Theory and Method in Higher Education Research

Jeroen Huisman is Professor of Higher Education at Centre for Higher Education Governance Ghent (CHEGG), Department of Sociology, Ghent University. He is also a member and past chair of the Executive Committee of the European Higher Education Society (EAIR), a European society for linking policy, research and practice in higher education. Malcolm Tight is Professor at Lancaster University’s Centre for Higher Education Research and Evaluation. He has a broad range of research interests in the fields of higher and post-compulsory education. He has previously worked at the University of Warwick, the Open University and Birkbeck College London, and is Editor of the leading international journal Studies in Higher Education, and of the book series International Perspectives on Higher Education Research.

• 1, The Guiding Role of Theory in Mixed-Methods Research: Combining Individual and Institutional Perspectives on the Transition to Higher Education 2, Higher Education Research: looking beyond New Public Management  3, An Analytical Framework for Evaluation-Based Decision-Making Procedures in Universities 4, The Study of the Academic Profession: contributions from and to the Sociology of Professions 5, A Developmental Perspective on Organizing for Social Responsibility: A Framework of Wise Action for Higher Education Organizations 6, Organizational Identity of Universities: A Review of the Literature from 1972 to 2014  7, The University as an Adaptive Resilient Organization: A complex systems perspective 8, The Role of Curriculum Theory in Contemporary Higher Education Research and Practice  9, A Knowledge Management Framework for Institutional Research 10, The Differentiated Market-University: Structural differences among university’s commodification processes 11, Virtual Ethnography: The Logistical and Ethical Challenges of Bringing Higher Education Research Online  12, The Network Paradigm in Higher Education 13, Disability and College Students: A Critical Examination of a Multivalent Identity  14, Informal Learning in the Workplace: approaches to learning and perceptions of the context

Researchers from Europe, North America, and Argentina offer 14 articles on theories and methods in higher education research. They address complex systems theory, organizational identity, curriculum theory, a knowledge management framework, evaluation-based decision making, the market-university, mixed methods, virtual ethnography, the network paradigm, disability identity, New Public Management and alternative theories, the sociology of professions, wise organizing, and informal learning in the workplace.