Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology

This article explores some theoretical and methodological problems concerned with scale in education research through a critique of a recent mixed-method project. The project was framed by scale metaphors drawn from the physical and earth sciences and I consider how recent thinking around scale, fo...

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Main Author: Noyes, Andrew
Format: Article
Published: Taylor and Francis 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27779/
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author Noyes, Andrew
author_facet Noyes, Andrew
author_sort Noyes, Andrew
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description This article explores some theoretical and methodological problems concerned with scale in education research through a critique of a recent mixed-method project. The project was framed by scale metaphors drawn from the physical and earth sciences and I consider how recent thinking around scale, for example in ecosystems and human geography might offer helpful points and angles of view on the challenges of thinking spatially in education research. Working between the spatial metaphors of ecology scholars and the critiques of the human geographers, for example the hypercomplex social space in Lefebvre’s political-economic thinking and the fluid, simultaneous, multiple spatialities of Massey’s post-structuralism, I problematize space and scale in education research. Interweaving these geographical ideas with Giddens’ structuration and Bourdieu’s theory of practice, both of which employed what might be termed scale-bridging to challenge social science’s entrenched paradigms, leads me to reconsider what is possible and desirable in the study of education systems. Following the spatial turn in the social sciences generally, there is an outstanding need to theorise multi-scale methodology for education research.
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spelling nottingham-277792020-05-04T16:36:54Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27779/ Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology Noyes, Andrew This article explores some theoretical and methodological problems concerned with scale in education research through a critique of a recent mixed-method project. The project was framed by scale metaphors drawn from the physical and earth sciences and I consider how recent thinking around scale, for example in ecosystems and human geography might offer helpful points and angles of view on the challenges of thinking spatially in education research. Working between the spatial metaphors of ecology scholars and the critiques of the human geographers, for example the hypercomplex social space in Lefebvre’s political-economic thinking and the fluid, simultaneous, multiple spatialities of Massey’s post-structuralism, I problematize space and scale in education research. Interweaving these geographical ideas with Giddens’ structuration and Bourdieu’s theory of practice, both of which employed what might be termed scale-bridging to challenge social science’s entrenched paradigms, leads me to reconsider what is possible and desirable in the study of education systems. Following the spatial turn in the social sciences generally, there is an outstanding need to theorise multi-scale methodology for education research. Taylor and Francis 2013-05-21 Article PeerReviewed Noyes, Andrew (2013) Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology. International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 36 (2). pp. 101-116. ISSN 1743-727X scale space human geography methodology http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1743727X.2012.683648#.VGct042HSSo doi:10.1080/1743727X.2012.683648 doi:10.1080/1743727X.2012.683648
spellingShingle scale
space
human geography
methodology
Noyes, Andrew
Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
title Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
title_full Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
title_fullStr Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
title_full_unstemmed Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
title_short Scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
title_sort scale in education research: towards a multi-scale methodology
topic scale
space
human geography
methodology
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27779/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27779/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/27779/