2° Seminario Internazionale di Studi: «La ricerca educativa: aspetti metodologici, problemi valutativi e politiche di finanziamento»

Abstract

2nd International Seminar on Educational Research: «Methodological Issues, Evaluation and Funding Policies»

The 2nd International Seminar organized by the Journal of Educational, Cultural and Psychological Studies, at the Faculty of Educational Sciences of «Roma Tre» University (May 21, 2012), produced an intense day of reflection on the epistemological and methodological debate enlivening today’s international research in education. In his opening speech in the 1st Seminar, held in April 2011, Gaetano Domenici confirmed the commitment of the «EPCS Journal» in proposing such events to enable a useful disciplinary and interdisciplinary dialogue among experts and an important formative moment for new researchers. The speakers tackled issues related to educational research, particularly with respect to methodological, theoretical and operational aspects, underlining also the close interconnection with governments’ financial decisions and the theme of research evaluation.
The experts consider mixed methods to be the most appropriate procedure to handle a research field. In general, all the speakers shared the stated position, at the same time, emphasizing the difficulty, found in every study, of combining the qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The reports, which focused on the evaluation of educational research, were related both to the principles regulating proper organization and to the meta-analysis of assessment procedures applied to studies carried out in the field, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. The close connection between the methodological dimension, the evaluative one and research funding was also noted. The Seminar ended with the hope of organizing future meetings enabling further in-depth study and the continuous updating of the topics discussed.