Educational research and its relationship with policy making and practice has been a perennial concern. This book deals with some basic and controversial questions about that issue, including:

- Can there be harmony in the relationship between researchers and educational policymakers or practitioners?

- Do increases in knowledge always lead to practical improvement, and never to undesirable consequences?

- Would educational research flourish if it were subjected to more central, and external, control?

- What is the role of research reviews in making the...

Educational research and its relationship with policy making and practice has been a perennial concern. This book deals with some basic and controversial questions about that issue, including:

- Can there be harmony in the relationship between researchers and educational policymakers or practitioners?

- Do increases in knowledge always lead to practical improvement, and never to undesirable consequences?

- Would educational research flourish if it were subjected to more central, and external, control?

- What is the role of research reviews in making the...

Recent years have seen a growing range of challenges to the idea that research should be governed by the principle of value neutrality. In this stimulating and often controversial book, Martyn Hammersley weighs the arguments offered in support of these positions.

An introduction to the principles of social and educational research, offering an assessment of issues of values and practice in social research. It discusses such issues as race, gender and power in social research; the politics and ethics of data collection; and the relevance of social research.

Combining classic articles that have been key markers in recent debates with new and influential material, this book addresses the problems involved in educational research and the issues surrounding its contribution to policymaking and practice. The authors examine the diverse approaches within qualitative research and address some of the key areas which have attracted criticism. They consider what role research should play and examine the case for randomised controlled trials and for action research.

The chapters in this book outline the history and scope of educational research. They also discuss many of the major issues at stake in current debates, and exemplify the contrasting perspectives to be found in the literature.

This is the companion volume to Educational Research in Action (edited by Roger Gomm and Peter Woods). It is one of two course readers for The Open University course E824 Educational Research Methods.

Recent years have seen a growing range of challenges to the idea that research should be governed by the principle of value neutrality. In this stimulating and often controversial book, Martyn Hammersley weighs the arguments offered in support of these positions.

Is qualitative research in crisis?

In Questioning Qualitative Inquiry Martin Hammersley argues that the move away from natural science as a model for social inquiry involves a rejection of key principles that are essential for any commitment to research.

Discussing fifty years of change in qualitative social research, Martyn Hammersley's argument is pursued in concrete terms through discussion of specific issues, such as:

- how to learn from the history of qualitative inquiry

- can qualitative methodology be taught

- the significance of...

How do views about children shape research concerned with their lives? What different forms can research with children take? What ethical issues does it involve? How does it impact on policy and practice, and on the lives of children themselves?

This book helps you to understand how research is designed and carried out to explore questions about the lives of children and young people. It tackles the methodological, practical and ethical challenges involved, and features examples of actual research that illustrate:

• Different strategies for carrying out...

In this book, Martyn Hammersley argues that many social scientists are ambivalent about methodology because of a wider problem: the gradual decline of a previously influential academic model of inquiry. This has occurred as a result of ideological challenges and the erosion of the institutional conditions that support academic work. He defends this model, spelling out the demands it places upon social scientists, and examining such issues as the proper role of methodology, the nature of objectivity, the false idea that social scientists should be intellectuals or social critics, the dialectic...