This response to Perna et al. provides an alternate approach to research on massive open online courses (MOOCs). We argue that a student-centered, theory-driven conceptualization and methodological approaches allow us to move beyond descriptive statistics and into a deeper understanding of MOOC learners. Examples using a teacher development MOOC…

This essay argues that there is a need for higher education researchers to become aware of methodological nationalism (MN) and take steps to reframe their scholarship in new ways. It illuminates two characteristics of MN prevalent in higher education research and suggests that although a few researchers have attempted to move beyond MN in the…

In this article, the author provides an overview of existing literature addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and queer issues in higher education. She argues that although colleges and universities are the source of much critical and postmodern writing about LGBT and queer topics, scholarship on LGBT/queer people and…

Reviews the present treatment of nonexperimental methods of educational research, proposing a new, two-dimensional classification of nonexperimental quantitative research. The first dimension is based on the primary research objective (i.e., description, prediction, and explanation). The second dimension is called the time dimension (i.e.,…

Compares statistical techniques used in American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) articles with techniques described in graduate-level textbooks. Reports that most AERJ articles are comprehensible to students with at least an intermediate-level knowledge of statistics. Also compares types of AERJ techniques with those used in the Journal of…

Discusses the cognitive and situative research approaches, identifying several points on which they agree (e.g., individual and social perspectives on activity are fundamental in education; learning can be general, and abstractions can be efficacious, but sometimes they are not; and situative and cognitive approaches can cast light on different…

Explores the contests among different groups that have marked the conduct of educational research in the last 100 years, and suggests that the development of wide support for education research will depend on surmounting the jurisdictional challenges that have previously prevented sustained agreement about the methods and focus of the field.…

Reviews several narrative practices in relation to the narrative functions they rely on, noting how those functions point to potential curricular results. Uses Schwab's commonplaces as common denominators that cut across practices to determine different locations for curricular gain, examining narrative curricula as narrative, story, and…

Addresses an issue relevant to social science research: how to adjust conceptual orientations and methodological priorities to take into account apparently changing human experiences and priorities. Focuses on three confusing situations that confront ethnographers (the meaning of culture, the enthusiasm for ethnography, and the responsibility of…

Reflects on the obstacles, problems, and possibilities of incorporating visual culture into educational research, noting that this is a difficult task that has epistemological and methodological problems and that it challenges the blind spot created by more traditional ways of conducting educational research, but suggesting that it is worth the…

Describes and critiques recent changes in educational inquiry by outlining the themes and implications of the current interest in postmodernism. The focus is on changes in methodology, summative content, and disciplinary foundations. The relationship of these changes to educational research and the training of researchers is discussed. (SLD)

Situates the origins of self-study in four developments within education, highlighting autobiography and correspondence (email, letters, and recorded conversations) because of the demands they present for producers and consumers. Provides a framework for determining what makes a piece of self-study writing research, using the work of C. Wright…

Wong has argued that the role of the teacher/researcher is full of conflict in that the pull of either students or research may affect commitment to the other. It is argued that research is not inherently conflictual, but that one teacher/researcher's tension is another's intention. (SLD)

Discusses the original rationale for special exemptions from formal ethical oversight for educational research and examines varieties of qualitative educational research consistent with it. Formal ethical oversight of student-research practice is also discussed. Policies are offered to determine which variety should qualify for special exemptions.…

Argues that ignorance is a better criterion than truth for determining the usefulness of knowledge generated through educational research. Implications for conceptualizing and teaching research are discussed, illustrating how attention to ignorance can increase understanding in areas such as practitioner research and cooperative research. (SLD)