Purpose: Students of social research methods in search of a "Haynes manual" type set of instructions are often, if not invariably, thwarted in their ambitions and are either confronted with an abstract description which remains firmly at the level of methodology or, alternatively, an uncritical mechanical template for application. The…

The evidence base for educational interventions for deaf students has been, and continues to be, called into question due to a lack of "gold standard" research available to support it. Yet the paucity of research in deaf education is not only in the volume of research that meets rigorous standards but also in its lack of attention to and…

Imprecise constructs abound in science education research in part due to reliance on stipulative definitions that neglect fine distinctions between closely related constructs and overlook important meanings and hidden values embedded in language. Lack of conceptual clarity threatens construct validity, hampers theory development, and prevents…

Purpose: Qualitative researchers are often confronted with a dilemma of selecting an appropriate approach within which to situate their research. This has led to successive attempts by qualitative researchers in the built environment (BE) to combine two dominant approaches -- deductive and inductive; in the conduct of their inquiry. Such attempts…

This study explores the epistemological basis for qualitative educational research studies. Within this context, 20 qualitative studies on education were analysed and three dimensions were sorted out: (1) the purpose or aim of the study, (2) the rationale for the study, and (3) the occurrence of epistemological aspects (theory, paradigm,…

The purpose of this article is to present a Korean theory of epistemology and to provide an epistemological embodiment of Korean epistemology as it appears in a traditional, local village school called a seodang. A seodang's curriculum is grounded upon individualized instruction and whole person education and emphasizes mutually respectful…

A glance across ethnographic methods terrain reveals multiple controversies and divisive critiques. When training graduate students, these debates and controversies can be consequential. We offer suggestions for teaching graduate ethnographic methods courses that, first, help students understand some of the common epistemological debates in the…

The concept of research paradigm is one that many higher degree research students, and even early career researchers, find elusive to articulate, and challenging to apply in their research proposals. Adopting an ethnographic and hermeneutic methodology, the present paper draws upon our experiences as lecturers in Research Methods over many years,…

Theory and research on values, ethics and moral decision making in educational leadership has called for ontological and epistemological changes in research and theory building that focus less on perspectives pertaining to logical positivism (naïve realism) and more toward paradigms that are naturalistic, post-positivistic, transactional and…

Current epistemic governance analyses in higher education ignore systemic power relations between Northern and Southern researchers. This paper does focus on previous approaches to understanding epistemic governance, but rather moves beyond these towards a Southern evaluative and prospective comprehension. The paper is primarily theoretical. We…

A growing body of research incorporates children's perspectives into the research process. If we are to take children's perspectives seriously in education research, research methodologies must be capable of addressing issues that matter to children. This article engages in a theoretical discussion that considers how a posthuman research…

For many years, research epistemologies and methodologies have been influenced by colonial perspectives in knowledge production. The focus of this article is to discuss ways in which research can be transformed for the purpose of including marginalized communities, such as Indigenous communities, whose knowledge has been systematically excluded in…

Video participatory research (VPR) is an emergent methodology that bridges visual methods with the epistemology of participatory research. This approach is motivated by the "crisis of representation" or "reflective turn" (Gubrium & Harper, 2013) that promotes research conducted with or by participants, conceptualizing…

Research in education draws upon a wide range of epistemological traditions due in part to the wide range of problems that are investigated. While this diversity might be considered a strength of the field, it also makes researchers who work within it vulnerable to being divided into those worth listening to and those who should be ignored by…

In this paper, I discuss my engagement with a visual journal as a companion to creative research practice during my dissertation research. Grounded in arts based research methodologies; I explore visual journals in relationship to research, reflection and analytic processes. I begin with a discussion of the visual journal as an artifact of…