Category Archives: RRW1

Bhaskar, R. & Danermark, B. (2006). Metatheory, interdisciplinarity and disability research – A critical realist perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 8, 278-297. In this paper, Bhaskar and Danermark argue that historically dominant models of disability are reductionist. Reductionism has … Continue reading →

In this, the second of the readings we were given with the title ‘Beyond Positivism’, Patrick Lees argues for ‘hybrid spaces’ where different ways of thinking about education and research exist for mutual benefit, and an acceptance that standardised educational … Continue reading →

This was a very persuasive article. It almost lured me into believing that human life is so very very different from everything else in the natural world – to the extent where we can claim to be separate from it. … Continue reading →

Sayer, A (2000) Realism and Social Science, London: SAGE, 67 – 80 I could have moved on from critical realism now… there is other reading material I need to get through by the end of the month (on post-positivism, humanism … Continue reading →

“Maybe the distinction will seem clearer on reading the other introduction to Critical Realism we’ve been given (Pring 2000).” – Me, November 1st. …No, it didn’t really help, not yet. I understood the conclusion fine, but found myself getting really … Continue reading →

According to the authors, this chapter (from Sikes & Potts’ Researching Education from the Inside) begins to explore ‘some of the strengths and limitations of being an insider researcher’. Strengths?! It’s a catalogue of misery; a relentless battering of challenges, … Continue reading →

The later, shorter article of these two – both published in Educational Researcher – was the one on our reading list for Researching the Real World, but I ended up dragging up the earlier one in order to find out … Continue reading →

Halfway through this one I thought, “oh damn… I should have read this before the Morrison chapter…”. However, it does set the scene of social research more clearly and definitely than the first reading, and for that reason I think … Continue reading →

This second chapter of Coleman & Briggs’ Research Methods in Educational Leadership & Management is essentially a warning about practitioner researchers crashing in and trampling all over deeply rooted research traditions with their big, clumsy, uneducated feet. I definitely felt it … Continue reading →

I confess… I wasn’t in the mood for learning anything on the first morning of the EdD. I was hungry after a long run, and an insubstantial, sickly-sweet breakfast had left me feeling on the verge of tears and ready … Continue reading →