The Role of the Narrative Framing and Latent Meaning Structures of Online Information Used by Medical and Economics Students in Their Generic and Domain-Specific Critical Online Reasoning
Background and Study Focus
In the Information Age, students increasingly learn with online sources. In these sources, content is “framed” in a particular way through narrative devices (e.g. metaphors) and latent meaning structures. Such framing can influence the search for online information as well as its critical processing, as became evident in previous studies concerning the solving of generic (GEN) and domain-specific (DOM) tasks to measure critical online reasoning (COR). Hence, students need specific skills to recognize such latent frames.
Concept and Research Objective
Based on preliminary research, B06 aims to (1) analyze the narrative and latent meaning structures of the online information used by students (when solving the COR tasks); and (2) study whether students recognize these latent structures, i.e., are aware of narrative and meaning structures. In this way, B06 investigates so-called ‘narrative skills’ in students’ learning through the Internet; (3) examine whether narratives and meaning structures influence the COR process (e.g., the selection of information), and (4) longitudinally investigate the role of students’ narrative skills for their solving of GEN- and DOM-COR-tasks in medicine and economics. (5) Based on these findings, B06 further aims to develop a framework for interventions designed to enhance students’ COR by considering their narrative skills.
Measurements and analyses
B06 combines the qualitative method of narratology with reconstructive hermeneutics and draws on the approaches of narrative medicine and narrative economics. Based on the longitudinal subdata set from C07, B06 analyzes the online sources and content used by students to solve COR tasks. The process of students’ task-solving is reconstructed step-by-step, to identify whether students recognized the framings present in the sources. The analysis of students’ response processes is supported through the analysis of eye-tracking data and think-aloud protocols (together with C07).
Research Outcomes
B06 retraces students’ COR task-solving process and describes the role that narrative skills may potentially have in this process. Therefore, B06 first identifies narratives and meaning structures, which can hamper or stimulate students’ COR processes and performance. These analyses and findings provide a solid basis for the conceptual development of interventions to foster students’ COR skills (in the 2nd research phase).
Contribution within the research unit CORE
B06 cooperates with B04 and B05 in the analysis of the information landscape and in identifying important influences in online sources, which may be especially challenging for students. With the help of a detailed analysis of student responses and task-solving processes, B06 generates hypotheses for recalibrating the COR-tasks of the A-projects.
Publications
Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschankskaia, O., & Schelle, C. (2024). The Role of Narrative Framings and Latent Meaning Structures in Online Information Processing of Young Professionals–Potentials for an Innovative Mixed Methods Approach. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, M.-T. Nagel, V. Klose, & A. Mehler (Eds.), Students’, Graduates’ and Young Professionals’ Critical Use of Online Information (pp. 241-256). Springer.
Braunheim, D., Martin De Los Santos Kleinz, L., & Trierweiler, L. (2024). Differences in Source Selection and Their Effect on the Quality of Written Statements during a Critical Online Reasoning Performance Assessment. Front. Comput. Sci., 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2024.1366934
Braunheim, D. (2024). Effects of Regular Media Use of Young Professionals on Their Online Source Selection During a Situated Digital Performance Assessment. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, M.-T. Nagel, V. Klose, & A. Mehler (Eds.), Students’, Graduates’ and Young Professionals’ Critical Use of Online Information (pp. 47-67). Springer.
Braunheim, D., Köttering, L., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., & Nagel, M.-T. (2024). Specifics of Sourcing Challenges in the Law Domain: A Comparative Analysis of Search Approaches When Solving a Legal Case Study. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, M.-T. Nagel, V. Klose, & A. Mehler (Eds.), Students’, Graduates’ and Young Professionals’ Critical Use of Online Information (pp. 95-113). Springer.
Touzos, A. A., Laufer, A., Banerjee, M., & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O. (2024). The Role of Website Narratives in Young Professionals’ Critical Online Reasoning. In O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, M.-T. Nagel, V. Klose, & A. Mehler (Eds.),Students‘. Graduates’ and Young Professionals’ Critical Use of Online Information (pp. 67-95). Springer.
International Talks
Banerjee, M. Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., Touzos, A. A. (2025). Sprachgebrauch und fachliche Kontextualisierungen beim Aufgabenlösen in Internetlernumgebungen – Critical Online Reasoning in Studiengängen der Ökonomie und Medizin. Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Januar 2025, Mannheim, Germany.
Banerjee, M., Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., Touzos, A. A. (2024). A Reconstructive Hermeneutic and Narrative Analysis of Students' Critical Reasoning Processes Performing an Internet Search. American Educational Research Association (AERA), April 2024, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Braunheim, D., Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., & Touzos, A. A. (2024). Hermeneutic and Narrative Analysis of Students’ Critical Online Reasoning (COR) [Poster presentation]. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaften (DGfE), März 2024, Halle, Germany.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2024). Zum kritischen Umgang Studierender mit Internetinformationen – Methodologische Potentiale hermeneutisch-rekonstruktiver und narrativer Analysen in digitalen Lernumgebunden. Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Potsdam, Germany.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2024). Economics Students’ Critical Use of Internet Information. BERA/WERA Vocal Meeting, Manchester, United Kingdom.
Schelle, C., Banerjee, M., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Braunheim, D., & Touzos, A. A. (2025). Sprachgebrauch und fachliche Kontextualisierungen beim Aufgabenlösen in Internetlernumgebunden – Critical Online Reasoning in Studiengängen der Ökonomie und Medizin. Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Mannheim, Germany.
Schelle, C., Nell-Müller, S., & Braunheim, D. (2024). Des étudiants résolvent des tâches à l'aide d'informations tirées d'Internet – Potentiels d'analyses reconstructives et narratives. LIRTES UPEC, Objets frontières et transformations en éducation et formation Approches théoriques, études empiriques, pratiques professionnelles, Paris, France.
Schelle, C., Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, O., Touzos, A. A., & Braunheim, D. (2024). The Role of Narrative and Latent Meaning Structures in Students’ Critical Online Reasoning. EARLI SIG 26, Berlin, Germany.
Touzos, A. A., Banerjee, M., Braunheim, D., Schelle, C. (2024). Critical Online Reasoning in der Medizinischen Ausbildung: Narrative und Hermeutisch-Rekonstruktive Analysezugänge zum Umgang von Medizinstudierenden mit Online-Quellen. Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA), August 2024, Fribourg, Schweiz.