Criterial judgements in education: Knowledge and research

Abstract

This chapter examines those criteria that are used and potentially could be used for assessing the worth of educational research. In the first instance, these are epistemic or internal criteria, and their application necessarily entails evaluating the strength and type of evidence used to support educational hypotheses. It also comprises an evaluation of the background theory which underpins the worth of a piece of evidence. The application of internal criteria is only one way of judging educational research, for example, a range of external and parasitic criteria have been proposed. The issue of the relationship between internal and external criteria therefore becomes salient; as does the possibility of producing lists of criteria for judging worth.