Pragmatism and Educational Research

By (author) Gert J. J. Biesta, Nicholas C. Burbules

Publication date:

28 October 2003

Length of book:

144 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780847694761

This volume offers an overview of the pragmatic understanding of knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge, and its implications for the conduct of educational research. Pragmatism and Educational Research focuses primarily on the work of John Dewey, and examines the relationship between pragmatism and educational research both in relation to research methodology and to a pragmatic educational theory. Biesta and Burbules provide examples of characteristic research questions and research methods and approaches, as informed by a pragmatist outlook. Further, they argue that the major benefit of a pragmatic approach to educational research lies in the possibility of promoting intelligent and reflective action by educational practitioners.
Biesta and Burbules's Pragmatism and Educational Research is the best book I have seen on the implications of pragmatism for social and educational research. It offers a sophisticated yet clear exposition of Dewey's work on experience, knowledge, inquiry, and truth, among other subjects. His pragmatism is then put to work, throwing light on current controversies in educational research. The upshot is a way of approaching educational research that is simultaneously scientific and humane and avoids the polarizing pitfalls of positivism, post-positivism, and post-modernism. This book deserves to have a major influence on the way educational research is conceived.