Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Catalytic Did the research transform the realities of those involved?The argument for catalytic validity lies not only within the recognition ofthe reality-altering impact of the research process, but also in the desire toconsciously channel this impact so that respondents (participants?) gain selfunderstandingand, ultimately self determination through research participation(Lather, 1991, p 68).Did participants gain self-understanding and self determination through this research?Feedback such as that from Markus, quoted in Section 8.3.3 suggests they do. Theresearcher also has gained enormously from the insights into her teaching. Disseminationof the findings of this research include refereed publications, and a workshop at aninternational conference. It would seem that this work has the potential to influencethe wider IT education community. A reviewer comment is valuable in this contextI found what the paper does contain to be very interesting.Personally, I had not before seen all this evidence in oneplace. It gave me cause for reflection. It made me think abouthow to change RE curricula. All in all, I liked the paper a lotfor its value to me as a fellow researcher and educatorDialogic Could the research be discussed with peers in different settings? Critical conversationsabout the research findings and practice were held at several levels – within theresearch context, as noted above, within the education profession by publishing in thatdiscipline and, most importantly, within the Software Engineering and RequirementsEngineering profession. The most valuable conversations were those with my supervisor,who, as a practicing RE as well as a researcher of RE practice asked the mostprovocative questions that helped me define my expectations and intentions, stretchedme to articulate precisely my rationale for those decisions and helped me to see importantinformation from different perspectives. Peer reviewers for publications in thatdiscipline also provided feedback that helped shape the interpretations and reflectionsmade.The challenge has been to make this work accessible from an educational perspective.In this respect, the same could be said of the Academic Support Officer who actedas mentor during the development for Cycle 2. Her persistence in requiring me toconsider educational pedagogy was instrumental in my acquisition of the vocabulary ofthat discipline, and therefore being able to articulate this work in that context403