The%20Research/Practice%20Relationship%20in%20Education

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The Research/Practice Relationship in Education

• EDUC 502
• November 21, 2005

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Research Design Exercise 1

• There has been a growing concern about the lack
  of teacher involvement in school decision-making.
  Educational reformers believe that teacher
  participation in a wide range of school decisions
  would help to create a more harmonious
  relationship between administrators and the
  faculty, which in turn would enhance
  effectiveness. Before the reformers can initiate
  steps that would address this issue, they need
  information about the current status of teacher
  involvement.
• What research design should the reformers use to
  obtain this information? (Discuss in groups)

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Research Design Exercise 2

• A group of teachers is debating the merits of two
  different mathematics textbooks for helping
  middle school students learn the objectives in
  the MVSC. One group believes Connected
  Mathematics should be used, while another feels
  Saxon Mathematics should be used.
• Describe a study design that could realistically
  be carried out by the teachers to help settle
  this dispute.

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The Disconnection Between Research and Practice

• Criticisms lodged against educational research
  Research is treated as a purely scientific
  discipline with no connection to social reality
  and the most urgent needs of teachers (Malara
  Zan, 2002, p. 554) There is a danger of
  researchers just talking to each other, and
  thereby ignoring the practical concerns of
  teachers (Bishop, 1998, p. 34).
• Kennedy (1997) discussed 4 historical reasons why
  educational research has failed to influence
  practice in many cases.

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The Disconnection Between Research and Practice

• Reason 1 The research reports themselves have
  not been sufficiently persuasive or
  authoritative.
• Some criteria for judging persuasiveness and
  authoritativeness worthwhileness, coherence,
  competence, openness, ethics, credibility, lucid
  writing, originality, coherent reasoning,
  justification of the research question,
  justification of methodology, justification of
  data analysis, and justification of conclusions.

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The Disconnection Between Research and Practice

• Reason 2 Research is irrelevant to practice.
• Professional knowledge acquired in practice
• tends to be procedural, specific, and pragmatic,
  while university-level knowledge tends to be
  declarative, abstract, and conceptual (Leinhardt,
  Young, Merriam, 1995).

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The Disconnection Between Research and Practice

• Reason 3 Ideas from research have not been
  accessible to teachers.
• Sowder (2000) identified conventions for
• reporting research as part of the cause for the
  gap between research and practice, stating, The
• manner in which research is reported in
  journalsimportant as this style may be in
  convincing our peers that the research meets
  expected standards, is a turnoff for most
  teachers (p. 3).
• Bishop (1998) suggested that researchers should
  make it a priority to disseminate research
  results in media accessible to teachers, such as
  teachers journals and newspapers.

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The Disconnection Between Research and Practice

• Reason 4 The education system itself is
  intractable and unable to change, or it is
  conversely inherently unstable, overly
  susceptible to fads, and consequently unable to
  engage in systematic change
• The fourth barrier between research and practice,
  pertaining to the nature of schools, seems to
  stem from the phenomenon that schools generally
  do not operate in a coherent manner (Cuban,
  1990). This can make it difficult for even a
  well-conceptualized research study to have an
  impact upon practice.

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Group Discussion Questions

• Which of the four causes for the barrier between
  research and practice exerts the most influence?
  Why?
• In designing your own research proposals, how
  will you attempt to overcome each of the four
  barriers?
• Discuss in groups of 5 for about 20 min. and have
  one group member record your thoughts and then
  report out to the rest of the class.

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Homework Exercises

• Name each of the four historical reasons for the
  disconnection between research and practice in
  education.
• Describe how a researcher might work to overcome
  each of the four barriers.

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