This paper addresses three central themes that run through the contributions to this special issue. The first of these is what it argues to be an inescapable connection between research and what might in some sense be regarded as the pursuit of truth, or at least of beliefs that are more deserving of belief and our confidence than others. Even…

The paper offers a critical appraisal of the global knowledge developments in education using China's contributions in a fashion similar to a case study. The paper scrutinizes the complicity of Western educational research to euro-centric biases and discusses the pursuit of a global epistemological eclecticism. To support this claim, the magnitude…

The purpose of this article is to move readers toward a deeper understanding of and widened respect for autoethnography's capacity as an empirical endeavor. An argument is presented in favor of autoethnography as empirical by translating information from its epistemological and methodological history across the AERA standards for reporting…

Criticisms of IRBs are proliferating. In response, we compare the ethical and epistemic standards of two closely related forms of inquiry, investigative journalism and equity-oriented collaborative community-based research (EOCCBR). We argue that a university affiliation justifies formal ethical review of research and suggest how institutionalized…

The paper is in two parts. The first part of the paper is a critique of current methodology in educational research: scientific, critical and interpretive. The ontological and epistemological assumptions of those methodologies are described from the standpoint of John Searle's analytic philosophy. In the second part two research papers with…

The quality of qualitative research has been subject to considerable criticism recently, partly driven by the development of an international movement for "evidence-based policy and practice." In the United States, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are posited by some as the best way of producing reliable research knowledge. Also,…

Responds to T. Anderson and C. West's article in the same issue (which criticized the methodological foundations of an earlier article by the current author). Discusses epistemological assumptions of the Anderson and West article. Addresses the nature of meaning and interpretation. Discusses Anderson and West's deterministic assumptions. (RS)

This paper examines paradigm proliferation in the context of ongoing efforts by the federal government in the US to regulate academic research. It argues that these efforts amount to an attempt to reposition and de-center universities as sites of knowledge production, not just about education but across domains. The paper examines this politics as…

Extends the discussion of an article by J. Myers published in an earlier issue of this journal. Suggests that Myers's response to earlier critiques failed to address major criticisms. Readdresses 12 criticisms regarding research methodology, the role of the researcher, researcher-subject relationship, standards for researchers, and the notion of…

In this article, the authors trace the emergence of an institutional discourse of ethical research and interrogate its effects in constituting what ethical research is taken to be and how ethical researchers are configured. They illuminate the dissonance between this regime of truth and research practice and the implications for the injunction to…

This paper considers nonempirical trends in Western thought and applies them to special education. Critical theory, postmodernism (a world view), and narrative as a form of interpretive research are introduced. A discussion and accompanying table identify characteristics of good qualitative research. (DB)

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…