Is the educational ‘what works’ agenda working? Critical methodological developments

Pampaka, María; Williams, Julian; Homer, Matt

doi:10.1080/1743727x.2016.1205817

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…However, whilst RCTs have been popular in both research and policy circles in driving 'evidence-based' decisions, they have also faced strong opposition from critics (Pampaka et al, 2016). Some argue that this research method is not always suitable for use in education research.…”

Section: Evolving Methods and Designs In Education Research: Adoptingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systems Research in Education: Designs and methods

Magrath

Aslam

Johnson

2019

Research in Comparative and International Education

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This exploratory paper seeks to shed light on the methodological challenges of education systems research. There is growing consensus that interventions to improve learning outcomes must be designed and studied as part of a broader system of education, and that learning outcomes are affected by a complex web of dynamics involving different inputs, actors, processes and socio-political contexts. How should researchers in comparative and international education respond to this call for complexity? To begin to answer this question, we draw on recent and ongoing research within the Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems research programme-a programme of 30 projects funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The paper explores critical ways in which the methods used by individual research projects, and across the programme as a whole, offer opportunities and raise challenges for advancing systems thinking in education research.

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Section: Evolving Methods and Designs In Education Research: Adoptingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systems Research in Education: Designs and methods

Magrath

Aslam

Johnson

2019

Research in Comparative and International Education

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show abstract

“…Within this context, there is an emerging tendency for educational research to move towards the experimental research designs that aim to generate evidence to inform teaching practice, which undervalues other research approaches. This movement towards positivist research methodologies has led to heated debate over the last few years about the way in which evidence in education is perceived, and the relationship between research and practice (De Bruin, ), with much discussion focusing on how to generate a positive relationship between educational research and teaching knowledge and practice (Pampaka, Williams, & Homer, ).…”

Section: A Definition Of Evidence‐informed Edtechmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creating the golden triangle of evidence‐informed education technology with EDUCATE

Cukurova¹,

Luckin²,

Clark-Wilson³

2018

Brit J Educational Tech

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EDUCATE is a London‐based programme that supports the development of research‐informed educational technology (EdTech), allowing entrepreneurs and start‐ups to create their products and services, and simultaneously grow their companies in a more evidence‐informed manner. The programme partners businesses with researchers who mentor, guide and support this research journey, a key aspect of which is the evaluation of the company’s EdTech product or service. However, conducting impact evaluations of technology in education is challenging, particularly for early stage technologies, as rapid cycles of innovation and change are part of their essence. Here, we present the pragmatic approach to evidence‐informed education technology design and impact evaluation, as developed and adopted by the EDUCATE programme. The research process is shaped by the core principles of evidence‐informed decision making detailed in the paper. The contributions of the paper are threefold. First, it defines and details an academia‐industry‐education collaboration model centred on a research training programme. Second, it presents emerging impact results of the programme. Third, it provides clear reflections on the challenges encountered during the implementation of the model in the EdTech ecosystem of London, which should be addressed if we are to move towards evidence‐informed EdTech globally.

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“…Secondly, there has been a tendency in recent educational research to move towards experimental research designs that aim to generate evidence to inform teaching practice while undervaluing other types of research approaches (see for instance Slavin, 2017). This movement towards positivist research methodologies in education has led to heated debate over the last few years about the way in which evidence in education is perceived, and the relationship between research and practice in educational research (de Bruin, 2015), with much discussion focusing on how to generate a positive relationship between educational research and teaching knowledge and practice (Pampaka, Williams, & Homer, 2016). Here, we argue that due to the ever-changing dynamic nature of emerging educational technologies, the traditional methods of more positivist impact evaluations, such as randomized control trials (RCTs), should not be considered as the only solution.…”

Section: Evidence-informed Emerging Technologies In Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Impact of Emerging Technologies in Education: A Pragmatic Approach

Cukurova

Luckin

2018

Springer International Handbooks of Education

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The evaluation of emerging technologies is important for their impacts to be effectively integrated into learning and teaching settings to bring the best benefit to learners and teachers. Educators, learners, parents and policymakers alike, therefore, need reliable methodologies for evaluating the effectiveness of such emerging technologies. However, the impact evaluations of technology in education are challenging. This challenge is more significant for emerging technologies, as change is the essense of emerging educational technologies. Therefore, the value of traditional impact evaluations in education require being reconsidered within this context. Here, we present a pragmatic approach to measuring the impact of emerging technologies in education which focuses on the suitability of the proposed evaluation methods and the types of evidence rather than on the hierarchy of these methods and evidence types. The approach has two main steps. First one is the creation of a clear theory of change to identify outcome measure(s) and assumptions that are behind the expected impact of the emerging technology intervention. Secondly, the identification of the type of evidence and methods to generate it that are the most appropriate for the current innovation stage of the emerging technology.

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Is the educational ‘what works’ agenda working? Critical methodological developments

Cited by 10 publications

References 9 publications

Systems Research in Education: Designs and methods

Systems Research in Education: Designs and methods

Creating the golden triangle of evidence‐informed education technology with EDUCATE

Measuring the Impact of Emerging Technologies in Education: A Pragmatic Approach

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