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,…

The aim of this article is to introduce some theoretical frameworks which may develop the research going on within phenomenography and variation theory. Central concepts from the epistemological and cognitive theories of Charles S. Peirce, Niklas Luhmann and Margaret Boden are presented and their implications for phenomenography and variation…

Departing from a methodological experiment performed by the authors, this article reflects on and discusses issues of ethics and politics in poetic strategies of "representation". In relation to the experiment the article questions how to conceive the notion of connectedness between empirical time and the reconstruction of it in poststructuralist…

This study investigates the prevailing epistemological and cultural conditions that underlie educational research in Palestine. Using a case study of a major Palestinian University that awards Masters Degrees in Education, the study analyzes the assumptions and the methodology that characterizes current educational research. Using an analysis of…

Psychoanalysis and child psychotherapy have traditionally sought to describe their relationship to science in a variety of ways. As a consequence, different strands of the research programme are underpinned by divergent methodological and epistemic assumptions. The perceived incommensurability of these positions sometimes hinders the development…

In many ways the religious sciences are named according to their subjects, methodologies and epistemologies. The historical and modern terminologies of such sciences sometimes create confusions in understanding what the epistemic and methodological differences are amongst them. In this article, the various grounds for religion in terms of theology…

Teacher educators need tools to help them think about teacher learning, to design activities and programs that foster it, and to assess the results of their work with preservice and in-service teachers. In this article, in order to improve the conceptual tools available for the design and study of teacher education, the author teases apart…

In 1999 we began research, funded by the "Thomas Clinton Trust", to explore the opinions of visually impaired people on visual impairment research. We found people wanted greater inclusion of visually impaired people in such research and participatory, empowering and emancipatory research was a priority for them. We also found, through reviewing…

This article presents the author's address at the 2007 "Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods" ("JAQM") prize awarding festivity. The festivity was included in the opening of the 4th International Conference on Applied Statistics, November 22, 2008, Bucharest, Romania. In the address, the author reflects on three theses that…

This article examines the ethnographic case study in education in the context of policy making with particular emphasis on the practice of research and policy making. The central claim of the article is that it is impossible to establish a transcendental epistemology of the case study on instrumental rationality. Instead it argues for the notion…

Recent disasters have been of such scale and complexity that both the common assumptions made about learning from them, and the traditional approaches distinguishing natural from technological disasters (and now terrorism) are thus challenged. Beck's risk thesis likewise signals the need for a paradigmatic change. Despite sociological inflections…

In this article, the authors caution against blurring methods, methodologies and ideologies in research. They do this by drawing on two earlier articles in "Environmental Education Research" that focused on this issue as well but from quite different vantage points: Hart's (2000) paper in which he problematizes the generating of generic guidelines…

Calls for decolonizing knowledge have been heard from multiple fronts for some time. At issue are questions regarding who gets to claim knowledge, how knowledge is claimed, and how is one to go about gaining knowledge. This article raises questions about the actual practice of decolonizing academic knowledge focusing on the implications of having…

In this piece, drawing from performance autoethnography, third world feminism, and postcolonial/cultural studies, the author interrogates "how do I play scholar?" The author uses Judith Butler's question "how do I play gender?" and her notions of performativity to dance around, using the voices of the "Thug" and the…

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how theory and particularly the theoretical perspective of social constructionism can influence the ways in which scholars conduct qualitative research studies in the area of family systems. The authors argue for the importance of theory in qualitative research projects and promote researchers' clear…