Theory in Empirical Educational Research: A Study of Multiple Meanings

• In Event: 34.079 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 34.079-9 - Diversifying Methodologies

Abstract

This paper uses an essay-review format to make sense of the multiple meanings of theory that could be employed in work we could legitimately characterize as educational research. A framework first articulated by Habermas in 1968 to distinguish among three distinctly different concerns or interests that motivate different types of social scientists is employed to structure the essay and highlight different conceptions of theory. The paper is significant because it provides understanding of different research traditions and the different “games” researchers are attempting to play without cavalierly dismissing traditions and research processes as was done by the authors of the National Research Council’s report, Scientific Research in Education, a book that provided a unitary definition of theory.

Author

• Robert B. Donmoyer, University of San Diego