This section provides entry into some initial discussions about the range of methods, methodologies and strategies that have been and are currently in use or are being considered to study learning at work. This section will be built up over time drawing particularly on a range of TLRP projects some of which continue until 2008. The intention is to identify a range of methods in use and to provide links to the epistemological and theoretical positions that can underpin their use.

Some methods (which are often used in combination)  include:

A case study approach is often used, which frequently draws upon a mixture of methods.

Any consideration of research methods should also give attention to:

• Decisions about which methods to use (eg epistemological positions)
• Methods in action (adapting and using methods in context)
• Data handling, reduction, analysis and synthesis (eg validation, tracking, coding, etc)
• Ethical concerns
• Scope of the study (eg longitudinal, snap-shot)

Of course methods are not used in a vacuum. They are used in accordance with theorectical/epistemological perspectives, which can be found under 'theoretical bases'.

The following paper is an example of an extended commentary on methodological issues associated with researching learning at work. It is drawn from the TLRP project on Early Career Learning. The researchers on this project had to devise a methodology to address the problems of accessing hard information on what people need to know at work when most learning at work is informal and therefore unlikely to be readily acknowledged or scarcely remembered without some pertinent prompting. Stephen Steadman (2004) produced the following:

Early Career Learning at Work (LiNEA) Project Methodology and Theoretical Frameworks