Notes for the Masters group studying for the Research Methods in Education with Jack Whitehead's tutoring during the 2005/6 Academic Year.

 

Drafts for submission at our meeting of the 5th September 2006 – Our agreed deadline for submission of completed assignments is the 19th September 2006, the University deadline is the 30th September.

 

We have talked about a tension I feel between the 'given' curriculum for this Research Methods in Education unit at http://www.jackwhitehead.com/tuesdayma/rmeword.htm and the 'lived' curriculum we are creating together as we work out how to bring our embodied knowledge as educators into the public knowledge-base of education through our educational research. My tension goes back nearly 40 years to when I studied research methods for my masters degree in education and experienced a complete separation between the teaching of research methods and the research question I wanted to explore 'How do I improve what I am doing?' in the context of my educational practices with my students. What I think you want me to do is to explore with you how to develop your understandings of research methods in education without losing a connection with your immediately lived experience of researching your educational influence in the learning of your students.

 

I think you could explain to your readers, in a 'framing' for your writings that you are generating your own living educational theories as explanations for your educational influences in your own learning and in the learning of your students (and where relevant to the learning of the social formations in which your practice is located). So, in relation to the criterion:

 

Demonstrated an ability to analyse, interpret and critique findings and arguments and, where appropriate, to apply these in a reflective manner to the improvement of educational practices,

 

you could explain that you are grounding your research methods in education in your commitment to improve your educational practices and the learning of your students. You could explain that in the course of this self-study of your professional practice you will be demonstrating your ability to analysie, interpret and critique findings and arguments and use these in a reflective manner in your research into improvements of your educational practices.

 

In relation to the following criterion:

 

Demonstrated an ability to identify and categorise issues, and to undertake an educational study or enquiry in an appropriately critical, original, and balanced fashion,

 

you could explain how you are expressing your originality of mind in the generation of your own living educational theory as an explanation of your educational influences in your own learning (and in the learning of your students and the social formation – if appropriate) and that you are making public the appropriate standards of critical judgement for evaluating your practice in terms of the values you use to give meaning and purpose to your life in education. You could explain that you have sought to overcome bias and prejudice in your account by balancing your own interpretations with the critical responses of colleagues in validation exercises within the Tuesday evening sessions.

 

In relation to the following two criteria,

 

Made critical use of literature, professional experience and, where appropriate, knowledge from other sources, to inform the focus and methodology of the study or enquiry.

 

Made appropriate critical use of the literature and, where appropriate, knowledge from other sources, in the development of the study or enquiry and its conclusions,

 

you could  draw on my own responses to the 'given' curriculum below to show how you were making critical use of literature, professional experience and where appropriate knowledge from others to inform the focus, methodology and development of your enquiry and its conclusions.

 

What follows is my response to the 'given' curriculum to see if I can mediate between the language of the 'given' curriculum and my understandings of your 'living curriculum' in a way that helps you to remain connected to your immediate lived experiences of your students and your educational practices, while enhancing your research methods in education.

 

I'll be around over the Summer so don't hesitate to share your writings before our get together on 5th September.

 

Unit title Research Methods in Education Code ED50102   Spring/Summer 2006.

Tutor Jack Whitehead, University of Bath.

 

UPDATE 25 July 2006 of my attempt to mediate between the 'given' curriculum and your 'living curriculum' in the creation of your own living educational theories and development of your research methods in education.

 

I am aware of a problem in using research methods in education that lead to the descriptions and explanations of our educational influences in learning, in paper-based, text-only representations. I think we may need to use visual narratives of our educational practices if we wish to show the embodied meanings of our inclusional values in the living and relational flow of their expression in practice. (Joy – just viewed the DVDs you made of the pupils and the quality is superb). Before I go through my mediation of the 'given curriculum' here is an extract from the keynote to the Practitioner-Researcher Conference at St. Mary's College on the 13 July 2006 to emphasise the importance of image-based research methods in education:

 

 

"Why begin with this image?

 

Because it was a gift from Kayleigh, Nigel Harrisson's 9 year old granddaughter to Nigel and shown to the B&NES Breakfast Cafˇ Conversation on the 28th June with love, pleasure and hope. Nigel is Interim Head of Inclusion Support Services in B&NAS. As I looked at the flowers from right to left the images evoked in me feelings of hope in a movement towards the full energetic flowing of well-being and beauty. I believe that love, pleasure, hope, well-being and beauty can, together with other embodied values, constitute the new living standards of judgement that we can use to account to ourselves for our own lives and learning.

 

Why follow this picture with this video-clip of Alan Rayner demonstrating the importance of boundaries that are inclusional rather than severing: http://www.jackwhitehead.com/rayner1sor.mov ?

 

 

The video-clip follows the picture by Kayleigh because of its significance in a transformation and extension in my ways of understanding and knowing. Rayner's ideas about inclusionality have contributed to an extension and transformation of my own ideas into inclusional forms of educational enquiry with their new perceptions and relationally dynamic standards of judgement. Chris Jones acknowledges a similar influence of Alan Rayner's demonstration in her writings as she reflects on the video-clips below from a Creativity Workshop Chris organised with Marie Huxtable for teachers in B&NES on the 9th June 2006.  What I intend to communicate by the inclusion of the following visual narrative are the meanings of the flow-form of inclusional values of life-affirming energy, pleasure, creativity, responsive receptivitiy, love and productive work.

 

I am smiling as I watch the video of our Creativity Workshop and I am feeling the joy and pleasure in seeing inclusionality being demonstrated naturally and spontaneously in, between and with my friend and colleague, Marie and other educators who are participants in the workshop. I am looking at Marie as she  is inviting the group to respond to her questioning with  her  arms open, her eyes scanning the room and including all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel the joy and pleasure in looking at Marie and I, sitting adjacently and leaning forward and smiling as we engage with the participants in discussing creativity, being creative  and creating that moment together and with others.

 

(see the 8.2Mb, 1min. 31 sec. video clip from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/marie/mhchwk1min31.mov )

 

We move outside the room and as I listen to what I am saying, I feel the flow of energy that I felt at the time and as I always feel  when I am working with colleagues, every interaction unique and co-creative. I am listening to the expressive 'ooh' and the  intermittent laughter as the egg is passed around, all apprehensive should the egg fall,  all separate, yet  one as we share the activity in that moment in time. Silence follows laughter and laughter follows silence; those bursts of energy cutting through the atmosphere of apprehension. There are no barriers here between us; there is no vacuum dividing us: we are flowing as one and as the first task is complete, we clap spontaneously together.

 

(see the  6.8 Mb, 1min 15 sec video clip from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/marie/cjmhwkegg.mov)

 

I am still smiling as I watch the video as we move back into the room. The conversation, the questions and answers, the smiles and the laughter; Marie and I sitting adjacently, moving forward in response to comments, hands moving, arms outstretched, openly invitational.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(see the 7.9 Mb, 1min 42 sec video clip from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/marie/mhchwk3.mov - cannot be accessed until ethical permission is given

 

Can anyone see what I see? Does anyone feel as I feel? As I watch the flow of interaction between one and the other, I am reminded of  Rayner's Dance of Inclusionality and O' Donohue's 'web of betweenness'. I am looking at inclusionality in action of which I am a part and I am seeing the flow of life- affirming energy between Marie, the group and me, and as I watch, I am feeling the joy of what for me gives life meaning – the  flow of interaction between one and the other and the pleasure of that co-dynamic relationship. I am reminded of these feelings of joy when I was a teacher interacting with the class: I am learning from them; they are learning from me; we are all learning together in a co-creational relationship which could not happen without one or the other within that moment in time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I value who I am and what I try to be; I value others for who they are and what they try to be; I value what we are between us and what we try to be. It is through my relationship with others and the generative flow and pleasure of our interaction that I grow and live a life that has meaning for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris' and Marie's inclusional ways of being and understanding are embodied and expressed through their work into enhancing inclusion within schools in B&NES. Chris works with schools to attain their inclusional quality mark."

 

In one of the most exciting published papers on the importance of our bodies in education Amanda Sinclair writes:

 

In this article I explore the impact of bodies in management education — why they have been ignored and what possibilities may be created when we understand them better. Bodies — including gestures, stature, posture and voice — shape and constrain how teachers and students act, what they think and what is taken away. The bodies of male and female teachers and students occupy different spaces and carry contrasting significations, resulting in different repertoires of embodied and disembodied pedagogical styles. Drawing on feminist scholarship, organizational research and my own bodily experiences and observations in management teaching, and despite the myth of disembodiment in rational classrooms, I suggest management pedagogy increasingly assumes and celebrates particular bodily performances. Rather than lament the constriction of stereotypical body regimes, I argue that making bodies more visible in management pedagogy has liberating possibilities for teachers and students and their learning. (Sinclair, 2005, p. 89)

 

Sinclair, A. (2005) Body and Management Pedagogy, Gender Work and Organization, 12 (1) 89-104.

 

(Gender Work and Organization is one of the electronic journals available from the University of Bath and we have been through the instructions on how to access the electronic journals at:

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/monday/libraryejournals.htm )

 

(Ed – hoping that this stimulates you to finish your writings for submission – home visits on offer if needed!)

 

Update of mediation of the 'Given Curriculum' 25 July 2006

 

1) Aims

 

1a Examine critically the specific nature of research and enquiry in education, and its relationship to enquiry in other social science disciplines;

 

I am assuming that Catherine Snow was correct in her Presidential Address to AERA in 2001 when she examined critically the specific nature of research and enquiry in education.  Snow focused on the significance of learning how to make public our knowledge as professional educators and about the need to generate standards for the systemization of our personal professional knowledge and to connect our professional knowledge to bodies of knowledge established through other methods (for example through social science disciplines):

 

"The .... challenge is to enhance the value of personal knowledge and personal experience for practice. Good teachers possess a wealth of knowledge about teaching that cannot currently be drawn upon effectively in the preparation of novice teachers or in debates about practice. The challenge here is not to ignore or downplay this personal knowledge, but to elevate it. The knowledge resources of excellent teachers constitute a rich resource, but one that is largely untapped because we have no procedures for systematizing it. Systematizing would require procedures for accumulating such knowledge and making it public, for connecting it to bodies of knowledge established through other methods, and for vetting it for correctness and consistency. If we had agreed-upon procedures for transforming knowledge based on personal experiences of practice into 'public' knowledge, analogous to the way a researcher's private knowledge is made public through peer-review and publication, the advantages would be great (my emphasis). For one, such knowledge might help us avoid drawing far-reaching conclusions about instructional practices from experimental studies carried out in rarified settings. Such systematized knowledge would certainly enrich the research-based knowledge being increasingly introduced into teacher preparation programs. And having standards for the systematization of personal knowledge would provide a basis for rejecting personal anecdotes as a basis for either policy or practice."  (p.9)

 

Snow, C. E. (2001) Knowing What We Know: Children, Teachers, Researchers. Presidential Address to AERA, 2001, in Seattle, in Educational Researcher, Vol. 30, No.7, pp.3-9.

 

Hence my emphasis on our contributions to the development of research methods in education that can bring our embodied knowledge as educators, and our explanations of our educational influences in learning, into the public domain. I am stressing the importance of making public your accounts for your masters programme because this is a way of contributing your embodied knowledge as an educator, to the enhancement of the knowledge-base of education.

 

1b Examine the theories and forms of explanation used in educational research; and the types of knowledge generated in educational research.

 

In responding to aims 1a and 1b I would like us to be clear about different meanings of research in education, educational research and education research and with some of the problems of bringing together educational research that is concerned with generating explanations about educational influences in learning and research in education that is concerned with generating and testing theories in the philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, politics, economics leadership, management and theology of education. Here is Geoff Whitty's point about the importance of making a distinction between education research and educational research in his Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association of September 2005.

 

One way of handling the distinction might be to use the terms 'education research' and 'educational research' more carefully. In this paper, I have so far used the broad term education research to characterise the whole field, but it may be that within that field we should reserve the term educational research for work that is consciously geared towards improving policy and practice..... One problem with this distinction between 'education research' as the broad term and 'educational research' as the narrower field of work specifically geared to the improvement of policy and practice is that it would mean that BERA, as the British Educational Research Association would have to change its name or be seen as only involved with the latter. So trying to make the distinction clearer would also involve BERA in a re-branding exercise which may not necessarily bet the best way of spending our time and resources. But it is at least worth considering. (Whitty, 2005)

(You can access the full address from the url below)

 

The reason I like to make a clear distinction between education research and educational research is that it provides a way of examining the theories and forms of explanation used in educational research and the types of knowledge generated in education research. 

 

The distinction allows us to be clear that educational researchers, who are producing descriptions and explanations for educational influences in their own learning, in the learning of others and in the learning of social formations, can draw on the explanations from the traditional disciplines of education in moving on their own enquiries and theories.

 

Keeping the distinction between education and educational research means that the type of knowledge generated in educational research is focused on the explanations of educational influence in learning rather than on explanations that fit into the conceptual frameworks and methods of validation of the traditional disciplines of education.

 

1c Address the major ways of designing and conducting research studies to address a range of issues and problems in education;

 

There are a large number of ways of designing and conducting research studies to address a range of issues and problems in education. Each discipline of education and field of educational studies has its own ways of designing and conducting research studies, from within the range of issues and problems in education, covered by their discipline of education and field of educational studies. The American Federal Government is focusing funding for educational research on controlled experimental designs that have emerged from studies in agricultural. You can access Dawson's primer on experimental and quasi-experimental designs at:

 

Dawson, T. E. (1997) A Primer on Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Design Dawson. Retrieved 10 July 2006 from http://www.tele.sunyit.edu/expdes.htm

 

I like the way Michael Bassey writes about Creating Education through Research in his 1991 Presidential Address to BERA – you can access this from:

 

http://www.bera.ac.uk/addressdownloads/Bassey,%201991.pdf

 

Bassey, M. (1992) Creating Education through Research. British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 18, no. 1, 3-16.

 

You can access the BERA Presidential Addresses that marked the 30th Anniversary of BERA at:

http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/presidential_addresses.php

 

And read John Furlong's 2003 Presidential Address on BERA at 30. Have we come of age? at

http://www.bera.ac.uk/addressdownloads/Furlong,%202003.pdf

 

John Furlong's Address explores the importance of focusing on quality in educational research and on the need to defend a rich and diverse range of approaches to research and is well worth reading in relation to addressing the major ways of designing and conducting research studies to address a range of issues and problems in education.

 

1d Consider the relationship between research, policy and practice in education;

 

There are many ways of thinking about the relationship between research, policy and practice in education. Our ways of thinking are influenced by the conceptual frameworks we use to view education and the methods of validation we use to test our knowledge-claims and interpretations. Each discipline of education has its own conceptual framework and methods of validation. Philosophers of education consider the relationship between research, policy and practice using their philosophical frameworks, sociologists of education, psychologists of education, economists of education, leadership and administration theorists of education and political scientists of education use their own frameworks and methods. As practitioner-researchers who are researching our educational influences in learning as professional educators, we are developing our own ways of understanding the relationship between research, policy and practice in our educational practices. You can show how you are developing these understandings as you consider the influence of your research and of school, government and other policies in your educational practices as you work with your students (as researchers themselves) in enhancing their learning (and our own).

 

Probably the best article to read in considering the relationship between research, policy and practice in education is Geoff Whitty's 2005 Presidential Address to the British Educational Research Association.

 

Whitty, G. (2005) Education(al) research and education policy making: is conflict inevitable. Presidential address to the BERA annual conference, 17th September, 2005. Retrieved 19 July 2006 from http://k1.ioe.ac.uk/directorate/BERAPresidentialAddress09-2005.pdf

 

 

2) Learning Outcomes

 

2a understand the relationship between different kinds of knowledge and forms of explanation in educational research;

 

I will focus on the idea of 'paradigm wars' discussed by Robert Donmoyer when he edited Educational Researcher and drew attention to very different interpretations of validity – do see if you understand Patti Lather's idea of 'ironic validity'. I also like the point below from Alasdair MacIntyre where he is

 

First the practical problem: Today there is as much variation among qualitative researchers as there is between qualitative and quantitatively orientated scholars. Anyone doubting this claim need only compare Miles and Huberman's (1994) relatively traditional conception of validity <'The meanings emerging from the data have to be tested for their plausibility, their sturdiness, their 'confirmability' – that is, their validity' (p.11)> with Lather's discussion of ironic validity:

 

"Contrary to dominant validity practices where the rhetorical nature of scientific claims is masked with methodological assurances, a strategy of ironic validity  proliferates forms, recognizing that they are rhetorical and without foundation, postepistemic, lacking in epistemological support. The text is resituated as a representation of its 'failure to represent what it points toward by can never reach.... (Lather, 1994, p. 40-41)'." (Donmoyer, 1996 p.21.)

 

Donmoyer, R. (1996) Educational Research in an Era of Paradigm Proliferation: What's a Journal Editor to Do? Educational Researcher, Vol. 25, No.2, pp. 19-25

 

There is a history of conflict between adherents to different kinds of knowledge and forms of explanation in educational research. I tend to focus my understanding of the relationships between the different kinds of knowledge and forms of explanation in terms of Macintyre's point:

 

The rival claims to truth of contending traditions of enquiry depend for their vindication upon the adequacy and explanatory power of the histories which the resources of each of those traditions in conflict enable their adherents to write. (MacIntyre, 1988, p. 403)

 

MacIntyre, A. (1988) Whose Justice? Which Rationality?  Duckworth; London.

 

2b how new knowledge in education is generated and the relationship between research and professional knowledge in education;

 

Each discipline of education has its own conceptual framework and methods of validation. It is usual to distinguish information gathering and theory generation and testing in research. New knowledge in education can be generated through the application of research methods in gathering data and through the exercise of imagination in creating explanations and through the exercise of critical judgement in evaluating the validity of the explanations.

 

Knowledge from the disciplines of education can help to inform professional knowledge in education. For example, much use has been made of Piagetian Cognitive Stage Theory in the design of curriculum materials. Many educators also recognize the importance of a close philosophical attention to the meanings in our expressive use of language to make sure that we are communicating our meanings clearly. The sociological theories of Basil Bernstein and the theory of power/knowledge of Michel Foucault, as well as the work in Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas are all widely used in the professional knowledge-base of education.

 

In the practitioner work of Marion Dadds and Susan Hart the idea of methodological inventiveness is stressed as significant in the generation of knowledge by practitioner-researchers from self-studies of their embodied knowledge.

 

" The importance of methodological inventiveness

 

Perhaps the most important new insight for both of us has been awareness that, for some practitioner researchers, creating their own unique way through their research may be as important as their self-chosen research focus. We had understood for many years that substantive choice was fundamental to the motivation and effectiveness of practitioner research (Dadds 1995); that what practitioners chose to research was important to their sense of engagement and purpose. But we had understood far less well that how practitioners chose to research, and their sense of control over this, could be equally important to their motivation, their sense of identity within the research and their research outcomes." (Dadds & Hart, p. 166, 2001)

 

If our aim is to create conditions that facilitate methodological inventiveness, we need to ensure as far as possible that our pedagogical approaches match the message that we seek to communicate. More important than adhering to any specific methodological approach, be it that of traditional social science or traditional action research. may be the willingness and courage or practitioners – and those who support them – to create enquiry approaches that enable new, valid understandings to develop; understandings that empower practitioners to improve their work for the beneficiaries in their care. Practitioner research methodologies are with us to serve professional practices. So what genuinely matters are the purposes of practice which the research seeks to serve, and the integrity with which the practitioner researcher makes methodological choices about ways of achieving those purposes. No methodology is, or should, cast in stone, if we accept that professional intention should be informing research processes, not pre-set ideas about methods of techniques..." (Dadds & Hart, p. 169, 2001)

 

 

Dadds, M. & Hart, S. (2001) Doing Practitioner Research Differently, p. 166. London; RoutledgeFalmer.

 

2c understand key concepts in educational research (e.g, objectivity, subjectivity, reflexivity) and how they inform research studies;

 

"The words 'objective' and 'subjective' are philosophical terms heavily burdened with a heritage of contradictory usages and of inclusive and interminable discussions.

 

My use of the terms 'objective' and 'subjective' is not unlike Kant/s. He uses the work 'objective' to indicate that scientific knowledge should be justifiable, independently of anybody's whim: 'If something is valid', he writes, 'for anybody in possession of his reason, then its grounds are objective and sufficient'.

Now I hold that scientific theories are never fully justifiable or verifiable, but that they are nevertheless testable. I shall therefore say that objectivity of scientific statements lies in the fact that they can be inter-subjectively tested. The word 'subjective' is applied by Kant to our feelings of conviction (of varying degrees)...... I have since generalized this formulation; for inter-subjective testing is merely a very important aspect of the more general idea of inter-subjective criticism, or in other words, of the idea of mutual rational control by critical discussion."(Popper, 1975, p.44)

 

Popper, K. (1975) The Logic of Scientific Discovery,  London; Hutchinson & Co.

 

Reflexivity

 

"Reflexivity requires an awareness of the researcher's contribution to the construction of meanings throughout the research process, and an acknowledgment of the impossibility of remaining 'outside of' one's subject matter while conducting research. Reflexivity then, urges us "to explore the ways in which a researcher's involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research." (Nightingale and Cromby, 1999, p. 228).

 

"There are two types of reflexivity: personal reflexivity and epistemological reflexivity. 'Personal reflexivity' involves reflecting upon the ways in which our own values, experiences, interests, beliefs, political commitments, wider aims in life and social identities have shaped the research. It also involves thinking about how the research may have affected and possibly changed us, as people and as researchers. 'Epistemological reflexivity' requires us to engage with questions such as: How has the research question defined and limited what can be 'found?' How has the design of the study and the method of analysis 'constructed' the data and the findings? How could the research question have been investigated differently? To what extent would this have given rise to a different understanding of the phenomenon under investigation? Thus, epistemological reflexivity encourages us to reflect upon the assumptions (about the world, about knowledge) that we have made in the course of the research, and it helps us to think about the implications of such assumptions for the research and its findings." Carla Willig, (2001) Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology (p. 10).

Retrieved on 30 May 2006 from www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/michael/qual_reflexivity.htm

 

2d  be able to access, evaluate and review critically relevant research literature;

 

Do please access the three Eliott Eisner papers of 1988 on the primary of experience and the politics of method, of 1993 on forms of representation and the future of educational research and from 1997 on the problems and perils of alternative forms of data representation. His 2005 book on Reimagining Schools: The selected works of Elliot W. Eisner (London & New York, Routledge) contains these three papers. You can also access the three papers by following the e-journal instructions from http://www.jackwhitehead.com/monday/libraryejournals.htm

 

I will be using the distinction between educational research and education research in my critical evaluations of relevant research literature. I will be distinguishing educational research in terms of explanations of educational influences in learning and education research as the data gathering and theory generating and testing activities of education researchers.

 

2e be familiar with the major paradigms within which educational research is conducted; and understand how they relate to research in other social science disciplines;

 

Distinctions are often drawn between quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. In America the Federal Government is only funding quantitative research that conforms to controlled experimental designs. You could say that such research can be understood in terms of a quantitative research paradigm.

 

In my study of different kinds of data I have always found the following distinctions useful. They help me to critically evaluate research that gathers data on educational influences in learning that are nominal (you can categorise using a criteria of quality) or ordinal (you can categorise and order the data into a taxonomy to which parametric statistics can be applied) but applies an inappropriate statistical technique that requires ratio or interval data where you know the relationship between the intervals in the category system (parametric statistics).

 

Levels of Measurement see -  http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/datalevl.htm

 

*       Nominal data has no order, and the assignment of numbers to categories is purely arbitrary (ex., 1=East, 2=North, 3=South, etc.). Because of lack of order or equal intervals, one cannot perform arithmetic (+, -, /, *) or logical operations (>, <, =) on nominal data.

 

*          Ordinal data has order, but the intervals between scale points may be uneven. Rank data are usually (see below) ordinal, as in students' rank in class. The interval distance from the top student to the second-highest student may be great, but the interval from the second-ranked student to the third-ranked may be very close. Because of lack of equal distances, arithmetic operations are impossible with ordinal data, which are restricted to logical operations (more than, less than, equal to). For instance, given a person of rank 50 and a person of rank 25 in a school class of 100, where rank 100 is highest achievement, one cannot divide 25 into 50 to conclude that the first person has twice the achievement of the second. However, one can say the first person represents more achievement than the second person.

 

į      Interval data has order and equal intervals. Counts are interval, such as counts of income, years of education, or number of Democratic votes. Ratio data are interval data which also have a true zero point. Temperature is not ratio because zero degrees is not "no temperature," but income is ratio because zero dollars is truly "no income," For most statistical procedures the distinction between interval and ratio does not matter and it is common to use the term "interval" to refer to ratio data as well. Occasionally, however, the distinction between interval and ratio becomes important. With interval data, one can perform logical operations, add, and subtract, but one cannot multiply or divide. For instance, if a liquid is 40 degrees and we add 10 degrees, it will be 50 degrees. However, a liquid at 40 degrees does not have twice the temperature of a liquid at 20 degrees because 0 degrees does not represent "no temperature" -- to multiply or divide in this way we would have to be using the Kelvin temperature scale, with a true zero point (0 degrees Kelvin = -273.15 degrees Celsius). Fortunately, in social science the issue of "true zero" rarely arises, but researchers should be aware of the statistical issues involved.

 

2f identify appropriate topics for enquiry and formulate research questions;

 

Everyone has identified appropriate topics of enquiry and formulated appropriate research questions.

 

Look up the Teaching and Learning Research Project at http://www.tlrp.org/proj/index.html

 

Evaluate the topics in relation to the appropriateness of the research questions.

 

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/

 

Scroll down the page and access the latest newsletter. Note the difference between research informed professional practice and research-based professional practice. Evaluate the content of the latest newsletter in terms of the appropriateness of the research questions.

 

2g be familiar with, and understand how to apply, a range of research strategies and designs appropriate to educational problems (e.g. survey, experiments, case study, ethnographic approaches, biographical/narrative approaches).

 

It is vital in any research to ensure that the research strategy and design being used is appropriate for the research question being explored.

 

Survey                  

 

Survey data would be important if you wanted to discover the population in the UK, or the number of single sex schools in particular geographical locatations, or the gender, ethnic, class differences in examination results.

 

Experimental designs

 

Researchers using experimental designs are trying to understand the educational phenomena as a set of variables whose behaviour can be predicted and controlled.

 

See:

 

http://www.okstate.edu/ag/agedcm4h/academic/aged5980a/5980/newpage2.htm

 

Case Study

 

"The unit of analysis is a critical factor in the case study. It is typically a system of action rather than an individual or group of individuals. Case studies tend to be selective, focusing on one or two issues that are fundamental to understanding the system being examined." (Tellis, 1997)

 

See:

 

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-3/tellis2.html

 

Ethnography

 

The key point about ethnography is that it emphasizes the study of an entire culture.

See.

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qualapp.htm

 

Biographical/narrative approaches

 

See Alvermann (2000) at:

 

http://www.readingonline.org/articles/handbook/alvermann/index.html

 

Reference - Alvermann, D.E. (2000, November). Narrative approaches. Reading Online, 4(5). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/handbook/alvermann/index.html

 

2h understand ethical considerations, such as the connection between researcher and researched in educational settings;

 

Download the Ethical Guidelines of the British Educational Research Association from:

 

http://www.bera.ac.uk/publications/guides.php

 

Check that ethical approvals have been agreed with parents, pupils and headteacher before publication of your accounts.

 

See also, Hemmings, A. (2006) Great Ethical Divides: Bridging the Gap Between Institutional Review Boards and Researchers, Educational Researcher 35 (4) 12-18.

 

3) Skills

 

3a Application of a critical understanding of issues in educational research by evaluating examples of published research (T/A).

 

I have chosen to focus on the published research of Elliot Eisner because of the significance of his ideas for evaluating the forms of representation we use in our explanations of educational influence in learning.

 

Eisner, E. (1988) The Primacy of Experience and the Politics of Method, Educational Researcher, Vol. 17, No. 5, 15-20.

 

Eisner, E. (1993) Forms of Understanding and the Future of Educational Research. Educational Researcher, Vol. 22, No. 7, 5-11.

 

Eisner, E. (1997) The Promise and Perils of Alternative Forms of Data Representation. Educational Researcher, Vol. 26, No. 6, 4-10.

 

Eisner, E. (2005) Reimaging Schools: The selected works of Elliot W. Eisner, Oxford & New York; Routledge.

 

3b Evaluating the claims of research and theoretical knowledge (T/F/A)

 

In relation to your chosen enquiry I would do a Google search on your area of interest and evaluate the claims of some recent research that is relevant to your enquiry to see if it helps to take your enquiry forward.  Do search for the most recent theories you can find that relate to your enquiry and that seem to have the possibility of generating valid explanations in your area of enquiry. I'd evaluate the validity of my claim that you will need to generate your own living theory to explain your educational influences in your own learning, in the learning of others (your students) and in the learning of social formations, because no other theory, taken individually or in any combination will adequately explain your educational influence.

 

3c  Problem analysis, research and critical reflection/evaluation (T/F/A)

 

In analyzing your enquiry do include in your account an understanding of ideas that you can draw on from different theories of education and from research methods in education that are helpful in moving your enquiry forward.  I think that we have all demonstrated our capacity for problem analysis in the way we have imagined action plans to take our enquiries forward. We have researched our practice and integrated critical reflections and evaluations in the course of our enquiries. We have also engaged with the ideas of others and used these where relevant.

 

3d  Independent work and self-directed learning (F)

 

Aren't we demonstrating these qualities in the ways that we are conducting our educational enquiries?

 

3e  Group and team work (F)

 

Aren't we exercising and developing these skills in the ways we help each other to move on our enquiries in our Tuesday evening sessions?

 

3f Individual and group presentation skills (F)

 

We have tended to focus on our individual presentations of our enquiries. Jack and Marie are organizing a study day for the Collaborative Action Research Network during the 2006-07 session and this could give us the opportunity to develop our group presentation skills.

                       

3g Written communication (A)

 

Our written communications have been shared throughout the programme and we can check their development as we share our drafts for the research methods in education unit on 5th September 2006.

 

3h Develop skill in communicating research to different audiences (T/F)

 

There have been opportunities to communicate our research to each other, to colleagues in our schools and to two practitioner-researcher days at the University. We could extend the different audiences by including our students, policy makers and national and international research forums.

 

Do check to see if you feel the need to enhance any of the above skills in the Tuesday evening sessions in the 2006/7 sessions.

 

4) Content

 

4a Purposes for research in education.

 

There are likely to be as many purposes as there are researchers in education. I have encountered researchers in education who carried out research in educational settings for the purpose of generating and testing theories in the philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, leadership, administration, curriculum, economics, politics and theology of education. I have encountered researchers in education who have gathered data in educational settings to provide information. For example researchers in the early 1970s demonstrated that there were more students from minority ethnic backgrounds in special schools than would be expected in relation to their percentage in the population. Researchers have gathered data that shows gender differences in educational achievements in national examinations. Some researchers in education have the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of the implementation of government policy initiatives or of evaluating the implementation of a curriculum programme in schools. Practitioner-researchers often engage in research in education to explore the implications of working to improve their educational influences in their own learning in their students' learning and in the social formations in which the practice is located. They often include the purpose of seeking to improve understandings of the processes of improving this learning. Self-study researchers in education often have the purpose of enquirying into the processes of living their ontological values as fully as they can. Some self-study researchers have the purpose of generating their own living educational theories as explanations for their educational influences in learning. Traditional notions of research is that it has the purpose of data gathering and of theory generation and testing.

 

4b Major forms and traditions of research in education and their methodological implications (e.g. research on educational policy; educational settings; pedagogy; pupil learning and achievement).

 

Two distinct forms of research can be understood as 'spectator' and 'living' research that leads to 'spectator' and 'living' truth claims.

 

Are you sufficiently confident that you can distinguish between research on educational policy; educational settings; pedagogy, pupil learning and achievement, from spectator and living perspectives:

 

Existentialists such as Gabriel Marcel (cf. Keen, 1966) distinguish between "spectator" truth and "living" truth.  The former is generated by disciplines (e.g., experimental science, psychology, sociology) which rationalise reality and impose on it a framework which helps them to understand it but at the expense of oversimplifying it.  Such general explanations can be achieved only by standing back from and "spectating" the human condition from a distance, as it were, and by concentrating on generalities and ignoring particularities which do not fit the picture.  Whilst such a process is very valuable, it is also very limited because it is one step removed from reality.  The "living" "authentic" truth of a situation can be fully understood only from within the situation though the picture that emerges will never be as clear-cut as that provided by "spectator" truth."

Burke, A.(1992, p.222).

 

Burke, A.(1992) Teaching: Retrospect and Prospect. Footnote 6 on p. 222,  OIDEAS, Vol. 39, pp. 5-254.

 

Are you confident that you can articulate a distinction between  education research in the philosophy, sociology, psychology, history, economics, politics, leadership, administration, curriculum and theology of education and educational research?

 

I like very much the way Elliot Eisner discusses the political implications of the methods we use in research in education.

 

Eisner, E. (1988) The Primacy of Experience and the Politics of Method, Educational Researcher, Vol. 17, No. 5, 15-20.

 

4c Critical literature review; and interpretation of research findings and claims to knowledge.

 

As you engage with the research literature relevant to your enquiry you can show how you integrate insights from the ideas of others into your own enquiry and theory generation. In 2000 Peter Mellett produced a review for BERA on Educational Action Research within Teaching as a Research-Based Profession. It is a rather long document but addresses the differences between traditional critical literature reviews and engaging with the literature from a practitioner-researcher perspective. You can access Peter Mellett's review at:

 

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/values/pmreview.htm

 

When evaluating any claim to knowledge it is important to focus on the unit of appraisal and standards of judgement. The unit of appraisal is 'what is being judged' and the standards of judgement include the criteria we use to test the validity of the claim to knowledge. In the living theory theses, the unit of appraisal is the individual's explanation for the educational influences in learning. The standards of judgement are usually communicated through an action enquiry process that clarifies the meanings of the individual's ontological values (the values we use to give meaning and purpose to our existence) in the course of their emergence in practice.

 

As we clarify the meanings of our embodied, ontological values, in the course of their expression and clarification in practice they become public communications in our visual narratives and form our living epistemological standards of judgement. So, in judging the validity of our claims to know our educational influences we need to make public the appropriate standards of judgement.  There is a lot of debate and discussion going on in educational research communities about the nature of education and educational research and about the appropriate standards of judgement that should be used to evaluate the validity and quality of research from different traditions of enquiry. Do read John Furlong's BERA Presidential Address at

http://www.bera.ac.uk/addressdownloads/Furlong,%202003.pdf if you want to understand some of the contemporary debates.

 

4d Key concepts in educational research (e.g. objectivity, subjectivity and reflexivity); their application in the conduct of a research study. 

 

I covered objectivity, subjectivity and reflexivity in 2c above and just want to add some ideas on validity and rigour.

 

In relation to validity I draw on Jurgen Habermas' ideas:

 

I shall develop the thesis that anyone acting communicatively must, in performing any speech action, raise universal validity claims and suppose that they can be vindicated (or redeemed). Insofar as he wants to participate in a process of reaching understanding, he cannot avoid raising the following – and indeed precisely the following – validity claims. He claims to be:

 

a)    Uttering something understandably;

b)    Giving (the hearer) something to understand;

c)     Making himself thereby understandable. And

d)    Coming to an understanding with another person.

 

The speaker must choose a comprehensible expression so that speaker and hearer can understand one another. The speaker must have the intention of communicating a true proposition (or a propositional content, the existential presuppositions of which are satisfied) so that the hearer can share the knowledge of the speaker. The speaker must want to express his intentions truthfully so that the hearer can believe the utterance of the speaker (can trust him). Finally, the speaker must choose an utterance that is right so that the hearer can accept the utterance and speaker and hearer can agree with on another in the utterance with respect to a recognized normative background. Moreover, communicative action can continue undisturbed only as long as participants suppose that the validity claims they reciprocally raise are justified. (Habermas, 1976, pp.2-3)

 

Habermas, J. (1976) Communication and the evolution of society.  London; Heinemann

 

I have reformed these four criteria of social validity into questions that I ask of research reports:

 

Is the report comprehensible?

Is there sufficient evidence to justify the claims being made?

Are the normative assumptions in the report made explicit?

Is the writer authentic in showing in interaction through time that he or she is seeking to live their professed values as fully as possible?

 

In relation to rigour I draw on Richard Winters' six criteria of:

 

Dialectical critique, reflexive critique, risk, plural structure, multiple resource, theory practice transformation.

 

Winter, R. (1989) Learning from Experience, London; Falmer.

 

Peggy Leong in her very impressive masters dissertation 'The Art of an Educational Inquiry' provides a Chapter on Criteria for Judgement which I do recommend:

 

"I shall devote this chapter to discussing the need for action research inquiries to be conducted and documented in ways that would stand up to criticisms that such inquiries lack rigour and validity. I propose four criteria for judging the soundness of action research reports. The four criteria are the culmination of my experience and educational development through two modules of Action Research and the writing of this dissertation for the Masters of Education course over the past twelve months."

 

You can download the dissertation with Chapter Five from:

 

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/peggy.shtml

 

4e Identification of researchable problems in education and formulation of research questions.

 

A list of researchable problems in education could stretch into infinity! One key issue about a research problem is to consider its manageability with the time, resources and skills at the researchers disposal. I have seen research proposals from one researcher with only months to do the research that would take a team of researchers working for years in a longitudinal study to tackle! In forming a research question it is important to understand how the question can be researched and answered. For example, research questions can be asked from within an existing theoretical framework, where the intention is to test the validity of the theory. Some psychological researchers in education might for example define their problems from within a particular psychological theory. My early research in education was of this kind where I formed my problems from within Piagetian Cognitive State Theory. Other questions are asked with the intention of generating explanations when existing theories do not appear adequate for generating valid explanations. My question, 'how do I improve what I am doing?' is one such question. It isn't formed from within any existing theory and is intended not only to work at improving practice, but to understand and explain the processes of improving practice. In my experience of supervising living theory doctoral research programmes, the actual question answered by the thesis is the last insight the researcher develops in the course of the research programme. In some traditional forms of research the research question is asked at the beginning of the research and stays the same throughout the research. The identification of good research questions from within well established disciplines of education does require a good grounding in the relevant discipline. However, practitioner-researchers often identify good questions from within their practice as professional educators that are intimately connected to living their values more fully in their practice as they seek to enhance their educational influences in their students' learning.

 

4f The logic(s)  of research designs and strategies on educational topics.

 

In relation to the logic of research designs and strategies on educational topics I want to make a clear distinction between propositional logic, dialectical logic and inclusional logic in educational enquiries. If we understand logic as the form that reason takes in understanding the real as rational (Marcuse, 1964), we can appreciate the importance of logic to the way we make sense of our experience and to the sharing of our understandings with each other. Keeping to the above distinction between education research and educational research I want to show the importance of our logics of inclusionality in our educational enquiries. Using video clips with Marie Huxtable and Chris Jones and their visual narratives of their inclusional values I set out my understandings of how we are creating a new epistemology of inclusionality in our living educational theories as practitioner-researchers at:

 

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jack/jwkeynote130706.htm

 

However, propositional logic still structures the theories in the disciplines of education. I want to draw your attention to Karl Popper's use of this logic in his argument that dialectical theories are entirely useless as theories, because of their nucleus of contradiction. In opposition to this view dialectical logicians argue that propositional theories mask the dialectical nature of reality! The arguments between dialectical and propositional logicians have been going on for 2,500 years and can be appreciated in Aristotle's work On Interpretation where he states, through his law of excluded middle, that everything must be Either A or Not-A. In contrast to this logic, Plato, in The Phaedrus, draws on the dialogue on love between Socrates and Phaedrus to elevate to the highest level as knowers those who express the art of a dialectician in holding both the one and the many together.

 

I don't think you need to go into Popper's arguments but I'd like you to be aware of Popper's rejection of dialectical logic from the perspective of propositional logic,

 

In answering his question, 'What is Dialectic?', Popper (1963) rejects dialectical claims to knowledge as, 'without the slightest foundation. Indeed, they are based on nothing better than a loose and woolly way of speaking' (p.316)...... We see from this that if a theory contains a contradiction, then it entails everything, and therefore, indeed, nothing. A theory which adds to every information which it asserts also the negation of this information can give us no information at all.  A theory which involves a contradiction is therefore entirely useless as a theory (Popper, 1963, p.317).

Popper, K. (1963) Conjectures and Refutations, Oxford: O.U.P.

 

If you want to read Popper's proof in full you can access the two pages at:

 

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/monday/popperdialectic.htm

 

I want us to consider the relationship between Popper's rejection of dialectical logic and Ilyenkov's embrace of dialectical logic with its nucleus of contradiction where Ilyenkov focuses on the problem of representing a living contradiction in our research accounts.

 

If any object exists as a living contradiction what must the thought (statement about the object) be that expresses it? Can and should an objective contradiction find reflection in thought? And if so, in what form?  (Ilyenkov, 1977, p. 320)

Ilyenkov, E. (1977) Dialectical Logic, Moscow; Progress Publishers.

 

I think that we are showing how we are answering this question in our research reports where we are explaining our educational influences in our own learning as we explore the implications of working with our experience of living contradictions as we seek to live our values as fully as we can.

 

I also believe that we are living inclusionally in Alan Rayner's sense of inclusionality as living with a relationally dynamic awareness of space and boundaries that are connective, reflexive and co-creative.(See Rayner, 2006 Essays and Talks About Inclusionality by Alan Rayner - http://www.bath.ac.uk/~bssadmr/inclusionality/ )

 

As well as the keynote to the Practitioner-Researcher conference from the 13 July 2006 on, 'Have we created a new educational epistemology in our living educational theories as practitioner-researchers?'

at:

 

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/jack/jwkeynote130706.htm

 

I've explored my understanding of the living standards of judgement appropriate for inclusionality in:

 

Living inclusional values in educational standards of practice and judgement. Keynote for the Act, Reflect, Revise III Conference, Brantford Ontario. 11th November 2005, at:

 

http://www.jackwhitehead.com/monday/arrkey05dr1.htm

 

I don't want to overload you with readings but you might enjoy the one page Abstracts from the following urls, from seven women practitioner-researchers who have received their doctorates for their living theory theses.

 

1) Bernie Sullivan (2006) A living theory of a practice of social justice: Realising the right of traveller children for educational equality. Ph.D. University of Limerick. Supervised by Jean McNiff. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from

http://www.jeanmcniff.com/bernieabstract.html

 

This thesis is an articulation of my living theory of social justice that evolved through undertaking research in the area of educational provision for Traveller children. It demonstrates how my embodied values of social justice and equality compelled me to engage in social and educational practices that refused to privilege some children at the expense of minority or marginalised groups. I explain how I transformed these values into the living critical standards of judgement by which I wish my work to be evaluated.

 

2) Eleanor Lohr  (2006) Love at Work: What is my lived experience of love and how might I become an instrument of love's purpose. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/living.shtml

 

I judge the worth of my action and its loving dimension in silent reflective spiritual practice. I also judge the worth of my action and its loving dimension in the feedback I get from others. I set criteria that focus on seeking harmony and wholeness, and which do not ignore challenge and difference. I argue that the creative dynamism arising from difference is an important component of love at work.

 

3) Margaret Farren (2005) How can I create a pedagogy of the unique through a web of betweenness? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/farren.shtml

 

I clarify the meaning of my embodied values in the course of their emergence in my practice-based research. My values have been transformed into living standards of judgement that include a 'web of betweenness' and a 'pedagogy of the unique'. The 'web of betweenness' refers to how we learn in relation to one another and also how ICT can enable us to get closer to communicating the meanings of our embodied values. I see it as a way of expressing my understanding of education as 'power with', rather than 'power over', others. It is this 'power with' that I have tried to embrace as I attempt to create a learning environment in which I, and practitioner-researchers, can grow personally and professionally. A 'pedagogy of the unique' respects the unique constellation of values and standards of judgement that each practitioner-researcher contributes to a knowledge base of practice.

 

4) Marian Naidoo (2005) I am Because We Are. (My never-ending story) The emergence of a living theory of inclusional and responsive practice. Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/naidoo.shtml

 

I believe that this original account of my emerging practice demonstrates how I have been able to turn my ontological commitment to a passion for compassion into a living epistemological standard of judgement by which my inclusional and responsive practice may be held accountable. 
I am a story teller and the focus of this narrative is on my learning and the development of my living educational theory as I have engaged with others in a creative and critical practice over a sustained period of time. This narrative self-study demonstrates how I have encouraged people to work creatively and critically in order to improve the way we relate and communicate in a multi-professional and multi-agency healthcare setting in order to improve both the quality of care provided and the well being of the system.

 

5) Mary Hartog (2004) A Self Study Of A Higher Education Tutor: How Can I Improve My Practice? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/hartog.shtml

 

My claim to originality is embodied in the aesthetics of my teaching and learning relationships, as I respond to the sources of humanity and educative needs of my students, as I listen to their stories and find an ethic of care in my teaching and learning relationships that contain them in good company and that returns them to their stories as more complete human beings.

 

Mary has been awarded a 2006 National Teaching Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy for her outstanding impact on the student learning experience.

 

6) Madeline Church (2004) Creating an uncompromised place to belong: Why do I find myself in networks? Retrieved 7 July 2006 from  http://www.bath.ac.uk/~edsajw/church.shtml

 

I notice the way bullying is part of my fabric. I trace my resistance to these experiences in my embodied experience of connecting to others, through a form of shape-changing. I see how question-forming is both an expression of my own bullying tendencies, and an intention to overcome them. Through my connection to others and my curiosity, I form a networked community in which I can work in the world as a network coordinator, action-researcher, activist and evaluator. 

I show how my approach to this work is rooted in the values of compassion, love, and fairness, and inspired by art. I hold myself to account in relation to these values, as living standards by which I judge myself and my action in the world. This finds expression in research that helps us to design more appropriate criteria for the evaluation of international social change networks. Through this process I inquire with others into the nature of networks, and their potential for supporting us in lightly-held communities which liberate us to be dynamic, diverse and creative individuals working together for common purpose. I tentatively conclude that networks have the potential to increase my and our capacity for love.

 

7) Jacqueline Delong (2002) How Can I Improve My Practice As A Superintendent of Schools and Create My Own Living Educational Theory? Ph.D. University of Bath. Retrieved 7 July 2006 from http://www.actionresearch.net/delong.shtml

 

One of the basic tenets of my philosophy is that the development of a culture for improving learning rests upon supporting the knowledge-creating capacity in each individual in the system. Thus, I start with my own. This thesis sets out a claim to know my own learning in my educational inquiry, 'How can I improve my practice as a superintendent of schools?' 

.... The values and standards are defined in terms of valuing the other in my professional practice, building a culture of inquiry, reflection and scholarship and creating knowledge.