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This paper discusses the apparent malaise within sport socialization research. After evaluating the previous literature as well as existing critiques, we suggest that the majority of problematic assumptions have occurred at the methodological rather than the theoretical level. Many methodological limitations are evident, such as sampling bias, using males as a standard, and the failure to use control groups. In addition a breakdown between theory and subsequent operationalization has occurred, as demonstrated by the reduction of the socialization process to a unidirectional situation. The discussion concludes by suggesting that there is continuous need to shuttle between theoretical conceptualization and empirical exposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with processes of international enquiry. It focuses upon the relationship between a research problem and access to conduct research in a country. It uses data from an ethnographic study of primary education in a Northern Indian District. Conceptually drawing upon the insider-outsider debate within the sociology of knowledge, the paper raises issues about the relationship between the research problem, accessing knowledge and being an outsider to a research setting. It considers problems facing a particular form of outsider - a foreigner. The paper maintains that when researchers who are outsiders embark on designing research in non-western international educational settings, then questions considering the relationship between the research problem, access strategies and the culture of the research setting are vital. Grappling with such questions allows for the development and promotion of new forms of partnership, alongside a deeper understanding of culture and context, when developing comparative and international research policy agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the difficulties in conceptualising and presenting research, in particular doctoral work in education, in the current climate of intellectual theorising. It argues that many researches experience a phenomenon described in the paper as 'post-modernist tension' when trying to write in an atmosphere of theoretical and methodological uncertainty. The author elaborates the 'symptoms' of post-modernist tension, and makes a critique of some elements of contemporary social theorising. Nevertheless, the author acknowledges the usefulness of contemporary social theory in challenging traditional research, despite its density and inaccessibility to many researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the symposium titled Educational Research and the Necessity of Theory." The papers in the symposium arose out of the concern that educational researchers in Great Britain have neglected, and continue to neglect, and even deliberately avoid, theory. There are two opposing groups when it comes to theory. There are those of found it scary and frightening and there are those who are excited by it and believes that "theory floated their boat." The author believes that theory is an essential aspect of educational research and other research in social sciences.

This paper examines the productive challenges of researching communities one identifies with and calls for the need to consider race/ethnic interpretations of research methods. By examining participants’ perspectives on research, the author argues for the need to further consider culturally appropriate ways of researching communities of color. Drawing on his research with Asian immigrant and Asian‐American teachers, the author describes the challenges he faced in negotiating access and conducting interviews with participants. This discussion proposes that researchers consider the multiple ways they are positioned in fieldwork. It similarly argues that by fully recognizing respondents’ ways of being, researchers can engage in ethical research practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of scientific work depends on the number of scientific values it brings out and the extent to which allowance is made for each of these values. A perfect paper in social science should, among other things, build on safe data applicable to a representative sample. According to the nature of the research work concerned they have to weigh deliberately the gains obtained in certain respects against the losses incurred in other respects, or at least attempt to proceed as if they have done so. Different research workers easily come to weighing out the elements differently. There may be agreement about the scientific values but not about the weights to be attributed to them in research work. It is easy to acquire a knowledge of scientific values. It is difficult to adapt them. This is, however, a circumstance of which young research students are ignorant. Instead, they revolt at finding that such a large number of investigations turn out to be failures in so many respects. Later on, when they start doing their own investigation, they have to realize that there is a great distance between their aspirations and their results.

The article reports on the Moral and Social Action Interdisciplinary Colloquium meeting, an international multidisciplinary network of scholars working within the fields of the philosophy, psychology and sociology of moral development, moral education and moral thought, held at the Universität Konstanz in Germany. The theme of the conference was the moral and religious challenges facing education. The lecture, delivered by Reinhard Hesse of the Pedagogical University of Freiburg in Switzerland, discussed how global changes impact on ethical reasoning and how, in an age of nuclear arsenals, ethics and science are welded together.

This article presents information related to the use of state-centred theory in explaining education policy and practice. The study attempts to explain aspects of recent change in schools through reference to a macro-analytical framework. It considers the usefulness of state-centred Marxian theory for the explanation of local processes. The study arises not only out of a personal concern to make sense of research which has been recently completed, but also responds to criticisms of that research made five years ago. However, drawing on some of the data from the GM schools project, the study argues that theoretical formulations of the sort offer little help in explicating local processes. Moreover, it contends that the problem of linking macro and micro lies in the overarching framework as much as in the `descriptiveness' of research. Far from providing the key to understanding a `bigger picture', state-centred theory appears to be based on assumptions which are undemonstrable and oppositions which are untenable.

The aim of this research is to ascertain teachers’ opinions on what elements of nature of science (NOS) and science–technology–society relationships (STS) should be taught in school science. To this end an adapted version of the questionnaire developed by Osborne et al. is used. Our results show that experts consulted by Osborne et al. and Spanish teachers confer similar importance on the provisional, experimental, and predictive nature of scientific knowledge based on some of the procedures used such as the drawing up of hypotheses and the analysis and interpretation of data. We also look into the relationship between the teachers’ views and their educational background. 1 Results suggest that philosophy teachers are more concerned with the inclusion of NOS and STS topics in science curricula than science teachers, although further studies will be necessary. Some suggestions concerning the university training of science teachers are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article gives information about a participatory narrative approach to research with young people. When projects worked well, they appeared to draw heavily upon a philosophy of giving young people new contexts and experiences to better themselves in ways that might not have been met in schools; they remained in projects when they felt respected by workers and when the projects gave them new and relevant experiences that they could take with them as they entered early adulthood. Similarly, young people illuminated the potency of research to elicit meaning and meaning making practices. By focusing on narrative, a storied approach to research provided opportunities for participation, included a whole host of perspectives and critically engaged with emergent policy, practice and theory issues. Similar qualities could be applied to educational researchers who aim for models of participatory research.

Bourdieu's social theory offers a way of understanding some of the most important features of the field of educational research, while also providing educational researchers with a rich conceptual apparatus for their practice. This article addresses both of these methodological themes and the connections between them. We begin by outlining some key trends in educational research, mainly in Britain, over recent decades in terms of Bourdieu's Field Theory. Special attention is given to the relative positioning of researchers and the formation of an 'avant-garde'. We refer to the impact of educational policy and attacks on educational research, with attendant effects on the field, and on the formation and legitimacy of knowledge about educational processes. This analysis is followed by an example taken from a contemporary research project in which principles derived from Bourdieu's approach have been adopted in framing methodology. We give particular attention to the terms of the programme in which the project forms a part, and key aspects of it such as 'user engagement'. Both methodological justifications and consequences are discussed, as well as tensions with dominant expectations of research processes and outcomes. Finally, we argue that, following Bourdieu's own public strategies of sociopolitical action, educational research methodology that is radically reflexive has the capacity to found a critically effective discourse with practical consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses approximate tests of marginal association in 2-way tables in which one or both response variables admit multiple responses. Although multiple-response questions appear in all fields of research, including sociology, education, and marketing, the development of association tests that can be used with multiple-response data is very recent. A simple test procedure proposed by Agresti and Liu (1999) is extended to tests of association between 2 multiple-response variables, and it is shown that the procedure is a member of the first-order Rao-Scott family of corrected chi-squared statistics. A second-order Rao Scott version of this procedure is developed, The Type I error control of both first- and second-order procedures is examined through calculation and simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article present a research perspective regarding comparative contribution. It provides information in the national context and the significance of comparative perspective for non-specialist. It argues with specialist comparative studies to avoid the copying of practices that works in other systems without adequate analysis of their outcomes in other educational context. The author states that comparative study in education will allow interaction of perspective resulting a number of social science discipline from a wide range of national backgrounds.