Philosophy of Education as "Pre-Qualitative" Research

• In Event: 52.023 - Quantitative and Qualitative Methods Are Not Enough! The Ethics of Research Beyond Methodocentrism

Abstract

Elizabeth St. Pierre has recently advocated for “post qualitative” research which departs from not only the methodological norms of social scientific research but, also, from social science itself. Inspired by the humanistic and philosophical tone of her research advocacy, I join and depart from her proposal by advocating for a consideration of philosophy of education as a form of “pre qualitative” research. In particular I note the specific form of philosophy I have in mind that takes a particular stance in relation to questions of Modernity and the humanities at large.
My principle claim is that method and methodology both rely on philosophical antecedents not only in the philosophy of science and social science, but also in the more general questions that research so often takes for granted within the field of education. It is therefore for reasons of present necessity that philosophy of education might be a curricular benefit along with a “new” stream of educational research that is in fact quite old.

References
Hanna Guttorm, Kiikka Hohti, and Antti Paakkari, “‘Do the Next Thing’: An Interview
with Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre on Post-Qualitative Methodology,” Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology 6 (1).
Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre, “Post Qualitative Research: The Critique and the Coming
After” in Denzin and Lincoln (eds.) SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Inquiry (4th ed.) (Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2011)
Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre, “Deleuze and Guattari’s Language for New Empirical Inquiry,”
Educational Philosophy and Theory, DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2016.1151761

Author

• Samuel Rocha, The University of British Columbia