Contexts, contextualism and contextualizing educational research
pp. 239-246
in: Alan , E. Paul Hart, Michael A. Peters (eds), A companion to research in education, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
This introduction to the third Part of the Companion uses the philosophies and challenges of contextualism to promote critical understandings of the contexts and contextualizations of education research. Theoretical and pragmatic attempts to ground and universalize inquiry falter in the face of contextualist critiques that surface the contingencies of thought and the textualization of inquiry. Chapters and commentaries in this Part illustrate how accounts of education research, across rationales, research designs and findings, are shaped by local contexts and power relations, alongside the historical and spatialized dimensions of "common sense' through to claims to producing original knowledge. Examples from contributors and commentators discuss the interface of education research with critical race theory, youth studies, the creativity imperative, the knowledge economy, culture and comparative research, and the aspirations and limitations of problem-based methodologies. In short, readers are invited to consider the subtexts, pretexts and contexts of educational research, and how these relate to the ways in which inquiry is conceptualized, characterized, legitimated and represented before a wider, watching world.