Mind Lab - Week 18 - Find Research (Focus)

Reading - "Manifesto for Evidence-Based Education" (Coe, 1999) 
Education is too important to allow it to be determined by unfounded opinion.
Sources of evidence

• The only worthwhile kind of evidence about whether something works in a particular situation comes from trying it out.
• Much of the research that is done in education takes the form of surveys or "correlational" research: looking for relationships within existing systems. This kind of research can provide valuable insights into how different features of a situation are related, but it cannot tell us what the effects will be of making changes.
• The results of experiments can sometimes be disappointing, and this has led to some rejection of the experimental method of enquiry.
• if the method is sound but fails to demonstrate the success of a particular strategy, then perhaps the strategy is at fault.
• Educational researchers are often disappointed if they get negative results, but negative results, particularly if they were to prevent us from wasting time and money on ineffective policies, might actually be more useful than positive ones.
• One further objection to the use of experiments is that they are hard to do because they require large samples in order to obtain a "significant" result. This, however, is a misconception. Meta-analysis is the answer - combining results from numerous studies as if they were all parts of a single overall study.

Evidence is not value-free. All educational endeavour carries its own values and objectives. If we tried to make these explicit we might be able to have an honest and democratic discussion about what values are important, instead of passing off a concealed values debate as a debate about evidence.

There are no universal solutions or quick fixes. A more useful kind of evidence would be that which seeks to throw light on exactly which features of the context are important, to find the conditions on which the outcome depends. When we have this kind of evidence we will understand better which strategies are likely to be most effective in each situation.

Evidence is often incomplete or equivocal. ...where evidence about some issue of importance is incomplete or ambiguous, we would not simply accept the fact, but seek to obtain the evidence we need. Equally, where evidence is equivocal, we would need to explore the nature of the conflicting evidence and design further experiments to try to resolve it. Sadly, however, this almost never happens in educational research.

Evidence can be quite complex. Evidence can be hard to interpret. It is wrong to oversimplify but just as wrong to not to make the evidence as accessible as possible. Most people can understand most things if they are explained well.

How could Education be "Evidence-Based"?

Good practice is a judgment that can be made by teachers about whether something is applicable in their contsxt or can be adapted to be effective.

Policy, where all schools are compelled to change, requires strong evidence. 

Evidence-Based Practice

Evidence must come from experiments in real contexts. 

Evidence from surveys is not a basis for action. But it is useful to decide which strategies are worth evaluating experimentally.

The only really sound evidence comes from actually trying it.

Research is not just about measuring things but about interpreting the results.

...practitioners must be more than just the recipients of researchers' findings. Teachers' local knowledge makes them vital participants in the processes of framing research questions and in collecting and interpreting data. "Dissemination" must take the form of communication among practitioners as well as between practitioners and researchers - in both directions.

A Culture Of Evidence

When presented with a suggested change of practice of policy we  must first ask "Where is the evidence?"

What is Education Research - Video by Ian Rushton, University of Huddersfield (UK)

critical, reflective and professionally orientated.

researchers, practitioners, policy makers

Why carry out research?

• to explore issues
• to shape policy
• to improve practice

What's an annotated bibliography?

Why did I pick this?

Why is it relevant?

Did I even agree with this?

Searching the Unitec Library

Themes are main ideas of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly, when you read the literature, you need to carefully identify the main themes in each study and based on this and your area of focus to decide what should be the main themes of your Research Essay.

"Where will concentrating our energies make the most difference?"