Doing Educational Research: A Handbook (Second Edition)
Abstract
In the second edition of Doing Educational Research, we explore a variety of critical issues and methodologies. Authors include some of the most influential voices selected from across the spectrum of career disciplines. The scholars provide detailed insights into dimensions of the research process that engage both students and experienced researchers with key concepts and recent innovations in the art of doing research.
The contributors adopt a stance that is practical as it introduces beginning scholars to social inquiry, and innovative as it transforms the boundaries of conversations about educational research. Doing Educational Research appears at a critical moment in which educational researchers are pushed to align with a pervasive scientism that embraces tenets of crypto-positivism.
The book addresses logics of inquiry, underpinning cutting-edge approaches to educational research that extend far beyond limited visions that are presented through the lenses of positivism. The chapters explore a variety of methodologies including action research, bricolage, ethnography, hermeneutics, historiography, media-based research, psychoanalysis, and conversation analysis, in a matrix of social theory, authentic inquiry, critical pedagogy, and differences in epistemology, ontology, and axiology. A diverse array of complex topics are presented in accessible forms and will compel both scholars and students.
... Journal articles represent a study or a part of a study that is expected to contribute to the field. In doing so, the study needs to adopt an appropriate paradigm, such as qualitative or quantitative and an appropriate type, such as experimental studies, field surveys, secondary data analysis, case research case studies, focus groups, action research, and ethnography (Bhattacherjee, 2012;Cohen et al., 2011;Pring, 2000;Tobin & Steinberg 2015). ...
... Depending on the selected methodological approach, a research study can be classified into different categories. The first and perhaps the most basic categorization of educational and social research includes two approaches-the positivist approach and the non-positivist approach, also known in some research theories as the interpretive approach (Cohen et al., 2011;Tobin & Steinberg, 2015;Walliman, 2011). ...
This study aims to identify the research types that authors of science education journal articles tend to select for their studies. It focused on articles published during the last decade. Selection of the appropriate research type is a significant process in education research. Depending on factors such as the goals that the researchers set or the conditions within which they work, they may select the implementation of quantitative studies, such as experimental study, field survey, secondary data analysis, and case research. They may select the implementation of qualitative studies such as case study, focus group, action research, and ethnography. Finally, they may select the implementation of mixed study. Therefore, by researching the types of research in published articles it is possible to gain insights about what goals the researchers set and their work context. This was the objective of this research. 2,071 articles in refereed journals in science education were collected. These articles were published between 2011-2020. The methodology included descriptive statistics and distribution calculation through a Kolmogorov Smirnov test. The findings showed that there is a preference to the qualitative type, even though there is a considerable number of studies to other types as well.
Keywords: research types, research trends, science teaching, journal articles, bibliometrics
... Phillips and Tracey (2007) call for research on the role of bricolage at the institutional level as 'there is little research on how actors creatively tinker with techniques from rival [institutional] categories infused with competing logics' (Rao et al., 2005, p. 317). In addition, qualitative researchers have adopted and developed bricolage as a research methodology (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994;Kincheloe & Berry, 2004;Tobin & Steinberg, 2006), with implications for critical, self-reflexive knowledge production (Berry, 2006;Steinberg, 2006). ...
... Phillips and Tracey (2007) call for research on the role of bricolage at the institutional level as 'there is little research on how actors creatively tinker with techniques from rival [institutional] categories infused with competing logics' (Rao et al., 2005, p. 317). In addition, qualitative researchers have adopted and developed bricolage as a research methodology (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994;Kincheloe & Berry, 2004;Tobin & Steinberg, 2006), with implications for critical, self-reflexive knowledge production (Berry, 2006;Steinberg, 2006). ...
... Os dados foram recolhidos através de um instrumento de avaliação de capacidades e competências (IACC), respondido na primeira semana de aulas do 1.º período, questionários (Q), realizados no início (Q1) e final (Q2) do ano lectivo, tarefas de inspiração projectiva (TIP), realizadas no início do 1.º (TIP 1) e 2.º períodos (TIP 2), bem como no final do 3.º período (TIP 3), de recolha documental (D), da observação, enquanto participante observador (Merriam, 1988), sendo esta registada em diário de bordo do professor/investigador (DB), de relatórios escritos dos outros dois observadores (R) e de protocolos de alunos (PA), sendo estes três últimos instrumentos recolhidos ao longo de todo o ano lectivo. A diversidade de fontes (informantes) e de instrumentos de recolha de dados permitiu a sua triangulação, um dos critérios de qualidade da investigação interpretativa (Tobin & Kincheloe, 2006). ...
... Such a realization forces us to understand the way positivism undermines an understanding of this level of the socio-educational world's complexity, its political implications, the value dynamics involved in the process of studying it. The epistemologies, ontologies, and multiple research methodologies we embrace understand that educational phenomena are situated in environments constructed by their temporal interactions with the other dynamics in the web of reality (see Tobin and Kincheloe 2006). ...
Approaches to research in the social sciences often embrace schema that are consistent with positivism, even though it is
widely held that positivism is discredited and essentially dead. Accordingly, many of the methods used in present day scholarship
are supported by the tenets of positivism, and are sources of hegemony. We exhort researchers to employ reflexive methods
to identify the epistemologies, ontologies and axiologies that are salient in their scholarship and, when necessary, transform
practices such that forms of oppression associated with crypto-positivism are identified and extinguished.
Moving towards sustainable futures in which human and natural systems increasingly flourish together asks not only for technological innovation but also for social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual transformation. Regenerative education is an upcoming strand of theory and practice seeking to understand the enabling role educational systems can fulfill in this process. This paper aims to advance the notion of regenerative education from the perspective of two regenerative principles: (1) living the question of vocation and (2) embracing emergence. To do so, we—as a teacher–researcher and a student–researcher—engage in collaborative auto-ethnography against the background of a regenerative educational experiment we participated in together, which we refer to as “Graduate with Hope”. Our collaborative auto-ethnographic process was built around the practices of journaling and diffractive letter conversation. Through it, we meditate how (1) fostering a regenerative educational experience asks for the embrace of the pedagogical paradoxes of structure, shared agency, educational space, and transformation, (2) embracing these paradoxes can be confrontational and trigger inner development, and (3) sustaining commitment in this context asks for an ongoing practice of “talking the walk”. These perspectives can inspire educational professionals to design for, engage in, and study regenerative forms of education.
The article is an analysis of life stories of female visual artists connected with the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow (Poland). It explores the specificity of women’s experiences and constitutes an attempt to examine the role models and gender hierarchies which dominate the artworld. The article emphasises two analytical categories – uncertainty and struggle – to demonstrate how they organise the life stories of female artists, and tries to explain how such life stories can lead to re-evaluation of the perception of art as a male profession and contribute to a greater appreciation of women’s activity in the artworld.
In this paper, we examine the enactment of culturally relevant education in an urban early childhood setting in the US. This descriptive case study used a sociocultural framework that emphasizes the relationship between structure and agency. The research question that guided the study was: How does an urban, non-profit early childhood educational center focused on the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students and families enact culturally relevant education? The findings indicated that both tacit and tangible structures supported the agency of all school stakeholders. Tacit structures included multilingual and multimodal communication, continuous, responsive reflection, and a schema of valuing family engagement, which permeated the institution’s culture. Tangible structures included the school’s faculty, administrators, and staff, the students and families who were served by the school, and the financial resources that were creatively leveraged by the staff and administration. The article concludes with implications and recommendations for stakeholders in a variety of schooling contexts who strive to enact authentic, sustained culturally relevant education.
It is falling increasingly to international organisations and institutions to provide a coherent and workable global value system that embraces difference, internally and externally, with compliance expected from every level of the organisation. International human rights conventions and statutory regulations require compliance to human rights principles putting such organisations at the forefront of cultural relations. A global value framework gives them the opportunity to shake off colonial pasts and to strive to make a good business case for adherence to such principles. As principles are more challenging to enact than to formulate, to support this values portfolio, research is needed into how principles can be enacted in everyday matters of the organisation. Current literature highlights the use of storytelling as sense-making, and, as such, there is a growing trend in the use of the narrative approach across disciplines and professional sectors. Its contributors are from anthropology, education, linguistics, translation studies, literature, politics, psychology and sociology, organisational studies and history. This chapter surfaces the link between local and grand narratives through an ethno-narrative approach contextualised within a recent study of diversity (equality, diversity and inclusion) and specifically global diversity management.
The assumptions underlying this contribution are, first, that educational research, like research in other fields, is expected to yield knowledge. This is rather uncontroversial. It is only when it comes to the definition of knowledge, the kinds of knowledge sought and to questions as to whose knowledge counts, that the debate characteristically becomes more heated. Second, and perhaps more controversially, a discussion of the nature and purposes of educational research will, at some stage, have to engage with the notion of truth. Despite having traditionally been a serious philosophical subject, the idea of truth has in recent times become rather unpopular, an idea non grata. The reconceptualisation of knowledge and the decline of truth are due in no small part to the increased popularity of certain kinds of postcolonial theory, postmodernism, constructivism and feminist thought, the rise of subaltern science and alternative epistemologies in academia. This article critically examines current trends in the theory of educational research: the case against ‘crypto-positivism’ and ‘hyperrationality’, and the trend in favour of ‘epistemological diversity’ and ‘critical constructivist epistemology’, especially against the backdrop of the decline of truth as a significant subject and yardstick that is currently exercising and restraining us, as educational researchers, philosophers and as persons.
This interpretive multiple case study examined how K-16 world language teachers (N = 12) incorporated social justice issues into their curriculum and instruction and the factors that supported and constrained this work. The findings revealed that the participants experienced supports and impediments that shaped their agency to enact social justice education. These factors included the professional community of the school or institution, the students’ perspectives and contributions, and existing curriculum and curricular resources. The discussion advances an ecology of teacher agency in which teachers take up a stance toward social justice and navigate structures to creatively reconstruct their teaching and the world language curriculum. Implications are discussed for teacher education, in-service professional development, and educational research.
In this paper, we seek to explore the inseparable role of emotions in the teaching and the learning of science at the primary school level, as we elaborate the theoretical underpinnings and personal experiences that lead us to this notion of inseparability. We situate our perspectives on the complexity of science education in primary schools, draw on existing literature on emotions in science, and present arguments for the necessity of working towards positive emotions in our work with young children and their teachers. We layer our own perspectives and experiences as teachers and as researchers onto methodological arguments through narratives to emerge with a reflective essay that seeks to highlight the importance of emotions in our work with children and their teachers in elementary school science.
The importance of family involvement in education is well documented, yet no studies have explored teachers’ conceptualization of family involvement for urban English Language Learner (ELL) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. We used an ethnographic approach to investigate middle school STEM educators’ perspectives on family involvement for Spanish-speaking ELL students. The analysis revealed that the participants recognized barriers to involvement for families of ELL students, yet maintained that families should communicate more and help with homework. One participant’s practices and expectations served as a contradiction to these patterns. Implications and recommendations for P-12 school policy and teacher education are emphasized.
Australian educators are currently engaging with wide-ranging, national early childhood reform that is reshaping Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The Australian reform agenda reflects many of the early childhood policy directions championed by bodies, such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Children’s Education Fund, and is based on the dual discourse of (i) starting strong and (ii) investing in the early years. However, despite its traction in policy rhetoric and policy there is little empirical evidence of how reform is being played out. This paper reports on research undertaken in collaboration with the Queensland Office for Early Childhood Education and Care designed to generate sector feedback on one element of the reform agenda, the implementation of universal preschool in Queensland. The study aimed to determine the efficacy of the new policy in supporting the provision of ‘approved preschool programs’ within long day care services. Drawing together the views and experiences of a range of stakeholders, including peak organisations, service providers, directors, preschool teachers and government policy officers, the paper provides a situated case study of the implementation of universal preschool, and offers empirical evidence of how this policy is being played out at the local level. The paper identifies the opportunities and challenges in implementing universal preschool in Queensland that may have bearing on early childhood reform in Australia as well as other countries. Discussion of key findings is set within an overview of the ECEC policy agenda in Australia, with a particular focus on the commitment to universal preschool.
This paper focuses on a conversation with Dr. Kenneth Tobin, which took place in June 2009 at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), where he is Presidential Professor in the Urban Education Program. Our purpose was to focus on Ken's career in science education, and to discuss the past, present, and future of his research interests. During our conversation, we explored the various trajectories of his career, focusing on the ways in which his research has evolved through the years. Further, Ken shared his thoughts on the field of science education, and provided salient advice for early career scholars. This manuscript includes an introductory summary of Ken's career achievements to this point, a record of our conversation (the audio-recording can be downloaded at the journal's website) and a list of selected publications that highlight Ken's key works.
This paper explores potential sources of misalignment between lecturers' expectations of student learning and assessment and students' consequent attempts at engagement. Based on data from two research projects conducted at the regional 'Irwin' University, the authors chart the territory of undergraduate study in the context of increasing diversity, including many students who are the first in their families to attempt tertiary study. First there is an analysis of observable assessment practices typically undertaken as part of a three year program. Second lecturers' beliefs, knowledge and actions in relation to assessment are investigated and reported on. Their views on assessment are compared to students' reported experiences of assessment that lead to a sense of misengagement. Finally, the authors propose a set of non-negotiables that respond to student 'misengagement' and enhance alignment between the lecturers' and students' expectations of assessment. Introduction Picture the wary student traveller charting a course through three years of undergraduate education. With each new semester, the traveller confronts new sets of expectations, new ways of going about learning and demonstrating learning through methods of assessment that may consider students' learning style and be more or less authentic or formative. Along the same journey are the teachers, acting as guides through the landscape by developing content, learning activities and assessments that engage and interest them, and basing their practices and decisions on their knowledge and beliefs about learning and assessment. The research reported here demonstrates that both students and lecturers would like their experiences of teaching, learning and assessment to be compatibly aligned but the evidence paints a somewhat different picture – one of misalignment. This paper highlights to some extent the nature of this misalignment, its potential causes and how they may be addressed to enhance student engagement. The assessment designs and practices that are chosen by university teachers often inhibit student engagement and may be a cause of students operating at a lower learning level than the student herself expects and/or desires.
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