Activity 2: Quality Educational Research Fact or Fallacy?
Read :
Burkhardt, H. & Schoenfeld, A.H. (2003). Improving educational research: Toward a more useful, more influential, and better funded enterprise. Educational Researcher 32(9), 3-14.
Pollard, A. (2006). Pollard, A. (2006). Challenges facing educational research. Educational Review guest lecture 2005. Educational Review, 58(3), 251-267.
Hartley, D. (2006)
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the writers' points of view?
Given the very wide range of approaches to education research, what do you consider are the essential ingredients of a good quality research study?
Burckhardt and Schoenfeld’s diagnosis of Educational Research in America is very thorough. Their discussion on how educational research links to practice was insightful and I agree with many of their claims. I can only speak for myself in admitting I don’t have time to read copious amounts of research and critic it then decide which initiative would be best implemented in my classroom. Professional development often inspires me right up until the time when I enter the classroom again and realize all the ‘routine’ things I have to get done to ‘survive’, so my new inspired direction is often left by the wayside for a time, if not totally forgotten. I do often rely on leaders of the school or ‘experts’ to summarize and disseminate the latest research initiative, if it seems plausible I’m quite happy to give it a go in my classroom.
Pollard and Hartley also paint an interesting picture of Educational Research. Pollard had highlighted many similar issues to Burkhardt and Schoenfeld, But I’m throwing my support behind Hartley’s opinion that “…much of the criticisms made of educational research could apply equally to the social sciences in general.” (Hartley, 2006, p. 269)
Burkhardt and Schoenfeld spend a lot of their discussion comparing Educational Research to Medical Research or Research in Engineering, although a similar process can be followed I think that’s where the comparisons need to stop. One example of the effective use of research in other fields is the concept of ‘Robust Mechanisms-for Taking Ideas From Laboratory Scale to Widely Used Practice.’ Medical researchers and Engineering researchers have mechanisms in place for transferring their research from the small scale laboratory to a larger scale implementation. This is much harder in educational research because Social Sciences deal with people, ‘…there could be no truth; only truths for-the-moment, contingent, relative and provisional’ (Hartley, 2006, p. 270) Research that can be effectively applied to one school setting and group of students, can often be ineffective for another schools setting or student group.
This is just one example of how social science, and therefore educational research, differs from traditional science or research that is used for medical and engineering purposes.
In my opinion quality educational research is research that has practical implications for everyday teaching and learning. It contains easily understood and thoroughly researched information, that when applied, will improve education for the stakeholders it involves. More amounts of credible research, producing results that work, is essential to boosting the credibility of educational research and how it is viewed by society.
Read :
Burkhardt, H. & Schoenfeld, A.H. (2003). Improving educational research: Toward a more useful, more influential, and better funded enterprise. Educational Researcher 32(9), 3-14.
Pollard, A. (2006). Pollard, A. (2006). Challenges facing educational research. Educational Review guest lecture 2005. Educational Review, 58(3), 251-267.
Hartley, D. (2006)
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the writers' points of view?
Given the very wide range of approaches to education research, what do you consider are the essential ingredients of a good quality research study?
Burckhardt and Schoenfeld’s diagnosis of Educational Research in America is very thorough. Their discussion on how educational research links to practice was insightful and I agree with many of their claims. I can only speak for myself in admitting I don’t have time to read copious amounts of research and critic it then decide which initiative would be best implemented in my classroom. Professional development often inspires me right up until the time when I enter the classroom again and realize all the ‘routine’ things I have to get done to ‘survive’, so my new inspired direction is often left by the wayside for a time, if not totally forgotten. I do often rely on leaders of the school or ‘experts’ to summarize and disseminate the latest research initiative, if it seems plausible I’m quite happy to give it a go in my classroom.
Pollard and Hartley also paint an interesting picture of Educational Research. Pollard had highlighted many similar issues to Burkhardt and Schoenfeld, But I’m throwing my support behind Hartley’s opinion that “…much of the criticisms made of educational research could apply equally to the social sciences in general.” (Hartley, 2006, p. 269)
Burkhardt and Schoenfeld spend a lot of their discussion comparing Educational Research to Medical Research or Research in Engineering, although a similar process can be followed I think that’s where the comparisons need to stop. One example of the effective use of research in other fields is the concept of ‘Robust Mechanisms-for Taking Ideas From Laboratory Scale to Widely Used Practice.’ Medical researchers and Engineering researchers have mechanisms in place for transferring their research from the small scale laboratory to a larger scale implementation. This is much harder in educational research because Social Sciences deal with people, ‘…there could be no truth; only truths for-the-moment, contingent, relative and provisional’ (Hartley, 2006, p. 270) Research that can be effectively applied to one school setting and group of students, can often be ineffective for another schools setting or student group.
This is just one example of how social science, and therefore educational research, differs from traditional science or research that is used for medical and engineering purposes.
In my opinion quality educational research is research that has practical implications for everyday teaching and learning. It contains easily understood and thoroughly researched information, that when applied, will improve education for the stakeholders it involves. More amounts of credible research, producing results that work, is essential to boosting the credibility of educational research and how it is viewed by society.
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