La ricerca e la sua valutazione. Istanze di qualità per la ricerca educativa

Abstract

Research and its Evaluation. The Need for Quality in Educational Research

The article proposes some reflections on the criteria that should guide the design of empirical research (quantitative, qualitative, multi-method or mixed-method), the evaluation of research projects and reports, and the design of research training. Starting from the definition of «scientifically based research standards» provided in the United States by the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, and the guiding principles proposed by the Committee on Scientific Principles for Education Research of the Italian National Research Council, it discusses issues concerning the relevance of a research theme, the function of the theoretical framework guiding researcher decisions, the different visions inherent in the concepts of «research method» and «research strategy», the methodological necessity to integrate the principles and the techniques traditionally associated with «qualitative» and «quantitative» approaches, the importance of reasoning on the limits of validity of research results, both to evaluate their intrinsic quality and to define their logical extension, in order to promote their effective applicability in educational contexts. The main idea is to promote a «culture of empirical research» based on greater openness to demands coming from the field and on overcoming methodological «barriers» that generate incommunicability between proponents of different approaches.