Organizing the Field Toimprove Research Oneducational Administration

Abstract

In early discussions, the Task Force on Inquiry and Research in Educational Administra-tion considered the possibility that scholarship in the field might be improved by organiz-ing or coordinating the efforts of scholars. The purpose of this article is to examine this issue. The authors explain that researchers in educational administration already are organized in two ways. First, they tend to focus on common topics, although the focal top-ics shift rapidly. Second, researchers coordinate their work both formally and infor-mally. This might be taken to suggest that organizing is not an effective strategy for enhancing inquiry and research in our field because new knowledge typically is the prod-uct of individual scholars who consistently focus on one topic. The authors argue other-wise, explaining that researchers might focus on enduring conceptual problems while studying timely topics from the field. The authors also suggest that different collabora-tive structures may offer different advantages in encouraging and facilitating the research of individual scholars.