Foundations of Education Research

Understanding Theoretical Components

Joy Egbert, Sherry Sanden

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429841279
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation générale

Now in its second edition, Foundations of Education Research defines, discusses, and offers applications for the central components of educational research, providing both novice and experienced researchers with a common ground from which to work. Fully updated throughout, the second edition adds a glossary of terms, additional examples, and includes a discussion of similarities and differences in education research. Eight concise, accessible chapters cover conceptual framework, epistemology, paradigm, theory, theoretical framework, and methodology/method. This unique primer demystifies jargon and makes the theoretical components of research accessible, giving students the tools they need to understand existing education research literature and to produce theoretically-grounded work of their own.

Each chapter begins with perspectives from both novice and experienced researchers, whose guiding questions assist researchers engaging with theory for the first time and those looking to improve their understanding of the fundamentals. Practice exercises, examples, and suggested reading lists at the end of each chapter offer students resources they can apply to their own research and thinking in concrete ways. A perfect accompaniment to standard research courses, this book is designed to help students achieve a deeper understanding of what is expected of them and ideas about how to achieve it.

1

Introduction

In this chapter, we address the following questions:

• What is positionality?
• Why do we need a discussion of theoretical components of research?
• What are the research components and why are they important?
• How are these components defined?

REFLECT: Based on what you already know, how would you answer the questions above?

What Is Positionality?

This book is about positionality, or the “stance or positioning of the research in relation to the social and political context of the study” (Rowe, 2014, p. 628). A researcher’s positionality influences and pervades every aspect of a study, whether a study is “subjective” or “objective.” Therefore, it is crucial for researchers to understand what comprises positionality, why it is important, and ways that a researcher might express positionality in a research report. However, there are obstacles to these understandings; this text addresses several of these, starting with the lack of consistency in definitions of research components.

Why Do We Need a Discussion of Theoretical Components of Research?

There is a critical lack of consistency across research communities, perspectives, and paradigms about what reports on research should look like and contain. Although researchers seem to agree that certain components are essential, they do not often define those components so that readers and other researchers can identify their perceptions or do not include some of the components that would allow readers to comprehend in a holistic way the import of the study. This is not a book on how to do research or on specific research methodologies—there are already numerous fine texts that address these issues, many of which are referenced in this text. Rather, it provides a brief overview of some of the basic jargon of research and the components that are important to the research process regardless of a particular perspective. It reaches across viewpoints to address the specific, generic ideas about positionality that all studies should include in order for readers not only to understand the research but to be able to make educated judgments about it. This text is an attempt to come to a common understanding of the jargon of research positionality and the components that are important to the research process.

This book briefly defines, discusses, and provides applications of the central components of research in order to give both novice and experienced researchers common ground from which to work. The book includes concise chapters focusing on the research components, addressing them through a series of questions whose answers are essential to understanding research. Each chapter begins with anecdotes from a novice and an experienced researcher that set the stage for the chapter content. The final chapter addresses common misconceptions about research and offers advice for all researchers. The appendix includes three complete journal articles that provide opportunities to understand the research components within published works. The first journal article is annotated in sections that indicate inclusion of the research components.

What Are the Research Components and Why Are They Important?

The purpose of this text is to give both novice and experienced researchers common ground from which to work. It is an attempt to clear the air, to start a discussion, and to come to common understandings. In doing the research for this book and the college course on which the book is based, it became very evident that across disciplines, and even within them, research terms are defined and used in very different ways. In some cases, the terms are used differently in similar contexts, and in other cases, many of the terms are used to mean the same thing. Words like conceptual framework, epistemology, theoretical framework, and even method have come to imply so many different (or no specific) ideas that it makes conducting and consuming research more difficult than it has to be. However, there are important differences among these research components, and making those differences explicit may help to clarify not only the research process but our own positions and influences as researchers.

The seven terms we address in this book (conceptual framework, epistemology, paradigm, theory, theoretical framework, methodology, method) appear to us to be the most in need of clarity. They are the essential ideas that ground every research study and can have an impact on not only the development of the study but also how the data are analyzed and the results interpreted. If we want our research to be clearly understood and evaluated, it is obvious that we need to understand these concepts. There are additional terms that every researcher should explore but that are not emphasized in this text; these include ontology, or “views of reality” (see Johnson, 2008, for a simple and thorough explanation), and analysis and interpretation (see Chiseri-Strater & Sunstein, 2006; Plano-Clark & Creswell, 2010, for overviews).

How Are These Components Defined?

In this book, we propose specific definitions and uses of each of the component terms and we have put forward our views of how to define and talk about these components based on how they are understood and used across varying research perspectives. While we acknowledge that some readers may have alternative views about how to define and consider these components, our discussion demonstrates the need for research groups, or subfields at least, to have common understandings in order to move research forward more easily. It also underscores the need for these components to be presented and explored specifically within research reports that are to be shared. We have found that this common ground makes a huge difference in how we think and write.

Conclusion

While perusing for literature to reference and suggest for further reading in this text, we were amazed by the lack of agreement on the definitions of these research elements. In talking about them with colleagues, we discovered the same need for common understandings. The definitions we use cut across disciplines and topics to present our best synthesis of the literature. We hope that this text creates discussion both on whether it is necessary to agree on meanings for these elements and, if so, what those meanings should be.

Guided Practice

1. How do your answers to the questions at the start of this chapter agree or disagree with those in Table 1.1? Why do you think that may be?
2. As you read the articles in the...