Designing Educational Research

In a knowledge-based economy, universities constitute one of the few institutional sites with the capacity to provide foundational research training. And in Australia, as in other western nations, higher degree research students contribute significantly to the research activity of higher education institutions. In recent times, however, the research performance or productivity of these postgraduate students and the relevance of their work have been questioned by governments,...
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In a knowledge-based economy, universities constitute one of the few institutional sites with the capacity to provide foundational research training. And in Australia, as in other western nations, higher degree research students contribute significantly to the research activity of higher education institutions. In recent times, however, the research performance or productivity of these postgraduate students and the relevance of their work have been questioned by governments, economists, business leaders and funding authorities. Given that the traditional one-on-one relationship of supervisor/ tutor and student/disciple is no longer an adequate preparation (and indeed at best often an ad hoc one) for the various skills, disciplines, knowledge and values associated with being a successful researcher, what might constitute an effective and economical approach to such training? How might `learning on the job' be undertaken and `learning communities' be constructed? Designing Educational Research outlines and evidences pedagogical principles and a research training curriculum for doctoral students developed and applied in the Faculty of Education at the Queensland University of Technology. Its focus, equally then, is designing educational researchers. In doing so, and as part of the exercise itself, this edited collection presents the work of twenty-two doctoral students addressing a wide range of issues and aspects relating to the development of their research, from theory to methodology to empirical research. These chapters are the product of a process of preparation, assisted at each step by mentors, peers, reviewers, workshops and seminars, of a conference paper, publicly presented, reviewed, and developed for publication. The quality of the process is evidenced by the quality of their work. The worth of their work is indexed by its relevance to contemporary needs and issues, and its applicability in and to educational practice.