Dynamic qualitative methods: attending to place, space and time in higher education

This chapter focuses on the context of higher education (HE), examining the different ways in which qualitative research methods might be utilised to unpack the spatio-temporal nature of student experiences. It is increasingly accepted that HE occupies a particular (and often paradoxical) space within the education landscape – it is simultaneously local and global, and while the physical campus can dominate a place, universities have adopt an increasingly digital, virtual and ‘place-less’ sensibility. HE is also productive of specific timescapes, not least normative understandings of the life-course, and patterns of movement and mobility. It is vital that contemporary research in education is able to access and make visible these complexities and move beyond ‘snapshots’ and sedentary methods. This chapter thus maps out the exciting and rich variety of qualitative research in the field of HE studies which adhere to the explicitly spatial, temporal and mobile dimensions of learning and teaching, student identities, transitions and feelings of belonging.