ISBN:
9789048198733
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (IX, 200p, digital)
Series Statement:
Educational Research 5
Series Statement:
SpringerLink
Series Statement:
Bücher
Parallel Title:
Buchausg. u.d.T. Educational research: the ethics and aesthetics of statistics
Keywords:
Education
;
Education
;
Education Philosophy
;
Pädagogik
;
Empirische Forschung
;
Statistik
;
Aufsatzsammlung
Abstract:
Statistics are everywhere. Their power and their undoubted efficacy in many areas have given rise to faith in measurement and metrics. More of them will tell us all that we need to know. Their use carries with it a number of presuppositions: that reality can be satisfactorily represented and that it can be controlled or the risks managed. The papers in this book interpret the ethics and aesthetics of statistics in terms of representation, visualisation and accessibility, focus on the appeal of 'simplicity', of technical languages, numbers, diagrams and pictures, and pay attention to their connection with action plans. The book explores what has made educational researchers dependent on statistics, and deals with their use in areas such as the prevalence of maltreatment of children, European citizenship, well-being and happiness, illegal migrants, and university expansion. There is discussion of how the quest for more and better statistics finds its voice in policy initiatives that become slogans, and how public opinion polls are used to rationalise political decision-making. Can a more limited and modest use be made of statistics which does not deflect attention away from education's core business and which does not destroy the local practical knowledge that on which good education is based? 'Smeyers and Depaepe continue to bring together a significant international group of educational philosophers and historians on topics of importance to researchers. This fifth volume in their series takes up the 'gold standard' use of statistics in case studies not contributed elsewhere. I highly recommend this text to counter a current over-emphasis on technique in research methodology. Use of statistics remains but herein under new, insightful conceptualizations.' Lynda Stone, Philosophy of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA 'Once again, Depaepe and Smeyers succeeded in bringing together distinguished international and cross-disciplinary scholars exploring very timely and critical issues in current educational research. This is a groundbreaking book on a theme that can't be ignored by educational researchers and those interested in a better understanding of the culture of science and science as culture. Moreover, the present book instigates to study history of educational research, a limited but developing field, and invites reflection to those who are sometimes too reliant on number crunching as a mode of interpretation and rather credulous in the acceptance of institutional records. Frank Simon, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium
Description / Table of Contents:
Earlier Volumes in this Series; Contents; 1 Representation or Hard Evidence? The Use of Statistics in Education and Educational Research; 2 The Lure of Statistics for Educational Researchers; 3 Dazzling Statistics? On the University Expansion in Flanders and the Need for Research into the History of Education that Transcends Quantifying Sociology; 4 Child Maltreatment in the Last 50 Years: The Use of Statistics; 5 Constructing Social Unity and Presenting Clear Predictions: The Promise of Public Opinion Pollsters to Measure and Educate Society
Description / Table of Contents:
6 n = 1: The Science and Art of the Single Case in Educational Research7 To Frame the Unframable: Quantifying Irregular Migrants' Presence; 8 European Citizenship and Evidence-Based Happiness; 9 The Persuasive Power of Figures and the Aesthetics of the Dirty Backyards of Statistics in Educational Research; 10 The Good, the Beautiful and the Literate: Making Statistics Accessible for Action; 11 Statistics and the Inference to the Best Explanation: Living Without Complexity?; 12 Performativity, Statistics and Bloody Words; 13 A Bubble for the Spirit Level: Metricophilia, Rhetoric and Philosophy
Description / Table of Contents:
14 Calling to AccountAbout the Authors; Author Index; Subject Index
Description / Table of Contents:
Cover13;Contents -- 1 Representation or Hard Evidence? The Use of Statistics in Education and Educational Research -- Note -- References -- 2 The Lure of Statistics for Educational Researchers -- 2.1 The Roots of Quantification -- 2.2 The Adoption of Statistics by Professions -- 2.3 Educational Research as a Soft and Applied Field -- 2.4 One Problem with Quantifying Educational Research: Missing the Point -- 2.5 Another Problem with Quantifying Educational Research: Forcing a Rectangular Grid onto a Spherical World -- References -- 3 Dazzling Statistics? On the University Expansion in Flanders and the Need for Research into the History of Education that Transcends Quantifying Sociology -- 3.1 The Context -- 3.2 Problem Statement -- 3.3 Questions from History on the Use of Statistics in Social Sciences -- 3.3.1 Too General? -- 3.3.2 Too A-Historical? -- 3.3.3 Presentist Pitfalls? -- Notes -- References -- 4 Child Maltreatment in the Last 50 Years: The Use of Statistics -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Diminution of the Prevalence of Maltreatment of Children? -- 4.3 No Diminution: Studies on the Prevalence of Child Maltreatment as Historical Sources -- 4.4 From Narrow to Broad: The Changing Definition of Child Maltreatment -- 4.5 The Impact of Children's Rights -- 4.6 Aesthetics of Statistics, or, the Appeal of Statistical Mapping for Policy-makers -- 4.7 Conclusion -- References -- 5 Constructing Social Unity and Presenting Clear Predictions: The Promise of Public Opinion Pollsters to Measure and Educate Society -- 5.1 The Creation of National Community: Dewey's and Gallup's Ethical Legitimation of Social Sciences and Polls -- 5.2 An Instrument for Democracy? Polls in the Public and Governmental Sphere -- 5.3 Contradictory Functions of Poll Statistics: Service for Efficient and Rational Government, National Coherence and the Gaining of Political Power -- 5.4 The Suggestive Aesthetics of Charts: The Clearness of Social Coherence or Camps, the Security of Prediction Due to Reliable Observation and Permanent Comparison -- 5.5 The Limits of Polls as an Instrument to Create the Great Communication Community -- 5.6 Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 6 n = 1: The Science and Art of the Single Case in Educational Research -- 6.1 Quantitative Research Methods and the Predilection for Large Numbers -- 6.2 The Function of the Single Case Within a Quantitative Research Tradition -- 6.3 Different Forms of the Single Case -- 6.4 Generalising from the Single Case? -- 6.5 The Single Case as a Source of Conjecture and Refutation -- 6.6 Relating the Particular to the Particular -- 6.7 The Case as Offering a Vicarious Experience -- 6.8 Case Study: Science or Art? -- 6.9 Historical/Biographical Note -- Notes -- References -- 7 To Frame the Unframable: Quantifying Irregular Migrants' Presence -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Techniques for Estimating Irregular Migration Numbers -- 7.3 Counting the Uncountable: Some Conceptual Problems -- 7.3.1 Different Definitions, Different People -- 7.3.2 The Homogenisation of Complexity -- 7.4 Does It Make Sense To Say ... -- 7.5 Appendix 1: Methods for Stock Estimates -- 7.5 Appendix 2: Methods for Flow Estimates -- References -- 8 European Citizenship and Evidence-Based Happiness -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 The New Science of Happiness -- 8.3 Beyond GDP -- 8.4 ''Learning to Be Together''; ''Keep on Learning''; ''Learning About Me'' -- 8.5 Conclusion -- References -- 9 T.
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
DOI:
10.1007/978-90-481-9873-3
URL:
Volltext
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