Quantitative and qualitative approaches in educational research — problems and examples of controlled understanding through interpretive methods

In the methodological discussion of recent years it has become apparent that many research problems, including problems relating to the theory of educational science, cannot be solved by using quantitative methods. The multifaceted aspects of human behaviour and all its environment-bound subtle nuances, especially the process of education or the development of identity, cannot fully be taken into account within a rigid neopositivist approach. In employing the paradigm of symbolic interactionism as a suitable model for the analysis of processes of education and formation, the research has generally to start out from complex reciprocal social interactions instead of unambigious connections of causes. In analysing several particular methodological problems, the article demonstrates some weaknesses of quantitative approaches and then shows the advantages in and the necessity for using qualitative research tools.

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Zusammenfassung In der methodologischen Diskussion der letzten Jahre hat sich gezeigt, auch im Hinblick auf Theorieprobleme der Erziehungswissenschaft, daß eine ganze Reihe von Forschungsproblemen nicht mit quantitativen Methoden in den Griff zu bekommen sind. Die facettenreichen Aspekte menschlichen Verhaltens, einschließlich seiner situationsbedingten Nuancen, insbesondere der Erziehungsprozeß oder die Entwicklung der Identität, sind mit einem rigiden neopositivistischen konzeptionellen Rahmen nicht angemessen zu begreifen. Wenn dagegen das Paradigma der symbolischen Interaktion als adäquates Modell für die Analyse der Erziehungs- und Bildungsprozesse genommen wird, muß die Methodologie generell von komplexen sozialen Wechselbeziehungen anstatt von eindeutigen Kausalbeziehungen ausgehen. Indem einige methodologische Probleme exemplarisch diskutiert werden, sollen in dem Artikel einige Schwachpunkte quantitativer Methoden demonstriert werden. Darüberhinaus sollen Vorteile und Notwendigkeit des Gebrauchs von qualitativen Forschungsverfahren dargelegt werden.

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Résumé Il est apparu évident dans le débat méthodologique de ces dernières années que de nombreux problèmes liés à la recherche, y compris ceux relatifs à la théorie des sciences de l'éducation, ne pouvaient être résolus au moyen de méthodes quantitatives. Les aspects aux facettes multiples du comportement humain et toutes ses nuances subtiles liées à l'environnement, notamment le processus d'éducation ou le développement de l'identité, ne peuvent être retenus pour une approche néopositiviste rigide. En considérant le paradigme de l'interaction symbolique en tant que modèle convenable pour l'analyse des processus d'éducation et de formation, la recherche est généralement partie d'interactions sociales réciproques complexes plutôt que de relations de causes non équivoques. En analysant quelques problèmes méthodologiques particuliers, cet article révèle quelques faiblesses des approches quantitatives et montre les avantages et la nécessité de l'utilisation d'instruments de recherche qualitatifs.

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This paper is a revised version of a lecture given on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Institute for Pedagogical Research at the University of Oslo in August, 1986. The paper is dedicated to the Institute and to Günther Patzig who celebrated his 60th birthday on 28 September, 1986.     

Setting by numbers: datafication processes and ability grouping in an English secondary school

ABSTRACT

With the rise of accountability policies since the early nineties, the daily operation of English schools has profoundly changed. Through the in-depth analysis of ability grouping practices in one English secondary school, this paper aims to explore how the accountability shift and datafication impacted the practice of student grouping and students’ experience of education. The paper documents how an English secondary school which had fully endorsed the comprehensive ideal gradually shifted from mixed ability teaching to a rigid system of hierarchically arranged attainment-based grouping structure over a period of decades, and explores the pedagogical dilemmas that data-driven governance generates. The paper concludes that the school’s data-driven practice creates an environment of competition and an experience of incessant insecurities for the students which unsettlingly echo the culture of the late neoliberal labour market.     

Process over product: the next evolution of our quest for technology integration

Educational technology research and development - The purpose of this paper is to introduce the next evolution of our quest for technology integration, one that moves away from the product of...     

Impact of a Temporary Food Shortage on Children and Their Mothers

Kenya experienced a severe drought and temporary food shortage during a study on mild malnutrition. Effects of the temporary food shortage on energy intake, weight, and behaviors were evaluated in schoolchildren and in toddlers and their mothers. Schoolchildren were seriously affected, showing significant declines in their energy intake, age-corrected weight, activity on the playground, and classroom attention. Toddlers appear to have been somewhat protected since their energy intake, weight, and play and language behaviors were stable. Maternal caregiving of toddlers declined for the group as a whole, but individually those mothers who maintained family food levels delegated responsibility for toddlers to other caregivers. While the food shortage affected poorer families more than those of higher SES, declines in the behaviors of schoolchildren occurred regardless of SES and previous level of nutrition, suggesting that food shortages can have behavioral consequences for schoolchildren in all communities.     

Schulformwechsel im zweigliedrigen Schulsystem

This study focuses on students who change from the academic to the non-academic school track after grade 7 (probationary year) in Berlin. We examined which individual student characteristics (e.?g., performance, school biography, family background) predict school change after the probationary year. We were particularly interested as to whether there are secondary effects of social background, after controlling for differences in performance. Our analyses were based on data from a study which included a whole cohort of school track changers (N?=?754) who were compared with students that remained at the academic track (N?=?1470). In order to predict the change of school type, multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results revealed significant differences between both groups regarding all observed characteristics. Performance-related characteristics were the best predictors of track change. After controlling for these characteristics, no further significant effects for other predictors were observable (i.?e., no secondary effects of social background were present).     

University research in flux: Policy debate in Australia

After a brief golden age Australian university research faces a difficult future. Two notions, utility and concentration, have become the catchwords of the emerging policy initiatives. Both have tended to be interpreted narrowly and simplistically, utility as having immediate technological applications that will bring economic benefits, and concentration to argue for breaking the teaching-research nexus, reducing the research workforce and thus achieving cost savings. As proposed, both initiatives require more centralised control of research policy and funding. Despite the outstanding record of Australia's universities in research and the absence of evidence to support the benefits claimed for the new initiatives, the pressure for change is gaining momentum. The problems facing Australian universities have much in common with those in other Western countries, although unique solutions must be sought for every setting. This paper argues that, in Australia, the adoption of the easy solution of increased concentration, short-term utility, and centralised control, is likely to compromise the established excellence and diversity in basic research, and to lead to an overall reduction in the scale of university research. Before any changes are instigated, there is a pressing need for a broad-ranging review based on widespread participation in a debate about needs and priorities, and rigorous research into the performance of the existing system and the potential benefits of the changes proposed.     

The Scaffolding of Emergent Literacy Skills in the Home Environment: A Case Study

The ways in which parent-child interactions can encourage the development of emergent literacy skills in young children remains to be fully explored. The present report describes how one parent scaffolded her young child’s emergent writing and letter knowledge in the home. Environmental print provided many rich and meaningful examples for the parent to show that print conveys meaning and is constructed with letters that have names and make sounds. The parent used idiomorphs, a multisensory approach incorporating the tracing of letters and whole body movements, and common household objects to guide the child’s learning of letter names, sounds, and shapes. Emergent writing skills were scaffolded by using directional language and by the child copying environmental print. The strategies and examples that are described may give guidance to parents and teachers on how to provide engaging opportunities for literacy learning in the home environment or in an early educational context.     

FROM PISA TO EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS: THE IMPACT OF LARGE-SCALE ASSESSMENTS ON SCIENCE EDUCATION IN GERMANY

The German education system does not traditionally rely on standardized testing. However, when the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study revealed an average performance of German students compared to other participating countries, a particular proportion of low-performing students, and remarkable disparities between the federal states, German policy makers decided for a major reform of the education system. A core piece of this reform was the introduction of National Education Standards. For science education, these standards were heavily influenced by the PISA results and its underlying framework. That is, with the standards, a paradigm shift took place from the German notion of Bildung towards the Anglo-American notion of literacy. With the introduction of these standards, a new field of empirical educational research was created: research on models of scientific literacy or competency models as a basis of benchmarking the standards. This article describes the German education system before PISA, summarizes the major findings from PISA, and describes how these findings informed the formulation of the performance standards for science education. It also details the measures undertaken to benchmark these standards. Finally, it provides insight into the issues with developing and benchmarking performance standards and points out future areas of research on evidence-based decision making in educational policy.     

Parental strategies to scaffold emergent writing skills in the pre‐school child within the home environment

Joint writing activities between parent and child can enhance literacy skills in young children. This paper describes the strategies used by a mother to scaffold her daughter’s alphabet letter shaping, word and story writing in the years before formal schooling. The strategies included identifying alphabet letters embedded in environmental print and books, tracing letter shapes with fingers whilst using directional language, and using whole‐arm movements to form letter shapes in the air. Writing samples and examples of parent–child interactions were collected at three to four years of age and are described within the framework of Gentry’s writing stages. The joint writing techniques and activities illustrated in this case study emphasise the use of letter names and letter shapes and may provide effective strategies for parents and early childhood educators to scaffold emergent writing development in young children.     

The nature of the phonological processing in French dyslexic children: evidence for the phonological syllable and linguistic features' role in silent reading and speech discrimination

This study investigated the status of phonological representations in French dyslexic children (DY) compared with reading level- (RL) and chronological age-matched (CA) controls. We focused on the syllable’s role and on the impact of French linguistic features. In Experiment 1, we assessed oral discrimination abilities of pairs of syllables that varied as a function of voicing, mode or place of articulation, or syllable structure. Results suggest that DY children underperform controls with a ‘speed-accuracy’ deficit. However, DY children exhibit some similar processing than those highlighted in controls. As in CA and RL controls, DY children have difficulties in processing two sounds that only differ in voicing, and preferentially process obstruent rather than fricative sounds, and more efficiently process CV than CCV syllables. In Experiment 2, we used a modified version of the Colé, Magnan, and Grainger's (Applied Psycholinguistics 20:507–532, 1999) paradigm. Results show that DY children underperform CA controls but outperform RL controls. However, as in CA and RL controls, data reveal that DY children are able to use phonological procedures influenced by initial syllable frequency. Thus, DY children process syllabically high-frequency syllables but phonemically process low-frequency syllables. They also exhibit lexical and syllable frequency effects. Consequently, results provide evidence that DY children performances can be accounted for by laborious phonological syllable-based procedures and also degraded phonological representations.