Research News And Comment: The Changing Nature of Educational Research and a Critique of Postmodernism

Abstract

Although there are many innovations that affect the field of educational inquiry, it appears that postmodernism provides educational researchers with the most destabilizing and profound set of challenges. The overall purpose of this commentary is to describe and to critique the recent changes in educational inquiry by outlining the themes and the implications associated with the current interest in postmodernism. Specifically, three types of changes are examined. A discussion of methodological patterns focuses on the heightened interest in narrative inquiry. A discussion of summative content examines the manner in which those working within a postmodern framework attempt to draw conclusions from the complex style of writing that is characteristic of postmodernism. Consideration of disciplinary foundations examines the recent shift of interest toward humanities-based research. For each of these changes, I consider implications related to how educational researchers communicate with the larger educational community. Additionally, I examine the way current changes in educational inquiry may affect the publication process that regulates the discourse of educational research. Finally, I provide a few recommendations for how we might develop initiatives for the academic preparation of educational researchers, given some of the changes introduced here.