Studying Educational and Social Policy

Theoretical Concepts and Research Methods

Ronald H. Heck

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2004
• ISBN:
  9781135627218
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The overall purpose of this text is to introduce beginning researchers to the study of educational and social policy, how it has been examined from a scholarly perspective, and the salient issues to consider in conceptualizing and conducting policy research. The emphasis is on "introduce, " as the various policy fields within the public sector (for example, education, energy, health, labor) are much too diverse to include in depth in a single volume on theoretical concepts and research methods. The focus is not so much on the substance of policymaking as on understanding the interplay between how policy is made and implemented and the various conceptual approaches and methods researchers can use to frame and conduct policy studies. The underlying assumption is that a critique of the substantive, theoretical, and methodological issues involved in studying policy can help researchers conduct policy studies that are more informative in guiding policy development and more effective in assessing the impact of policy reforms. *Part I acquaints readers with substantive issues and challenges related to the study of the policy process, and includes chapters on federalism and policymaking, and on studying policy development, implementation, and impact.
*Part II examines different conceptual frameworks and theories for the study of policy, with chapters on political culture and policymaking, the punctuated-equilibrium theory and the advocacy coalition framework, economic and organizational perspectives, and new approaches (e.g., feminism, critical theory, postmodernism).
*Part III focuses research methods for studying policy, covering research design, qualitative methods, multilevel methods for policy research, and growth modeling methods for examining policy change.
*Part IV compares the diversity of approaches used by policy scholars with respect to their strengths and weaknesses, and presents a number of issues for further consideration in conducting policy research. This introduction to theories and methods of conducting policy research is intended to give prospective researchers an appreciation of the relationship among policy problems, empirical methods, and practice, and to contribute to building their skills in conceptualizing and conducting policy research that answers important questions. The text includes examples of studies to illustrate the diversity of methodological techniques, and discusses issues related to the design and conduct of original educational policy studies. Studying Educational and Social Policy: Theoretical Concepts and Research Methods is designed primarily for graduate courses in educational policy and educational research and is appropriate as well for research methodology courses in other disciplines, including statistics and research methodology in the social sciences, organizational studies, public policy, and political science

IV
Epilogue

Recent turmoil surrounding the purposes of public education and its reform have significantly impacted the intellectual focus of the field of educational policy. For a number of years the field has been a ship in search of a destination. The dominant intellectual underpinnings, methods of inquiry (rational models, positivism, quantitative analysis) and the utility of the research have been harshly criticized over the past two decades. Critics questioned whether the metaphor of “policy as science” really fit the investigation of educational endeavors. They argued that because political and educational institutions were socially constructed, natural science methods based on scientific laws logically derived from mathematical relationships representing causes and effects were ill-suited to understand the relationship between policymaking and schools. In the years following, a number of scholars have suggested alternative ways to conceptualize the field. These alternative discourses, norms, and routines of practice (referred to as “disciplinary practices”), which are connected to larger historical, political, economic, and cultural contexts, shape the ways in which a field of study and its related practices constitute themselves (Anderson, 1996; Robinson, 1996).

Today, this metaphor represents “contested space” in terms of its conceptual underpinnings, goals, methods, and contribution of its research in building a knowledge base that can be used to improve practice and to transform schooling. Despite criticism, however, it is clear that the scientific approach to educational policy has provided cumulative empirical knowledge about the policymaking process, as well as practices that work in certain subfields of education (e.g., school effects, school improvement processes). As the previous chapters indicate, considerable scholarly activity has taken place over the past 40 years that places theoretical propositions either at the center of the analysis (i.e., by testing particular frameworks, theories, and models) or uses theory more generally as a conceptual and methodological underpinning to guide a program of research.

Some newer perspectives also suggest that policy research should be used to promote advocacy (i.e., representing the field as a moral undertaking), as opposed to scientific neutrality. This discussion illuminates a concern with not only improving educational practice, but also promoting social justice and democracy, for example, by including alternative knowledge or discourses that have been subjugated, neglected, or missing (e.g., Anderson, 1996; Blackmore, 1996; Kahne, 1994). In several concrete ways, this knowledge accumulated from diverse perspectives has had an impact on changing educational practices. At the same time, most commentary on the field’s progress and directions suggests that it is more diverse and fragmented today.

There are a number of factors that work against efforts to move toward more disciplined inquiry about educational policy. Changing political and social contexts may affect priorities, definitions of important problems, expectations for education and other institutions, as well as the definitions and focus of research over time. One challenge is the re-examination of the role of scholarly discourse in educational policy can (and should) play in contributing to increased understandings of educational problems. A second is to increase its utility in reducing or solving those problems.

Serious divisions within the academic community have surfaced more recently regarding the over-reliance on particular ways of looking at problems, processes, solutions, and methods. Others argue that our research has not gone far enough in changing educational practices, nor in identifying oppressive structures and working to replace them. It is clear that research based on the assumption of advancing knowledge through testing models and accumulating knowledge through separate studies (i.e., despite the various ways in which they are conducted) is built on a different...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• FOREWORD
• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION
• I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE POLICY PROCESS
• II. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS AND THEORIES
• III. POLICY RESEARCH METHODS
• IV. EPILOGUE