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Methodological Pluralism and the Pursuit of the Public Good

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Education in the Age of Misinformation

Abstract

Drawing on examples from England, we consider how research use to inform policy and practice can be improved. We begin by identifying limitations in the ways evidence is often employed in public debates and the type of research that most often features. At worst, such use constitutes misinformation when research processes and findings are inadvertently misrepresented and disinformation when the intention is to deliberately mislead. We look at why evidence use in policymaking and practice is so difficult. We conclude with a call for better policymaker, practitioner and public understanding of evidence and, in particular, a recognition of the benefits to policymakers and practitioners of drawing on a methodologically plural research base.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These are trusts that operate across several state schools, each one directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control.

  2. 2.

    https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/ [Accessed 01-03-2022]

  3. 3.

    http://www.curee.co.uk/ [Accessed 01-03-2022]

  4. 4.

    https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/ [Accessed 01-03-2022]

  5. 5.

    Indeed, measurement systems constitute a form of power by incorporating without acknowledgement theories about social change in their design (Merry, 2016). Counting things requires finding a way to make them comparable, and in the process of translating the confusion of social life into neat categories, we inevitably strip it of context and meaning. This risks hiding or distorting as much as is revealed.

  6. 6.

    https://www.buildinglearningpower.com/ [Accessed 01-03-2022]

  7. 7.

    https://visible-learning.org/ [Accessed 01-03-2022]

  8. 8.

    https://arkonline.org/ark-ventures/mathematics-mastery [Accessed 01-03-2022]

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK

    Peter Kelly

  2. Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany

    Susann Hofbauer

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  1. Peter Kelly
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  2. Susann Hofbauer
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Correspondence to Peter Kelly .

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  1. Faculty of Education, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

    Lana Parker

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Kelly, P., Hofbauer, S. (2023). Methodological Pluralism and the Pursuit of the Public Good. In: Parker, L. (eds) Education in the Age of Misinformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25871-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25871-8_3

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