ABSTRACT
There are very many books about how to do educational research. But many undergraduate and postgraduate research methodology courses are based on just one or two of the well-known textbooks that have been often reprinted and have served successive cohorts of students (examples are Moser and Kalton, 1992; Cohen and Manion, 1994). While these ‘cook-book’ textbooks have much to offer, they present research largely as an unproblematic process. When considering more quantitative and statistical research, their concern is with sampling, questionnaire design, interview procedures, response rates, observation schedules, and so on. Even when focusing on qualitative research, there is often an emphasis on such tactical aspects as gaining entry to sites, generating rapport with interviewees, and strategies for the analysis of data. In short, many well-known textbooks present an idealized conception of how educational research is designed and executed, where research is carefully planned in advance, predetermined methods and procedures followed, and the ‘results’ are the unavoidable conclusion. The effect of the researcher is excluded from the process.
