Method X = Value Y? How Perceptions of Research Methodology Can Present Barriers to Research-Informed Education

• In Event: Enablers and Barriers to Research-Informed Education: Exploring International Perspectives

Abstract

"Objectives: To provide insights about the ways in which perceptions about research methodology effect perceptions of how research can and should be used to inform education practice and education policy; to critically explore the idea that adherence to, or use of, a particular research method implies that the researcher or research user holds a particular value position; to consider how research methodology can effect whether particular research findings are used to inform education practice and policy.

Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework for this presentation draws on philosophical debates about epistemology (e.g. Dunne, 1993). More particularly the theoretical perspective draws on philosophical positions evident in methodological debates about the use of quantitative methods to establish robust educational research findings.

Modes of inquiry: The mode of enquiry informing this presentation combines the methods used in an empirical project with critical reflections on some of the published outcomes of the project, published responses to the outcomes of the project, and some consequences of these debates for education research in relation to ‘close-to-practice research’ (Wyse, Brown, Oliver & Pobleté, 2020). In particular, the presentation interrogates claims made that the use of particular methods in an empirical research project allow readers of that research to infer value positions of the authors of research project reports and other publications.

Data sources: The evidence underpinning the presentation is taken from an empirical project that included a Rapid Evidence Review of relevant published research, and interviews with experienced stakeholders with expertise in how research evidence can and is used to inform practice and policy. Other data sources are published critiques of the empirical project and the response from the research team (Wyse, Brown, Oliver & Pobleté, 2021).

Results and/or substantiated conclusions: The arguments made in this presentation, based on the warrants of the empirical project and relevant published debates related to the work, are that to conflate educational value positions with researchers’ selection of research methodology risks practice and policy not being appropriately informed by robust research evidence with consequences for the quality of education.

Scholarly significance of the study or work: The relationships between education practice and policy and education research are complex. One aspect of this complexity is the debates about close-to-practice research and its relationship with education as an academic discipline in universities. Better understanding of research methodology in relation to education value positions may be a productive way to enhance the use of research-informed educational practice and policy. "

Author

• Dominic Wyse, IOE, University College London