Closing Methodological Divides: Toward Democratic Educational Research

The interpretivist methodological framework made its appearance in educational research in the late 1970s, posing a fundamental and far-reaching challenge to the hitherto dominant positivist framework and opening up a number of divides that many have perceived as fundamental and unbridgeable. In the first part of Closing Methodological Divides, Howe examines the issues involved and demonstrates that the divides can in fact be closed. The subsequent chapters set out the compatibilist perspective within which Howe analyzes the interpretive turn, constructivist epistemology, research bias and ethics. The concluding chapter sets out a conception of democratic education research that shapes research methodology to meet the requirements of democratic politics. Closing Methodological Divides: Toward Democratic Educational Research is unique in the sweep of issues it considers and the way it integrates them under one general philosophical perspective. Vital reading for philosophers of education, educational researchers and social science methodologists.