EDU800 – Week 2 – Additional Article

Reference (APA):
Ponce, O., Gómez-Galán, J., & Pagán-Maldonado, N. (2018). Philosophy of Science and Educational Research: Strategies for Scientific Effectiveness and Improvement of the Education. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.01220

Annotation:

Summary:
Ponce, Gómez-Galán, and Pagán-Maldonado (2018) explore the philosophical underpinnings of educational research, arguing that its foundations need revisiting to better handle contemporary challenges in society, learning, technology, and science. They identify nine strategies aimed at improving scientific effectiveness in educational research, including clearer philosophical alignment, transparency in methodology, better definition of key constructs, acknowledgement of contextual complexity, and ethical considerations among others. The authors claim that only by addressing these foundational issues can educational research retain both relevance and rigor in the 21st century.

Evaluation:
A strength of this article is that it directly addresses the philosophical roots of many of the issues raised by your other sources (e.g., Berliner’s argument about complexity, Gutierrez & Penuel’s relevance criterion, Shulman’s disciplines, etc.). It offers concrete strategies which are lacking in some theoretical pieces that mostly diagnose problems without prescribing solutions. However, because it is theoretical (and preprint in arXiv), empirical validation is limited, and some of the proposed strategies are broad and may be difficult to operationalize without strong institutional or funding support. Still, this article contributes an important dimension by emphasizing the philosophy of science as central to improving educational research rather than treating it as secondary to methodology alone.

Reflection:
This piece really complements the existing set of readings because it bridges between diagnosing the problems of educational research (something Berliner, Larabee, Shulman all do) and offering a roadmap for improvement. For my own research in educational technology, it pushes me to think about not just the tools, methods, or designs I use, but how clearly I define what I mean by “rigor,” how transparent I am about assumptions, and how sensitive I am to context. It also lends support for including philosophical reflection in dissertations or articles—not just what works, but why it matters, how we know, and under what conditions.