Research Programme
Integrated Research Programme
My overarching research interests concern how learning is understood, how educational quality is judged, and how trustworthy knowledge is produced, with a particular emphasis on technology and engineering education.
These interests come together in an integrated research programme organised around three intersecting pillars.
I also engage with broader but cognate areas of scholarship, often through collaboration, where adjacent questions and methods help extend the scope of this work.
Research Pillars
Learning and Spatial Ability
Focuses on the role of spatial ability in learning, development, and performance in technology and engineering education.
- Spatial abilty development through intervention
- Understanding the structure and interrelationships of spatial factors
- Associations between spatial ability and learning
Educational Assessment and Comparative Judgement
Focuses on the use of adaptive comparative judgement for the assessment of complex competencies, typically design.
- The development of ACJ systems
- The valid assessment of design activity
- Non-educational measurement applications of ACJ
Research Credibility and Meta-research
Focuses on the improvement of research practices in technology and engineering education.
- Improving replicability in technology and engineering education research
- Examining research robustness, reproducibility, and transparency
- Conducting evidence synthesis and meta-scientific critique
Research Intersections
While the pillars above represent distinct domains, my work actively engages them in an interdisciplinary way.
Can spatial ability be recognised and evaluated in authentic assessment contexts?
How can we improve validity in spatial ability measurement?
How can we systematically evaluate and validate the theoretical claims underpinning comparative judgement?