Thinking about the nature of educational research: going beyond superficial theoretical scripts
Norwich, B
Date: 21 July 2019
Article
Journal
Review of Education
Publisher
Wiley / British Educational Research Association (BERA)
Publisher DOI
Abstract
This paper questions the idea that there are two opposing paradigms of educational
research, often called positivist versus interpretivist. It argues that the ‘paradigm’
term has been used to avoid philosophical discussions about the nature of
educational research. This has been done by understanding ‘paradigms’ to reflect
metaphysical ...
This paper questions the idea that there are two opposing paradigms of educational
research, often called positivist versus interpretivist. It argues that the ‘paradigm’
term has been used to avoid philosophical discussions about the nature of
educational research. This has been done by understanding ‘paradigms’ to reflect
metaphysical positions about connect epistemological and ontological assumptions.
Problems with this conception of ‘paradigms’ are discussed including how to justify
combining different research methods. The paper also criticises treating pragmatism
as a ‘paradigm’ by distinguishing between everyday pragmatism and philosophical
pragmatism. Philosophical pragmatism is presented as a diverse approach that is
naturalistic, fallibilistic and overcoming of false dichotomies, that can risk leading to a
self-defeating relativism. How these have been addressed are then discussed. This
has involved introducing some transcendental or impersonal elements into
pragmatism without reverting to a metaphysical realism. This involves a discussion
of various philosophical perspectives, pragmatic realism, evolutionary epistemology
and critical realism, as relevant to educational research. The final section draws on a
version of Dewey’s pragmatist model of inquiry informed by some of Habermas’s
early and later epistemological ideas as the basis for thinking about educational
research that encompasses flexible and combined methodological approaches. The
paper places research methodology as having a central focus in educational
research, with its links to epistemology and methods. It concludes that pragmatist
assumptions contribute to understanding educational research, its methodologies
and the design of plural and flexible research methods, even if there are continuing
philosophical investigations.
School of Education
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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