Rethinking the Institution in Educational Research

• In Event: Organizational Theory/Organizational Practice

Abstract

In this paper we present an integrative conceptual-methodological framework built on theorizing in the neo-institutional tradition. We introduce a precise definition of an institution suitable for use across multiple levels of analysis. We argue that by distinguishing the level at which a practice is institutionalized from the level at which it observed, education researchers can measure and compare multi-level phenomena across a consistent set of dimensions, setting the stage for increasingly sophisticated studies of transformation. We introduce a graphical tool to aid in such analysis, illustrating its purchase with a recent example from the literature.

Authors

• Eleanor Anderson, Northwestern University

• Jeannette A. Colyvas, Northwestern University