The rise in globalisation studies in comparative education places neo-institutional theory at the centre of many debates among comparative education researchers. However, uncertainty about how to interpret neo-institutional theory still persists among educational comparativists. With this uncertainty comes misinterpretation of its principles,…

This article places Michel Foucault's concept of "problematization" in relation to educational policy research. My goal is to examine a key assumption of policy related to "solving problems" through such technologies. I discuss the potential problematization has to alter conceptions of policy research; and, through this…

Bayesian statistical methods are becoming ever more popular in applied and fundamental research. In this study a gentle introduction to Bayesian analysis is provided. It is shown under what circumstances it is attractive to use Bayesian estimation, and how to interpret properly the results. First, the ingredients underlying Bayesian methods are…

Arts/Humanities researchers frequently do not explain methodology overtly; instead, they "perform" it through their use of language, textual and historic cross-reference, and theory. Here, methodologies from literary studies are shown to add to Higher Education (HE) an exegetical and critically pluralist approach. This includes…

This article reflects critically on "The Social Dynamics of Art Research: Contemporary Photography in Belfast", an engaged research project conducted with photographers, community activists, academics and visual artists in Belfast. Through a critical examination of the project's theoretical architecture and methodological framework this…

This article gives Michael Agar's email responses to two questions put by Gavin Melles: "What are your thoughts on the advantages and dangers of developments in applied anthropology for ethnographic and anthropology practice?" and "What are your impressions of the potential and actual use of ethnography in design?" The…

In this response to the special issue, we would like to offer two additional considerations to the discourse on qualitative research and special education this issue is meant to catalyze. First, we would like to further problematize the question of why qualitative research continues to be so sparsely represented in most prominent publications of…

In Swedish preschools teachers seem to struggle with the concept of "teaching" in their day-to-day practices. A three-year collaborative research project involving preschool teachers, managers and researchers therefore aimed to describe and further develop knowledge about what could characterize teaching and co-assessment based on…

Ongoing colonial power has long been ascribed to government bureaucracy and institutions of higher learning. By consequence, Indigenous communities today are still experiencing challenges regarding the function, foundation and fabric of research that impacts Indigenous peoples, including in the arena of social work education. Writing as an…

This article gives a reflective account of lessons learned from the experiences of three cognitive developmental scientists conducting psychological research in educational settings. First, we describe and analyze four key cultural distinctions between traditional approaches to research in psychology and education: 1) different structures, 2)…

In keeping with the editor's call for this special issue, this paper demonstrates how reading data "with" and "through" a new materialist lens opens up different ways of seeing and thinking. Drawing on material feminist theory, the author presents an illustration of how such practices produce a different encounter with…

Previous research suggests that undergraduate research methods students doubt the utility of course content and experience math and research anxiety. Research also suggests involving students in hands-on, applied research activities, although empirical data on the scope and nature of these activities are lacking. This study compared academic…

With the push for evidence-informed policy and practice, schools and policy makers are now increasingly encouraged and supported to use and enagage with research evidence. This means that consumers of research will now need to be discerning in judging the quality of research evidence that will inform their decisions. This paper evaluates the…

Educational research in Norway has experienced unprecedented structural expansion and cognitive shifts over the last two decades because of greater state investments and the strategic use of extensive and multi-year thematic programmes to fund research projects. Using a neo-institutionalist framework, we examine institutionalisation dynamics in…

Background: Efforts to increase the evidence base in speech and language therapy are often limited by methodological factors that have restricted the strength of the evidence to the lower levels of the evidence hierarchy. Where higher graded studies, such as randomized controlled trials, have been carried out, it has sometimes been difficult to…