Educational Research involves a range and diversity of research methodologies in the conduct of both basic and applied research. In our Faculty of Education, we offer graduate programs in seven specialized areas of study. There is diversity in the research methodologies in use
across the seven specializations – however, these are most often related to the
standards, literatures, research methodologies and approaches to analysis and
presentation of research that are characteristic of those disciplines of study,
rather than any differences in the quality, integrity and robustness of the research.
Research in the Faculty of Education spans the range
from basic to applied – our Faculty includes researchers and graduate students
who emphasize basic research that is carried out in highly controlled contexts and applied research
that delves into the complexities present in authentic contexts and populations. Research and
disciplined inquiry of all kinds, from experimental / correlational, to mixed
methods and survey research, to historical inquiry, ethnography, interpretive
and philosophical inquiry, to different types of action research, participatory action, community
participatory action, and design based research is valued and relevant, and
gets conducted by both Faculty and by Graduate students across the Faculty of
Education.
We have seven broad areas of specialization, and within each
of the Educational Study Areas (EDSAs), we have faculty and graduate students who bring diverse
perspectives and disciplinary expertise, along with different research traditions
and expectations, to their research. The range and diversity of research
problems, research methodologies and different disciplines of study can be a
bit overwhelming when new and experienced Education Faculty members, or even a
faculty member from a discipline beyond our faculty, is asked to serve as an
examiner for a thesis or dissertation.
At the thesis oral exam, what examiners are asked to judge
is the quality of a student’s research – which can be a challenge for an
experimental researcher to feel qualified or informed enough to make a judgment
on an interpretive study, and vice versa. It can also be a challenge for
faculty who hold deep expertise in one discipline to feel qualified to make a
judgment on a study carried out in another discipline. However difficult,
that is the task that is before us as faculty members when we examine a
student’s work.
So, in our research and specialization courses and across
our masters and doctoral programs, our responsibility is to introduce and
immerse masters and doctoral students in the complexity, range and diversity of
educational research philosophies, methodologies and perspectives in order for
them to develop and bring a critical and informed connoisseurship to their
selection and use of research methodology in their own research.
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