‘Scientifically‐based research’: the art of politics and the distortion of science

Abstract

The US Federal Government is forcefully prescribing a narrow definition of ‘scientifically‐based’ educational research. US policy, emerging from contemporary neoliberal and technocratic viewpoints and funded and propagated on a large scale, has the potential to influence international thinking on educational research. In this article we continue a policy critique that has emerged and address three problems associated with the US Government’s narrow definition of research: (1) the Government’s claims about ‘scientifically‐based research’ are, in themselves, philosophically problematic; (2) the emphasis on quantitative, experimental research is modeled in a questionable manner on techniques from the natural (and especially medical) sciences, and the emphasis on applicability and transferability of findings can be directly related to a predominance of economic principles and discourse; (3) the research commissioned and used by the US Federal Government itself is inconsistent with the rhetoric of scientific criteria. We call for educational leaders and researchers to challenge the Governmental manipulation of science and the marginalization of the education profession from policy‐making in its own field.