Towards an ecological understanding of educational research. A multiple case study on differentiation

Abstract

The new anthropological narratives and with them the new post-modern educational semantics challenge today, more than in any other century, the educational research. If on one hand some authors debate on the ontologies and epistemologies of the two traditional polarities of research, the quantitative and the qualitative one, others, instead, propose third way hypotheses, not least the mixed methods approaches. In this contribution, we propose to go beyond the classical quantitative/qualitative dialectic, rethinking the link between theory, practice and truth in the research process. To do so, we use a specific lens, what John Elliott (2006) calls democratic rationality. Assuming the importance of rethinking a democratic vision of the educational research, considered as a plural opening and as a value orientation, we try to suggest a concrete way to re-design the educational research territory. We base our reflections on the most recent results in the field of complexity science and non-linear dynamic systems, proposing Action-Research as a paradigmatic example to rethink a new form of democratic, fluid, complex and ecological educational research. Finally, we discuss a multiple case study, which is developing, following this perspective, with an educational institution of the Italian territory.