Session Information
ERG SES C 04, Research Processes
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
According to Mortimore (2000), educational research has four tasks: to observe and record systematically, to analyze and draw out implications, to publish findings, and to improve educational processes and outcomes. To publish the results of an investigation is one of the most important parts of research process. Ray (2006) emphasized that the aim of scientific investigation was publication and he noted the following statement: "If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it fall, does it make sound? The correct answer is no. Sound is more than, 'pressure waves' and indeed there can be no sound without a hearer. And similarly, scientific communication is a two-way process. Just as a signal of any kind is useless unless it is both received and understood by its intended audience." As can be understood from Ray's expression, educational research like the others is done to be released for related people.
Educational researchers have queried themselves about what do they do, who read their articles, who use researches' results, etc. While some researchers emphasize that educational research's potential to guide the practice which consists of teachers, school leaders and policy makers (Mortimore, 2000; Hargreaves, 1997; Hemsley-Brown & Sharp, 2003), the others suggest that educational researches cannot be educative always but informative (Hammersley, 2003). Eventually, educational researchers are still discussing on aims, nature, understanding and methods of educational research (Vanderlinde and Braak, 2010).
There are numerous investigations which aimed to determine teachers' (Shkedi, 1998) and school leaders' (Vanderlinde and Braak, 2010) opinions on educational research. However, the researches which publicly uncover what educational researchers think about this are limited. In this context, it is aimed to reveal views of emerging researchers who form the future of educational researchers' community on educational research process. For this purpose, the following research questions are addressed:
1. According to emerging researchers, what is educational research?
a. What does it include?
2. According to emerging researchers, for what is educational research published?
a. Who should benefit from?
3. According to emerging researchers, how can be educational research become more useful?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bogdan, R. C. & Biklen, S. K. (1998). Qualitative research education: an introduction to theory and methods. Allyn & Bacon: America Online. Hargreaves. (1997). In defence of research for evidence-based teaching: a rejoinder to Martyn Hammersley. British Educational Research Journal, 23(4), 405-419. Hammersley, M. (2003). Can and should educational research be educative? Oxford Review of Education, 29, 3-25. Hemsley-Brown, J. & Sharp, C. (2003). The use of research to improve professional practice: a systematic review of the literature. Oxford Review of Education, 29, 449-470. Lange, Jeffrey K. (2002). Review: Richard A. Krueger & Mary Anne Casey (2000). Focus Groups. A Practical Guide for Applied Research (3rd Edition) [10 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 3(4), Art. 28, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0204280. Lodico, M. G., Spaulding, D. T., & Voegtle, K. H. (2006). Methods in educational research: from theory to practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass A Wiley Imprint. Mortimore, P. (2000). Does educational research matter? British Educational Research Journal, 26(1), 5-24. Ray, R. A. (2006). How to write and publish a scientific paper (5th edition). Oryx Press. Shkedi, A. (1998). Teachers’ attitudes towards research: a challenge for qualitative researchers. Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(4), 559-577. Vanderlinde; R. &Van Braak, J. (2010). The gap between educational research and practice: views of teachers, school leaders, intermediaries and researchers. British Educational Research Journal. 36 (2). 299-316.
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