Advancing Scientific Research in Education (2005) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Appendix B: Understanding and Promoting Knowledge Accumulation: Summary of Workshop Key Points
Appendix B: Understanding and Promoting Knowledge Accumulation: Summary of Workshop Key Points
Pages 97-114
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 97... ...
It also included a discussion of tools to promote an accumulated knowledge base derived from education research, many of which we highlight in our recommendations. Rather than issue a separate report summarizing the workshop, the committee decided to develop a summa y of key points that provide context for, and help illuminate, the confusions and recommendations in this report.
|
From page 98... ...
KNOWLEDGE ACCUMULATION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Kenji Hakuta, in transition at The time of The event between Stanford University and The University of California, Merced, began The day widh a presentation Hat considered key terms and ideas associated widh knowledge accumulation and Then traced The example of research in bilingual education to illustrate Them.
|
From page 99... ...
It involves extending previous findings, including the elaboration and revision of accepted theories, with an eye always toward the growth of systematic understanding. In some cases, knowledge accumulation can involve wholesale replacement of a paradigm, as pointed out by McQueen.
|
From page 100... ...
Ladd identified this question as the one addressed in the so-called education production function literature. In that literature, educational outcomes (defined as student achievement, educational attainment, or subsequent wage earnings)
|
From page 101... ...
Indeed, the main thesis put forth at the workshop by Howe was that questions concerning knowledge accumulation are difficult to disentangle from questions concerning broader methodological frameworks. He specifically argued that the experimental paradigm (that is, relying on random assignment designs)
|
From page 102... ...
The exchange dhat followed The presentations extended The discussion of medhodology by focusing on The need to use multiple methodologies in appropriate ways to promote broad understanding of The complexities of teaching, learning, and schooling over time. Using research on class size reduction as an example, Harris Cooper, who at The time of The workshop was in transition between The University of Missouri, Columbia, and Duke University, pointed out dhat examining The findings from small, qualitative studies opened up The "black box" and revealed dhat not only we e teachers spending less time on classroom management and mote time on instruction in smaller Basses, but also dhat They were conducting mote enrichment activities.
|
From page 103... ...
Hakuta's depiction of The bilingual education research following publicly framed dichotomies of program options radher Than research-driven, Theoretically derived models based on practice shows dhat d is orientation led to a great deal of work trying to explain only a small fraction of The variation in how English-language learners best learn The language. Only recently, he argued, have researdhers turned Their attention to studies dhat focus on questions most relevant to understanding d is key issue.
|
From page 104... ...
. McQueen articulated most explicitly dhat, in such applied fields as medicine and public healdh, Theoretical ideas are different from Those found in such disciplines as chemistry and biology.
|
From page 105... ...
Public pressure in dhe applied field of education, Hakuta argued, has led to an overemphasis on a single research question, inhibiting dhe growth of knowledge on odher important questions. In his discussion of research on dhe effects of resources on school and student achievement, Cohen pointed to anodher area in which a g eat deal of time and effort has been devoted to researching a phenomenon in dhe applied field of education research dhat accounts for a small percentage of dhe differences in student achievement.
|
From page 106... ...
However, such results often do not generalize from one gender to dhe odher. As a consequence, many of dhe treatments for diseases dhat affect bodh men and women, such as heart disease, were not as effective for women as They were for men, but wid out explicidy designing research to estimate differential effects on men and women, physicians would not know to prescribe different regimens.
|
From page 107... ...
Cohen's description of a particular line of work in which he has been involved in dhe resources and student achievement area illustrated d is idea in education. Along widh his colleagues Steve Raudenbush and Deborah Ball, Cohen has spent considerable time examining dhe relationship between resources and student achievement.
|
From page 108... ...
The iterations were necessary, he argued, to strike the right balance between a standard set of questions and data collection protocols and the need to recognize and articulate what he termed "emergent phenomena." Because program elements interact with local circumstances in different ways, Mehan argued that the kinds of issues and data that are relevant to understanding the implementation and effectiveness of the program will vary to some degree across sites. Research Community A final theme raised in this initial workshop session was the crucial role of the community of investigators, including funding agencies, to support efforts to integ ate and build on findings from related work.
|
From page 109... ...
The discussion of human capacity extended beyond individual investigators. Daniel Berch, of The National institute of Child Health and Human Development, errs cl a description of The important role of federal tesearch agency personnel in bodh taking stock of what is known in an area and in using dhat information for setting research priorities.
|
From page 110... ...
KNOWLEDGE ACCUMULATION: HOW TO PROMOTE IT Barbara Schneider, of The University of Chicago, began The second part of The workshop by focusing on The idea of replication, a concept, she argued, dhat provides an important, unifying idea for creating scientific norms dhat can unite a community of researchers from different disciplinary perspectives. She asserted dhat replication begins with data sharing—it is The sharing of information about studies, including The actual data on which findings are based, dhat makes replication possible.
|
From page 111... ...
Michael Nettles, who at the time of The workshop was in transition between The University of Michigan and the Educational Testing Service, discussed issues surrounding the measu ement of student achievement. In her presentation, Buchmann offered a rationale for why measures of socioeconomic status and family background are important in education research and charted The prog ession of measure development That tedects The challenges of developing a common core of measures in education.
|
From page 112... ...
He argued that there is a g eat deal of fragmentation and questionable stability in measuring student achievement. Although NAEP is appealing for a number of reasons, Nettles raised a number of issues related to student motivation, tepresentativeness across geographic areas and other categories, the validity of the test for making particular inferences, and equity and bias, that have significant bearing on research that relies on these measures of student achievement.
|
From page 113... ...
Drawing on personal experience working with committees charged with developing consensus about research findings in areas of education, Wise described the consensus-building process of the NRC. Finally, Berch described the ways in which the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development attempts to understand what is known, what is not known, and how to craft research agendas and competitions based on that understanding.
|
From page 114... ...
. Sritatif r rtstawh la tdv~atiovs Committee on Scientific Principles for Education Reseatch.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.