This paper argues that action research finds a rationale in the pragmatic position that knowledge is provisional and generated through a transaction between agent and environment. Action research finds a further methodological rationale in the pragmatic view that knowledge is generated within indeterminate situations, requires habits of reflection…

This paper identifies what can be called the "paradox of interdisciplinarity" (Weingart 2000) in Australian higher education research governance and explores some of its constitutive dimensions. In the Australian context, the paradox of interdisciplinarity primarily concerns the proliferation of a programmatic discourse of…

We appreciate the thoughtful reactions of our colleagues to the "no prescriptives, please" proposal of Robinson et al. (2013), as well as the opportunity to respond to them. For the most part, our colleagues seem to agree that a problem exists in terms of unwarranted recommendations for practice appearing too often in educational…

Current legislation requires educational practices be informed by science. The effort to establish educational practices supported by science has, to date, emphasized experiments with large numbers of participants who are randomly assigned to an intervention or control condition. A potential limitation of such an emphasis at the expense of other…

Robinson et al. ("Educ Psychol Rev" 25(2):291-302, 2013) offer a thoughtful and powerful argument for a policy change for primary educational research journals. This policy change would "disallow recommendations for practice" (p. 10) in primary educational research journals. They provided compelling examples of works in which…

This paper explores and challenges the notion that postsecondary students are products of higher education, shaped and molded for the benefit of future employers. The mere suggestion that students are passive in their consumption of educational services would seem to discount the importance of their own educational identity and the broad…

Purpose: The extant literature on school leadership development is dominated by conceptual analysis, descriptive studies of current practice, critiques of current practice, and prescriptions for better ways to approach practice. Relatively few studies have examined impact of leadership development using experimental methods, among which even fewer…

Collaboration is the foundation for innovative discoveries, as individuals with different backgrounds come together and combine their unique expertise. In the current article, an educational researcher and two neuroscientists relate their experiences in establishing a successful collaborative effort. The marriage of neuroscientific findings with…

This article critique reflects on "Standards for a New Century: Educating U.S. Students to Compete in the Global Economy," which was published in 2009 in the "Carnegie Reporter", a publication of The Carnegie Corporation of New York. The article, written by Carnegie staff writer Karen Theroux, explained the need for Common Core…

The importance of posing the best questions in research studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) is undisputed. Researchers may spend long hours reflecting and discussing with colleagues how to improve a certain question they have in mind. The best questions are always original, grounded in the existing literature and feasible to be…

The six papers in this special issue of "Computers and Education" honoring Professor David H. Jonassen are diverse in nature. They also reflect differing interpretations of the implications of Jonassen's work for research and development focused on instructional models and the factors influencing instruction as well as the directions for future…

There are two types of qualitative research that analyze a small number of cases or a single case: idiographic differentiation and nomothetic/generalization. There are few case studies of generalization. This is because theoretical inclination is weak in the field of education, and the binary framework of quantitative versus qualitative research…

Methodological reviews, reviews that concentrate on research methods rather than research outcomes, have been used in a variety of fields to improve research practice, inform debate, and identify islands of practice. In this article, we report on the results of a methodological review of all of the articles published in "Georgia Educational…

Posting a report on the web or sending out a press release used to be all that was needed to help get the word out about one's research findings. But times have changed. Today, effective dissemination depends on getting the right message to the right people at the right time in the right form. To break through the clutter, researchers need…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits--for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on "quality". Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This series…