Praxeological research is a necessary contribution to the research field in early childhood education and care, which is currently dominated by an evidence-based paradigm that tends to consider the measurement of predefined outcomes as the most valid form of research. We analyse the history of the evidence-based paradigm in the field of medicine…

This paper considers the model of school effectiveness (SE) currently dominant in research, policy and practice in England (although the concerns it raises are international). It shows, principally through consideration of initial and propagated error, that SE results cannot be relied upon. By considering the residual difference between the…

Values inevitably enter educational inquiry, but they do not undermine the possibility of objectivity. Theoretical frameworks, even those that carry particular values, may be legitimately employed to explain educational phenomena. Mainstream research is systematically biased. (Author/BJV)

Sources for thinking about and doing new paradigm research are reviewed. A variety of nontraditional approaches that address the role of subjectivity and consensus in research are discussed. The effect of personal and social processes on the researcher, including how one's construction of reality depends on the chosen methodology, is emphasized.…

Reflects on the past three decades of increasing specialization and on the diverse conceptual frameworks guiding research in the field of educational administration. Describes heterogeneity among researchers, field-based research and policy studies, linkages across specialty areas, and key points of remaining articles. Fifty-three footnotes are…

To avoid the rejection of research findings, researchers and practitioners should jointly plan and conduct research. The SUPER Project is such a collaborative effort. It connects theory and practice in ways that are most useful to teachers and significant to researchers as they work together and learn each other's priorities. (VM)

With the view that social scientists conduct too little exploratory research, the author outlines the methods and attitudes of the exploratory analyst and describes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as a source of research data. Exploratory analysis, in which no paradigm is used, is contrasted with confirmatory research, which…

Australian education and training and vocational education and training (VET) research are in a state of crisis. Both the higher education and VET sectors are now squeezed and subject to contradictory objectives, multiple accountabilities, heightened expectations, and diminished resources in an environment of uncertainty and frustration. The…