ERIC Number: EJ694197
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Aug
Pages: 15
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-2004
EISSN: N/A
The Question of Education Science: "Experiment"ism Versus "Experimental"ism
Howe, Kenneth R.
Educational Theory, v55 n3 p307-321 Aug 2005
The ascendant view in the current debate about education science -- experimentism -- is a reassertion of the randomized experiment as the methodological gold standard. Advocates of this view have ignored, not answered, long-standing criticisms of the randomized experiment: its frequent impracticality, its lack of external validity, its confinement to a regularity conception of causality, and its externalization of politics. This article rehearses these criticisms and then adumbrates the alternative of "experimentalism." In contrast to experimentism, experimentalism is expansive and variegated in its conception of scientific method, seeing methodology as itself an object of experimentation. Experimentalism also includes a central role for intentional causation and self-consciously incorporates progressive political values.
Descriptors: Scientific Methodology, Research Methodology, Research Design, Educational Experiments, Critical Theory, Educational Theories, Politics of Education, Educational Environment, Research Problems, Validity
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Publication Type: Journal Articles
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A