The Impact of Political Context on the Questions Asked and Answered

Abstract

This chapter examines how the larger political context and policies enacted at different points in American history have affected the questions education researchers asked and answered. The authors argue that while education researchers are often quick to consider how their research should shape policy, they are less likely to contemplate the possible effect of policies on their scholarship. To examine whether the policy–research relationship is indeed bidirectional, the authors conducted a thorough content analysis of six of the most prominent education research journals, some of which date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The goal was to consider how shifts in racial politics and educational policies may have influenced what was studied, particularly research that examined the role of race and ethnicity in education. The authors looked for shifts between education research examining race and education within a broader social context and research focused on the personal and familial deficits of individual students or families. They argue that if these shifts in research are somewhat synchronized with shifts in racial politics and policies in the United States, this is a potential indicator of the impact that the larger political milieu may have had on education research over the last 100 years. Consideration of this research−policy relationship may raise the awareness of education researchers in terms of the origins of the questions they will ask and answer in the American Educational Research Association’s second century.