Abstract
In CSCL research, collaboration through chat has primarily been studied in dyadic settings. In VMT’s larger groups it becomes harder to specify procedures for coding postings because the interactions are more complicated and ambiguous. This chapter discusses four issues that emerged during the development of a multidimensional coding procedure for small-group chat communication: (a) the unit of analysis and unit fragmentation, (b) the reconstruction of the response structure, (c) determining reliability without overestimation, and (d) the validity of constructs inspired by diverse theoretical-methodological stances. Threading, i.e., connections between analysis units, proved essential to handle unit fragmentation, to reconstruct the response structure and for reliability of coding. In addition, a risk for reliability overestimation is illustrated. Implications for reliability, validity and analysis methodology in CSCL are discussed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Strijbos, JW. (2009). A Multidimensional Coding Scheme for VMT. In: Stahl, G. (eds) Studying Virtual Math Teams. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Series, vol 11. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0228-3_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0228-3_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0227-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0228-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)