Researching Education

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts in educational research, methodology, positionality, and ethics based on lecture notes.

Practitioner-Scholars

Educators (such as teachers, school leaders, and policymakers) who operate at the intersection of professional practice and scholarly inquiry, using structured, systematic, evidence-based methods to investigate and solve real challenges in their daily environments instead of being passive subjects studied by outside academics.

Problems of Practice

A persistent, complex, and real-world issue, dilemma, or equity gap encountered directly within an educator's daily work (e.g., declining literacy engagement in Year 8, inconsistent formative feedback, or barriers facing SEND learners).

A persistent, real-world challenge in a professional setting—such as a classroom or school—that sits within the practitioner's sphere of influence and requires systematic inquiry to understand and improve.

Basic (Fundamental) Research

Inquiry that focuses on generating or testing broad theoretical principles and general knowledge, without needing an immediate classroom application.

Applied Research

Systematic inquiry used to address practical educational challenges and inform policy, leadership, or pedagogical decisions.

Evaluation Research

Research that assesses the merit, implementation, or impact of a specific educational program, policy, or intervention.

Action Research

Inquiry conducted by practitioners inside their own settings to investigate a local problem of practice and enact immediate improvements to their teaching or leadership.

Research Paradigms

The foundational philosophical worldviews or belief systems (such as positivism/post-positivism, interpretivism/constructivism, pragmatism, and critical theory)

that shape how a researcher understands reality (ontology - what is reality),

what counts as valid knowledge (epistemology - how can reality be measured),

and how they approach inquiry (methodology)

axiology (role of values and ethics in research)

Research Methodology

The overarching strategic plan, design, or genre of inquiry that connects a researcher's paradigm and research questions to data collection

/

(e.g., phenomenology, case study, ethnography, grounded theory, experimental design, or mixed-methods design),

/

explaining why the study is structured in a particular way.

Research Methods

The concrete tools, procedures, and instruments used to collect and analyze data within a methodology

(e.g., semi-structured interviews, surveys, classroom observations, document analysis, statistical tests, or thematic coding),

explaining what is actually done to gather and interpret evidence.

Quantitative Research

An approach rooted in the scientific method that focuses on

• measuring discrete variables

• testing hypotheses, and

• using statistical analysis to

• establish generalizable patterns or cause-and-effect relationships.

Qualitative Research

An approach rooted in naturalistic inquiry that focuses on

• understanding educational phenomena holistically

• within their real-world context,

• prioritizing participants' meanings and rich descriptive data over numerical measurement.

thick descriptions

Theory

An organized set of concepts and propositions used to explain, interpret, or predict why educational phenomena occur.

Variables

Characteristics, conditions, or attributes that can take on different values across individuals or settings (e.g., teaching method, socioeconomic status, or test scores).

Validity

The extent to which a research instrument or design genuinely measures or captures what it claims to investigate.

Reliability

The consistency, stability, and transparency of research procedures.

Research Topic

A broad subject area of educational interest.

Research Problem

A specific, unresolved gap in knowledge, contradiction in existing literature, or persistent practical issue within a research topic that requires systematic investigation.

The "Funnel" Approach

The process of progressively narrowing a broad area of professional curiosity down into a manageable study: Broad Topic → Specific Sub-area → Problem Statement → Research Questions or Hypotheses.

Problem Statement

A concise, formal declaration articulating what issue is being investigated, who is affected, why it matters to educational practice or theory, and what the study intends to accomplish.

Research Questions

Open, interrogative statements that guide descriptive, exploratory, or qualitative studies and define the scope of inquiry without predicting a fixed statistical outcome.

Hypotheses

Formal, testable predictions about the expected relationship or difference between specific variables, typically used in quantitative or experimental designs.

Null Hypothesis ($H_0$)

A formal prediction paired with a hypothesis stating that no statistically significant relationship or difference exists between specific variables.

Researchable

A criterion indicating that an inquiry can be answered through observable, empirical evidence rather than purely philosophical or value-based debate.

Significant

A criterion indicating that research adds meaningful insight to educational theory, policy, or classroom practice rather than answering a trivial question.

Feasible

A criterion indicating that a study is realistic given the researcher’s timeframe, budget, ethical permissions, and institutional access.

Autoethnography

A qualitative methodology combining autobiography and ethnography that uses the researcher’s own personal experiences, vulnerabilities, and critical self-reflections as primary data to analyze broader cultural, social, and power dynamics within the research process.

Onto-Epistemological Stance

The interconnected relationship between ontology (what constitutes reality) and epistemology (how we come to know it), exemplified by Kamlongera's critical, decolonial stance asserting that reality is multi-layered and knowledge is generated through lived, visual, and embodied experience rather than solely through Western academic text.

Decolonial Research Methodology

Research approaches that challenge dominant Eurocentric norms (such as privileging written literacy and extractive interviewing) by valuing local knowledge systems, mitigating colonial/academic power hierarchies, and centering marginalized communities' agency.

Reflexivity

Continuous, critical self-awareness in which the researcher actively examines and documents how their own social background, institutional training, and power influence data collection, interpretation, and representation.

Intersectional Researcher Positionality

How a researcher’s overlapping social identities—such as gender, race, nationality, class, language, and academic affiliation—interact simultaneously to shape access, trust, power dynamics, and how knowledge is interpreted.

Insider / Outsider / In-Between Researcher

A concept rejecting a rigid binary where a researcher is purely an insider or an outsider, highlighting instead a fluid, in-between positionality where the researcher shifts across roles depending on the social situation in the field.

"Outsider Within"

A borderland social position (drawing on Patricia Hill Collins) occupied by researchers who belong to a historically marginalized group (e.g., an African woman) while operating inside an elite academic institution, providing a critical lens to notice realities that orthodox Western methods overlook.

"Marginal Intellectual"

A scholar from the Global South trained in Northern/Western universities who conducts research in their home context, navigating ongoing tension between Western scholarly conventions and indigenous ways of knowing.

The "Representation Crisis"

A major ethical and methodological dilemma in qualitative research questioning who has the right and authority to speak for whom, and highlighting the danger that academic researchers distort or silence marginalized voices when translating lived experiences into scholarly writing.

Co-Creating Knowledge

A participatory stance that rejects extractive research (taking data from passive subjects) in favor of collaborative inquiry where participants actively generate, interpret, and shape the meaning of their own stories alongside the researcher.

Arts-Based Processes (ABP) / "De-literalizing" Knowledge

Using creative, non-verbal practices to explore and express understanding beyond spoken or written language, removing barriers for participants with low literacy and capturing emotional or complex social realities that are hard to put into words.

Drawing Elicitation

A visual method in which participants draw graphic representations of how they perceive a situation or issue, using the artwork as a springboard for discussion so they can express abstract or sensitive experiences without linguistic constraints.

Photovoice

A participatory visual method where participants are trained to use cameras to capture images from their daily lives over a set period and then narrate the stories behind those photos, giving them direct control over how their reality is framed and represented.

Ethics

A system of moral principles by which individuals can judge their actions as right or wrong, good or bad, guiding social researchers to conduct research responsibly across each stage of the research sequence.