The Role of Replication Studies in Educational Research

Abstract

In the past year, we have used this space to tackle a chronic and important concern in mathematics education: how to increase the impact of research on practice. Because of the unique nature of this issue of JRME, we pause to address the critical idea of replication in educational research. In later issues, we will continue our primary theme and consider how the ideas raised in this editorial can further our understanding of the relationships between research and practice.

Posing Researchable Questions in Mathematics and Science Education: Purposefully Questioning the Questions for Investigation

“…Sanchez (2020) discuss, in particular, the importance of replication studies in mathematics and the kinds of researchable questions that would be productive to explore within this category. With the increased acknowledgement of the importance of replication studies (Cai et al, 2018), Sanchez Aguilar has provided a useful typology of fundamental questions that can guide a replication study in mathematics (and science) education.…”

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education: Practical Guides for Promoting and Disseminating Significant Research in Mathematics Education

“…As we discuss below, JRME welcomes such reports. As is the case for all submissions to JRME, manuscripts reporting findings from replication studies must include a compelling argument for carrying out and publishing the work being reported (see Cai et al 2018;Schoenfeld 2018;Star 2018).…”

“…Early in 2018, through a fortunate confluence of manuscript submissions, JRME was able to publish a number of replication studies. Once again taking the opportunity to engage the mathematics education research community in an important conversation about moving the field forward, the editorial team raised questions about the long-standing but largely unaddressed calls for more replication research (Cai et al 2018). Sir Ronald Fisher, the father of modern educational statistics, considered replication to be one of the fundamental building blocks of experimental research design (Fisher 1935).…”

“…Indeed, although replication is a key aspect of knowledge building in many fields of research, its place in mathematics education research journals has never been prominent. The editorial team saw this as an opportune moment to advance the conversation around replication, proposing that conceptual replications might be the key to making replication a more powerful tool in mathematics education (Cai et al 2018).…”

Reconceptualizing the Roles of Researchers and Teachers to Bring Research Closer to Teaching

“…This might be especially relevant for researchers who are interested in studying the issues surrounding instructional problems in a broader sense. The knowledge base would represent a rich resource for the development of empirically based learning trajectories for students with specified profiles, cross-context comparisons that afford testing hypotheses about the effects of particular classroom conditions, contextual variables critical for sustaining continuous improvement of teaching, and data to conduct retrospective conceptual replications (Cai et al, 2018c).…”