Research, evaluation, policy and practice

Many years ago, curriculum theorist and developer Lawrence Stenhouse (1975) defined research as “systematic inquiry made public”, as succinct and inclusive a definition as one could probably wish. The inquiry must be ‘systematic’ i.e. planned, methodical, disciplined, and it must be published, i.e. adding to our stock of knowledge and open to critique and debate by others to determine the validity and utility of its contribution. Interestingly the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) definition of research is almost as concise, though perhaps not as insistent on systematicity: "a process of investigation leading to new insights, effectively shared".

Why then do so many current discussions of research in education, and social research more generally, insist on defining research in terms of a particular approach and method, randomised control trials (RCTs), which are essentially a form of evaluation rather than research per se?

This presentation will seek to explore this issue by reviewing the purposes of research and evaluation, the ways in which they may or may not contribute to the development of policy and practice, and whether more distributed and collaborative approaches to educational research might help to rehabilitate the relationship of knowledge to practice.

Harry Torrance is Professor Emeritus and formerly Head of the Education and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His research interests include: the inter-relation of assessment, teaching and learning; testing and educational standards; the role of assessment in educational reform and policy development; qualitative research methodology; and the relationship between research and policy, research governance and research management. He has undertaken many research projects investigating these topics funded by a wide range of sponsors.

Professor Torrance is editor of the four-volume Routledge Major Themes in Education collection ‘Educational Assessment and Evaluation’, the four-volume Sage Handbook of ‘Qualitative Research Methods in Education’, a former editor of the British Educational Research Journal, and a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences. He was a member of the 2021 UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) Education panel.

Host or Publisher The Centre for Research for Educational Impact