Warrants for Action: An Agenda for Improving Education Research

• In Event: Advancing Continuous Improvement in Theory and Practice

Abstract

The press for education research to be more relevant and tightly coupled to practice is not new. An emerging research paradigm, continuous improvement research, has placed the pursuit of practice relevance at its core. The purpose of this study is to identify the key proponents of the paradigm and to understand the warrants they make as they seek to legitimize and situate their methods within education research. We find that agenda proponents rely not only on evidentiary warrants but also on warrants that appeal to the interest of the public good, practice relevance, and an appeal to utility. Identifying the warrants helps further our understanding of reform politics and provides an organizing framework against which claimants’ appeals can be tested.

Authors

• Lora A. Cohen-Vogel, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christopher Harrison, Florida Southern College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Allison Rose Socol, The Education Trust
  Non-Presenting Author

• Qi Chelsea Xing, American Institutes for Research
  Non-Presenting Author

• Torrie Kincaid Edwards, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cari E. Carson, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author