The impact of educational research: alternative methodologies and conclusions

Recent controversy regarding the nature, organization and impact of educational research in the UK (Hargreaves, 1996; 1997; 1999; Hammersley, 1997; Tooley, 1998; Hillage et al., 2000; Ball, 2001) seems to devote little attention to research on the impact of educational research. This paper examines a recent Australian report (The Impact of Educational Research, DETYA, 2000) in terms of both its conclusions and its methodologies. It suggests that the impact of educational research on both policy and practice is often complex and indirect rather than linear and straightforward and that the methodologies employed in assessing such impact need to be similarly complex. Moreover, it would appear that this particular research supports Atkinson's (2000) contention that the ways in which educational research is typically produced and utilized is as part of a complex conversation about a diversity of purposes, effects and judgements rather than a more technically oriented implementation of 'what works'.