This paper reports on postgraduate students conducting survey research on information and communications technology (ICTs) in South African schools, focusing on the notion of e-maturity. The dual emphasis of this paper is on students’ collaborative experience of the authentic research process including their experience of e-maturity within the target schools. 50 students, most of them practicing teachers, participated collaboratively in the design and implementation of the survey. Discussion in this paper is based on the qualitative analysis of fifty research reports submitted on completion of the survey field work. The author analysed the reports for their content using simple in vivo coding techniques and found that the participatory and collaborative nature of the research process contributed markedly to the composition quality of student research reports. Student understanding of the research process through meaningful engagement in authentic field work has also greatly improved their insights into ICTs in education.

https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v31n1a357