Methodological issues in science education research

Methodological issues in science education research: a perspective from the philosophy of science

One of my publications is:

Taber, K. S. (2014). Methodological issues in science education research: a perspective from the philosophy of science. In M. R. Matthews (Ed.), International Handbook of Research in History, Philosophy and Science Teaching (Vol. 3, pp. 1839-1893): Springer Netherlands.)

Abstract:

This chapter offers an overview of methodological issues within science education research, and considers the extent to which this area of scholarship can be understood to (actually, and potentially) be scientific. The chapter considers the nature of education and educational research; how methodological issues are discussed in educational research; and the range of major methodological strategies commonly used. It is suggested that the way research is discussed, undertaken and reported seems quite different in science education from research in the natural sciences as science education studies are informed by quite diverse paradigmatic commitments. The nature of educational phenomena is such that it is unlikely that science education could adopt the kind of disciplinary matrix that can guide researchers in the natural sciences (by allowing much methodological thinking to be implicit and taken for granted within a field). However, Lakatos's 'scientific research programmes' (SRP) offers a view of research traditions that can encompass social science research. From this perspective it is possible for progressive SRP to operate in science education.

Available on Springerlink at https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-7654-8_57

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Contents:

  • Introduction
  • The programme for this chapter
  • The Nature of Education and Educational Research
  • The Nature of Science Education in the Academy
  • The methodological turn in science education
  • Normal Science, Revolutionary Science and another 'Sort of Scientific Research'
  • Induction into scientific research
  • Characterising the Educational Research Project
  • The overall 'shape' of a discrete research study
  • Owning the research problem in science and in science education
  • Conceptualising the Research Project
  • Theoretical perspectives
  • Competing Theoretical Perspectives in Science Education
  • Selecting a Methodology for a Study
  • Other candidates for methodology
  • Ethical Considerations and their Methodological Consequences
  • The good
  • Costs and benefits of research
  • Informed consent
  • Openness and confidentiality
  • Member checking and rights to withdraw
  • Particular challenges of teacher-research
  • Selecting Techniques in Educational Research
  • Typologies of Educational Research Methodologies
  • Qualitative versus quantitative
  • Two paradigms for educational research?
  • Mixed methods – a third paradigm, a subsuming paradigm, or a rejection of paradigms?
  • The Logic of an Extra-ordinary 'Sort of Science': Science Education as an Aparadigmatic Scientific Field
  • The ontological diversity of educational phenomena
  • Admitting the subjective element into research
  • The scientific approach to educational research is to adopt a meta-methodology
  • Thinking of Research within Scientific Research Programmes
  • Lakatos's notion of scientific research programmes
  • Research in science education as a scientific enterprise
  • Conclusion

You can download the author's manuscript version of the chapter here.

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