A topic in research methodology
“It is helpful to think about two modes of educational research that have somewhat different priorities and purposes. Both modes involve the collection of research data in particular contexts, to answers questions and develop new understandings. The distinction is based upon the relationship between the research context and the aims of the research.”
Taber, 2013: 43
These are theory-directed and context-directed research
Theory-directed research
“Much research carried out by professional researchers, such as university academics, is primarily driven by a desire to develop new generalisable knowledge about some aspect of the world…the primary purpose is to construct, test or develop theoretical knowledge that deals with abstract concepts and categories. … it is framed in terms of general ideas that can be related to a wide range of contexts (even when the research is reporting from one specific case)…
Researchers undertaking theory-directed research will usually collect data from particular contexts and informants that they hope can to some extent ‘stand for’ general categories of activities, episodes, people or institutions…
In this type of research, …the prime purpose of the research … is to abstract generalised knowledge that applies to the categories of event, person or institution. Clearly, in this mode of research the typicality or representativeness of the contexts and informants sampled is of major importance…and questions of the generalisability of the findings from the specific data collected are paramount. Even a case study that explores a particular instance considered to be special in some way, and so of particular interest in its own terms (i.e., an idiographic study….), may be undertaken in a theory-directed mode…”
Taber, 2013: 123-124
Source/s cited:
My introduction to educational research:
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
