is based on a model for Action Research described in Borget al (1993)’s work and is discussed in the next chapter. The triggering themesfor each cycle of the Action Research process are described below, and are basedon feedback and reflection on the preceding cycle◦ the organisation involved is a university offering an undergraduate Engineering degreein Software Engineering. Resources, in the context of a unit in RequirementsEngineering offered as a core component of this degree, as well as a supportingstructure to enable the study (eg in terms of freedom to apply interventions,ethics approval for data collection, and grants for the development of some technicalcomponents of the learning environment) were all available for the durationof the study. The results of cycles of this study informed the teaching practicefor all core Software Engineering units within the degree, so that by the end of2003, no ‘traditional’ teaching was occurring. During 2005 some elements of thework undertaken during this research were applied throughout the Engineeringcurriculum◦ change is seen as a gradual process requiring, in this context, a cultural changetowards learning both for students participating and academic staff who initiallydeal with the results of this change in students and later in implementing similarchanges themselves◦ the researcher is an agent of change, initially acting, reflecting and learning at apersonal level, later triggering change in student participants during the researchand in other SE units within the programme and finally being instrumental in thechanges instituted within the learning for Engineering at Murdoch208