Edinburgh Napier University

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework: what's academic practice got to do with it?

Journal Article

Fernie, S., Pilcher, N., & Smith, K. L. (2014)

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework: what's academic practice got to do with it?. European Journal of Education, 49(2), 233-248. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12056

National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) are a globally established and expanding phenomenon. They are increasingly merging and being mapped onto meta-qualifications framework...

Contextualising higher education assessment task words with an ‘anti-glossary’ approach

Journal Article

Richards, K., & Pilcher, N. (2014)

Contextualising higher education assessment task words with an ‘anti-glossary’ approach. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(5), 604-625. doi:10.1080/09518398.2013.805443

Key ‘generic’ assessment task words such as ‘discuss’ and ‘critically evaluate’ are integral to higher education assessment. Although sources such as study skills guides give ...

Da capo: A musical technique to evoke narrative recall

Journal Article

Pilcher, N., Cortazzi, M., & Jin, L. (2014)

Da capo: A musical technique to evoke narrative recall. Psychology of Music, 42(4), 483-502. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735613480257

This article proposes the use of recorded music chosen by researchers to elicit participant accounts of life experiences, a technique we name ‘da capo recall.’ Fifteen mainlan...

Language choices and 'blind shadows': investigating interviews with Chinese participants

Journal Article

Cortazzi, M., Pilcher, N., & Jin, L. (2011)

Language choices and 'blind shadows': investigating interviews with Chinese participants. Qualitative Research, 11(5), 505-535. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111413225

This article shows the importance of the language chosen for research interviewing when more than one language could be used. It does so through the context of research with C...

The UK postgraduate Masters dissertation: an ‘elusive chameleon’?

Journal Article

Pilcher, N. (2011)

The UK postgraduate Masters dissertation: an ‘elusive chameleon’?. Teaching in Higher Education. 16(1), 29-40. doi:10.1080/13562517.2011.530752. ISSN 1356-2517

Many studies into the process of producing and supervising dissertations exist, yet little research into the ‘product’ of the Masters dissertation, or into how Masters supervi...

National Qualification Frameworks: developing research perspectives.

Journal Article

Fernie, S. & Pilcher, N. (2008)

National Qualification Frameworks: developing research perspectives. Quality in Higher Education. 15, 221-232. doi:10.1080/13538320903343099. ISSN 1353-8322

Arguments for National Qualification Frameworks (NQF) are compelling. Indeed, such frameworks are now an international phenomenon. Yet, few studies take a critical perspective...