Educational action is a species of praxis in both an Aristotelian sense and a post-Marxian sense: in the first, it involves the morally informed and committed action of the individual practitioners who practise education; in the second, it helps to shape social formations and conditions for collectivities of people. In this paper, it is argued…

This article presents the author's response to comments on her article, "Will a Clinical Approach Make Education Research More Relevant for Practice?", which focused on the question of whether a clinical research practice might make education research more relevant for practice. The characteristics of a clinical approach are: (1) an overlap in the…

Three issues emanating from the Bulterman-Bos article (2008) form the core of this commentary. First, the issue of relevancy is addressed from the standpoint of action research and other forms of practitioner inquiry. From this perspective, the divisions between the cultures of university and school are addressed both ways: Each can potentially be…

Responding to Bulterman-Bos (2008), the author argues that the effort to make education research more relevant is counterproductive. Teachers and researchers have different orientations toward education that arise from different institutional settings, occupational constraints, daily work demands, and professional incentives. These are not…

In this article, three theoretical perspectives are used to extend Bulterman-Bos's (2008) argument regarding a clinical approach to education research. First, three intellectual virtues identified by Aristotle--"episteme," "techne," and "phronesis"--are related to the requirements of the "pure" education researcher, the skilled practitioner, and…

By not specifying what they will attend to, and by virtue of the relatively extended amount of time they devote to exploring their phenomena, qualitative inquirers have practically no limit to what they can uncover. This is illustrated through data on the role of ethnicity in an ethnically diverse high school. (Author/BJV)

Discusses the lack of communication between educational researchers and practitioners. Presents a model describing a partnership between them that can ease the problem. (JOW)

Highlights relationships between theory and practice and the genesis of professional action in clinical nursing and among researchers. Suggests that clinical nurses learn from context, including each other, and are active producers of knowledge, not merely recipients. Concludes there is no research-practice gap as argued in the dominant barrier…

Addresses the issue of intention in action research, suggesting that researchers ask who will be the first-level beneficiaries and what will be the first level of change. Discusses ethical questions regarding consent and justification of research steps. (SK)

Asserts the need for good research is common for people involved with performance and instruction issues, and stresses interdependence of research and field workers. Discusses principles of objectivity, precision, and empiricism in good research. Examples illustrate how methods of practitioners are improved through application of these principles.…

Educational researchers and practitioners seem to be involved in the same endeavor without real contact. To remedy this distance, the best research should focus on practice, and the best practice should be informed by research. (SLD)

Purposes and methods of attracting articles on educational research to the Journal of Teacher Education are discussed. Three research-oriented formats are introduced that will appear in future issues: (1) Teacher Education Research Commentaries; (2) Research Briefs; and (3) research articles. (FG)

Presents the role of human resource development practitioners as organizational researchers. Describes a model for validating instruments, constructs, and strategies, based on communication theory. Cites common errors and issues in the validation of measurement and demonstrates uses of the heuristic validation model. (SK)

Compares Carr and Kemmis' view of action research, linked to the emancipatory political ideology of critical theory, with Dewey's pragmatic epistemology, focused on moving from a problem identified in experience through a means-end continuum that guides inquiry. (Contains 28 references.) (SK)

A fictional conversation between Saint Peter and an educational researcher debates the question of whether educational research too often yields results that are patently true or trivially true or useless to practitioners, and, if so, what might be done about that state of affairs. (Author/CJ)