Evaluation research in education : the importance of a paradigmatic debate of fundamentals and practices

Abstract

Evaluation studies, being a form of applied research that intends to study how existing knowledge is applied to the development of new educational practices instead of the elaboration of new theories, have no specific methodological design. In fact, evaluation research studies combine the most diversified methods and techniques regarding social sciences research either of quantitative or qualitative formats: from descriptive to correlative, from experimental or quasi-experimental to pure qualitative designs. All formats are considered to be applicable though there will always be some methodological ambiguity over evaluation studies. In this paper the author begins by presenting and discussing the conceptual frameworks – at ontological and epistemological level - of the main paradigms that sustain research practices in the social sciences: positivism, hermeneutic and critical theories will be analysed and debated. Subsequently, the most important positions regarding the paradigmatic debate in evaluation research will also be discussed and under consideration: incompatibility between paradigms, methodological complementarities and, more recently, the posture of those who simply argue for the need of integration and epistemological unity. The author finishes by reinforcing that the paradigmatic debate must be understood by educational practitioners not as a mere philosophical exercise, but instead, as a way to stimulate evaluators to develop more creativity in the choice and use of techniques and instruments for data collection in real world contexts; such an attitude can only be achieved by combining quantitative and qualitative methods, and thus, enabling the evaluation studies to become more efficient, realistic and useful to the progress of educational knowledge.