Scientific Research in Education (2002) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 11-27
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From page 11... ...
The scope and complexity of its agenda is apparent: to teach the fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic; to nurture critical thinking; to convey a general fund of knowledge; to develop creativity and aesthetic perception; to assist students in choosing and preparing for vocations in a highly complex economy; to inculcate ethical character and good citizenship; to develop physical and emotional well-being; and to nurture the ability, the intelligence, and the will to continue on with education as far as any particular individual wants to go (Cremin, 1990, p.
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From page 12... ...
Knowledge is needed on many topics, including: how to motivate children to succeed; how effective schools and classrooms are organized to foster learning; the roots of teenage alienation and violence; how human and economic resources can be used to support effective instruction; effective strategies for preparing teachers and school administrators; the interaction among what children learn in the context of their families, schools, colleges, and the media; the relationship between educational policy and the economic development of society; and the ways that the effects of schooling are moderated by culture and language. In order that society can learn how to improve its efforts to mount effective programs, rigorous evaluations of innovations must also be conducted.
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From page 13... ...
This is our topic. To set the stage for this discussion, this chapter provides historical and philosophical background and describes how the current undertaking fits into that broader context.
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From page 14... ...
at Stanford University, arrived on campus ready and eager to help improve education by generating studies of the history and current administration of the nation's public schools. Despite his enthusiasm and extraordinary productivity, his colleagues refused to acknowledge that "the study of education could be validly considered either an art or a science." On the opposite side of the country Paul Hanus, Harvard's first scholar of education, faced similar skepticism.
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From page 15... ...
. Five dimensions are particularly relevant to this report: the emergence of refined models of human nature; progress in understanding how scientific knowledge accumulates; recognition that education is a contested field of study; new developments in research designs and methods; and increased understanding of the nature of scientific rigor or quality.
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From page 16... ...
The development of alternative perspectives on the nature of humans that are more inclusive than the once-dominant behaviorist perspective should be regarded as both highly promising and something of a cautionary tale for education research. The moral of the rise and at least partial fall of behaviorism warns the scientific community to resist the tendency to take a single model (whether behavioral, cognitive, or interpretive)
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From page 17... ...
As in other fields that have such a public character, social ideals inevitably influence the research that is done, the way it is framed and conducted, and the policies and practices that are based on research findings. And decisions about education are sometimes instituted with no scientific basis at all, but rather are derived directly from ideology or deeply held beliefs about social justice or the good of society in general.
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From page 18... ...
can be shown later to be faulty (see Chapter 3~. Science progresses both by advancing new theories or hypotheses and by eliminating theories, hypotheses, or previously accepted facts that have been refuted by newly acquired evidence judged to be definitive.
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From page 19... ...
Thus, it is the scientific community that enables scientific progress, not, as Nobel Prize-winning physicist Polykarp Kusch once declared, adherence to any one scientific method (Mills, 2000 "emphasis added. We emphasize this notion of community in the scientific enterprise throughout this report.
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From page 20... ...
First, some extreme "postmodernists" have questioned whether there is any value in scientific evidence in education whatsoever (see the discussion of these issues in Gross, Levitt, and Lewis, 1997~. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who would define scientific research in education quite narrowly, suggesting that it is only quantitative measures and tight controls that unambiguously define science (see, e.g., Finn, 2001~.
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From page 21... ...
. The report recommended creating an infrastructure that would support and foster scientific research into learning and cognitive processes underlying education, curriculum, teaching, and education reform.
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From page 22... ...
Department of Education, was as follows: This study will review and synthesize recent literature on the science and practice of scientific education research and consider how to support high quality science in a federal education research agency. To organize its deliberations, the committee translated this mandate into three framing questions: · What are the principles of scientific quality in education research?
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From page 23... ...
We sought to identify the key design principles for a federal agency charged with fostering the scientific integrity of the research it funds and with promoting the accumulation of science-based knowledge over time. Among the issues the committee explored were how research quality is affected by internal infrastructure mechanisms, such as peer review, as well as external forces, such as political influence and fiscal support, and how the federal role can build the capacity of the field to do high-quality scientific work.
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From page 24... ...
First, although science is often perceived as embodying a concise, unified view of research, the history of scientific inquiry attests to the fact there is no one method or process that unambiguously defines science. The committee has therefore taken an inclusive view of"the science of education" or "the educational sciences" in its work.
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From page 25... ...
Fourth, the committee's focus on the scientific underpinnings of research in education does not reflect a simplistic notion that scientific quality alone will improve the use of such research in school improvement efforts. Scientific quality and rigor are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for improving the overall value of education research.
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From page 26... ...
We then take up some of the specifics of education research by characterizing the nature of education and of studying it scientifically; describing a sampling of trusted research designs used to address key questions; and providing guidance on how a federal education research agency could best support high quality science. A description of the specific contents of each chapter follows.
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From page 27... ...
We argue that at its core, scientific inquiry in education is the same as in all other scientific disciplines and fields and provide examples from a range of fields to illustrate this common set of principles. In Chapter 4 we describe how the unique set of features that characterize education shape the guiding principles of science in education research.
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