Educational research is repeatedly confronted with the question of its relevance. Current interpretations of relevance narrowly focus on outcomes and impact of research. In this essay, we propose an alternative, ontological conceptualization of relevance, arguing that more is at stake than outcomes and impact. We characterize the ontology of…

In the so-called "post-truth" world, there exists widespread confusion and disagreement over what is known, how to know, and who to trust. Current education has largely failed to meet the challenges of this world. Grounded in a new analysis of the goals of epistemic education, we argue for new directions in instruction. Our analysis…

I engage longstanding challenges and risks associated with conducting and using research on complex equity problems. I engage these challenges in the context of research on disability identification disparities, which have been historically intertwined with particular identity markers (e.g., race, social class, gender, language). Some of these…

Over the past 20 years, claims about how and why student writing can serve learning have changed markedly. This has been partly due to new technologies displacing writing as a predominant resource for learning, prompting new sense-making practices and shifts in how these changes are theorized. Learners now routinely collaborate to generate,…

This article reviews a collection of papers written by the American Educational Research Association's first 50 presidents that deal specifically with curricular issues. It characterizes the ways in which curricula were conceptualized, implemented, and assessed, with an eye toward the epistemological and methodological framings that the authors…

This article presents Joyce E. King's 2015 AERA presidential address, which artfully combined scholarly discourse with performance elements and diverse voices in several multimedia formats. In discussing morally engaged research/ers dismantling epistemological nihilation, the article advances the argument that the moral stance, solidarity with…

In this article, I argue that Harvey Siegel correctly points out the limitations of epistemic diversity in educational research. Building from Siegel's analysis, I argue that we need to move away from the language of epistemic diversity and to the language of epistemic injustice. Epistemic injustice allows us to do the work that epistemic…

The purpose of this article is to move readers toward a deeper understanding of and widened respect for autoethnography's capacity as an empirical endeavor. An argument is presented in favor of autoethnography as empirical by translating information from its epistemological and methodological history across the AERA standards for reporting…

Research on education and society is the focus in discussing four essays of AERA past presidents, Newton Edwards, Maxine Greene, Linda Darling-Hammond, and William F. Tate, IV. The title, "We May Well Become Accomplices... ," is taken from Greene's speech to foreground inherent moral obligations of scholars when racial and social justice…

During the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the quest for civil rights by African Americans and other groups of color reverberated throughout the United States and the world, including within educational professional and research organizations, such as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Council of…

The author argues that the role of a public intellectual involves a science of knowing as well as the knowledge gained by a researcher's work and life. Including both, the intellectual moves beyond educational organizations and finds ways to become more involved not only with larger issues of public policy but also with those with whom he or…

Explicit versions of positivism were cast off some time ago in philosophy, but a tacit form continues to thrive in education research, exemplified by the "new scientific orthodoxy" codified in the National Research Council's "Scientific Research in Education" (2002) and reinforced in the American Educational Research Association's "Standards for…

The usefulness of positivist traditions in education research has been debated for some time, and there continue to be various epistemological and methodological camps regarding the question of what constitutes "good" or "real" research. The importance of educating all children necessitates that we think about what are the most effective and most…

In response to Howe (2009), the author argues that educational research needs multiple thoughtful perspectives. The author's standpoint is that of a mixed methods research methodologist. Mixed methods research provides an antidualistic and syncretic philosophy and set of approaches or possibilities for merging insights from diverse perspectives;…

Howe's (2009) critique of positivistic tendencies in the education research community is valuable and pertinent. His analysis is nonetheless one-sided, finding fault with one side of current divisions alone. In an effort to retain the good points of his analysis, the author first summarizes Howe's argument, interpreting it as a critique of hasty…