Full Description
This book raises important questions about the extent to which policy can be derived from research and about the kind of evidence which should inform policy.
Challenges contemporary orthodoxies and offers constructive alternatives
Critiques the narrower conceptions of evidence which might inform policy advanced by the 'what works' movement
Investigates the logical gaps between what can be shown by research and the wider political requirements of policy
Examines the different educational research traditions e.g. large population studies, individual case studies, personal narratives, action research, philosophy and 'the romantic turn'
Calls for a more subtle understanding of the ways in which different forms of enquiry may inform policy and practice
Discusses the recognition and utilisation of the insights offered by the rich variety of educational research traditions available to us
Contents
Notes on ContributorsPreface (Lesley Saunders). 1. Educational Research and the Practical Judgement of Policy-Makers (David Bridges, Paul Smeyers and Richard Smith).
2. The Importance of Being Thorough: On Systematic Accumulations of 'What Works' in Education Research (Alis Oancea and Richard Pring).
3. Educational Research and Policy: Epistemological Considerations (David Bridges and Michael Watts).
4. On the Epistemological Basis of Large-Scale Population Studies and their Educational Use (Paul Smeyers).
5. Epistemology as Ethics in Research and Policy: The Use of Case Studies (John Elliott and Dominik Lukeš).
6. Personal Narratives and Policy: Never the Twain? (Morwenna Griffiths and Gale Macleod)
7. Action Research and Policy (Lorraine Foreman-Peck and Jane Murray).
8. Philosophy as a Basis for Policy and Practice: What Confidence Can We Have in Philosophical Analysis and Argument? (James C. Conroy, Robert A. Davis and Penny Enslin).
9. Proteus Rising: Re-Imagining Educational Research (Richard Smith).
Index.
