Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey Items

This study examined sources of inconsistency between teachers’ and researchers’ interpretations of survey items. We analyzed cognitive interview data from 12 middle school mathematics teachers to understand their interpretations of survey items focused on one aspect of their practice: the content of...

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Main Authors: Anne Garrison Wilhelm, Christine Andrews-Larson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2016-03-01
Series:AERA Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416643077
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spelling doaj-77f7dcf8cc514d54bb58fe79dfe0294d2020-11-25T03:27:54ZengSAGE PublishingAERA Open2332-85842016-03-01210.1177/233285841664307710.1177_2332858416643077Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey ItemsAnne Garrison WilhelmChristine Andrews-LarsonThis study examined sources of inconsistency between teachers’ and researchers’ interpretations of survey items. We analyzed cognitive interview data from 12 middle school mathematics teachers to understand their interpretations of survey items focused on one aspect of their practice: the content of their advice-seeking interactions. Through this analysis we found that previously documented conceptualizations of sources of misinterpretation within teacher surveys (e.g., structural complexity, use of reform language) did not adequately account for all of the inconsistencies between the survey items and teachers’ interpretations. We found it useful to reconceptualize the broader source of many of the misinterpretations as an issue of fit between the researchers’ intended interpretation and teachers’ professional practice.https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416643077
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Anne Garrison Wilhelm
Christine Andrews-Larson
spellingShingle Anne Garrison Wilhelm
Christine Andrews-Larson
Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey Items
AERA Open
author_facet Anne Garrison Wilhelm
Christine Andrews-Larson
author_sort Anne Garrison Wilhelm
title Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey Items
title_short Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey Items
title_full Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey Items
title_fullStr Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey Items
title_full_unstemmed Why Don’t Teachers Understand Our Questions? Reconceptualizing Teachers’ “Misinterpretation” of Survey Items
title_sort why don’t teachers understand our questions? reconceptualizing teachers’ “misinterpretation” of survey items
publisher SAGE Publishing
series AERA Open
issn 2332-8584
publishDate 2016-03-01
description This study examined sources of inconsistency between teachers’ and researchers’ interpretations of survey items. We analyzed cognitive interview data from 12 middle school mathematics teachers to understand their interpretations of survey items focused on one aspect of their practice: the content of their advice-seeking interactions. Through this analysis we found that previously documented conceptualizations of sources of misinterpretation within teacher surveys (e.g., structural complexity, use of reform language) did not adequately account for all of the inconsistencies between the survey items and teachers’ interpretations. We found it useful to reconceptualize the broader source of many of the misinterpretations as an issue of fit between the researchers’ intended interpretation and teachers’ professional practice.
url https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416643077
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