On the Nature of Educational Research

Abstract

There are many different languages and logics of educational research. One helpful way to get some perspective on them is to see their roots in three dominant 20th century philosophical traditions (à la Bernstein): logical empiricism (positivism); interpretive theories (analytic, phenomenological, and hermeneutic); and critical theory (neo-Marxist). Another way is to demonstrate through an analysis of the universal phenomenon of pedagogy, that empirical (causal), interpretive (meaningful), and critical (normative) dimensions characterize pedagogy and hence all need to be studied if pedagogical research is to be honest to its subject matter. By extrapolation the same argument is made for educational research writ large, and researchers are urged to be openminded in their rational appraisal of research claims across traditions.