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Educational Research - the Ethics and Aesthetics of Statistics the Ethics and Aesthetics of Statistics

:	Paul Smeyers
:	Marc Depaepe
:	Educational Research - the Ethics and Aesthetics of Statistics the Ethics and Aesthetics of Statistics
:	Springer-Verlag
:	9789048198733
:	1
:	CHF 85.30
:

:	Methoden der empirischen und qualitativen Sozialforschung
:	English

:	224
:	Wasserzeichen/DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	PDF

Statistics are everywhere. Their power and their undoubted efficacy in many areas have given rise to faith in measurement and metrics. More of them will tell us all that we need to know. Their use carries with it a number of presuppositions: that reality can be satisfactorily represented and that it can be controlled or the risks managed. The papers in this book interpret the ethics and aesthetics of statistics in terms of representation, visualisation and accessibility, focus on the appeal of 'simplicity', of technical languages, numbers, diagrams and pictures, and pay attention to their connection with action plans. The book explores what has made educational researchers dependent on statistics, and deals with their use in areas such as the prevalence of maltreatment of children, European citizenship, well-being and happiness, illegal migrants, and university expansion. There is discussion of how the quest for more and better statistics finds its voice in policy initiatives that become slogans, and how public opinion polls are used to rationalise political decision-making. Can a more limited and modest use be made of statistics which does not deflect attention away from education's core business and which does not destroy the local practical knowledge that on which good education is based? 'Smeyers and Depaepe continue to bring together a significant international group of educational philosophers and historians on topics of importance to researchers. This fifth volume in their series takes up the 'gold standard' use of statistics in case studies not contributed elsewhere. I highly recommend this text to counter a current over-emphasis on technique in research methodology. Use of statistics remains but herein under new, insightful conceptualizations.' Lynda Stone, Philosophy of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA 'Once again, Depaepe and Smeyers succeeded in bringing together distinguished international and cross-disciplinary scholars exploring very timely and critical issues in current educational research. This is a groundbreaking book on a theme that can't be ignored by educational researchers and those interested in a better understanding of the culture of science and science as culture. Moreover, the present book instigates to study history of educational research, a limited but developing field, and invites reflection to those who are sometimes too reliant on number crunching as a mode of interpretation and rather credulous in the acceptance of institutional records. Frank Simon, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium

	Earlier Volumes in this Series	5
	Contents	6
	1 Representation or Hard Evidence? The Use of Statistics in Education and Educational Research	8
	Note	18
	References	18
	2 The Lure of Statistics for Educational Researchers	19
	2.1 The Roots of Quantification	20
	2.2 The Adoption of Statistics by Professions	21
	2.3 Educational Research as a Soft and Applied Field	22
	2.4 One Problem with Quantifying Educational Research: Missing the Point	25
	2.5 Another Problem with Quantifying Educational Research: Forcing a Rectangular Grid onto a Spherical World	27
	References	31
	3 Dazzling Statistics? On the University Expansion in Flanders and the Need for Research into the History of Education that Transcends Quantifying Sociology	32
	3.1 The Context	32
	3.2 Problem Statement	34
	3.3 Questions from History on the Use of Statistics in Social Sciences	36
	3.3.1 Too General?	36
	3.3.2 Too A-Historical?	39
	3.3.3 Presentist Pitfalls?	42
	Notes	43
	References	45
	4 Child Maltreatment in the Last 50 Years: The Use of Statistics	48
	4.1 Introduction	48
	4.2 Diminution of the Prevalence of Maltreatment of Children?	49
	4.3 No Diminution: Studies on the Prevalence of Child Maltreatment as Historical Sources	51
	4.4 From Narrow to Broad: The Changing Definition of Child Maltreatment	55
	4.5 The Impact of Children's Rights	57
	4.6 Aesthetics of Statistics, or, the Appeal of Statistical Mapping for Policy-makers	58
	4.7 Conclusion	59
	References	60
	5 Constructing Social Unity and Presenting Clear Predictions: The Promise of Public Opinion Pollsters to Measure and Educate Society	63
	5.1 The Creation of National Community: Dewey's and Gallup's Ethical Legitimation of Social Sciences and Polls	64
	5.2 An Instrument for Democracy? Polls in the Public and Governmental Sphere	65
	5.3 Contradictory Functions of Poll Statistics: Service for Efficient and Rational Government, National Coherence and the Gaining of Political Power	67
	5.4 The Suggestive Aesthetics of Charts: The Clearness of Social Coherence or Camps, the Security of Prediction Due to Reliable Observation and Permanent Comparison	70
	5.5 The Limits of Polls as an Instrument to Create the Great Communication Community	75
	5.6 Conclusion	77
	Notes	78
	References	79
	6 n = 1: The Science and Art of the Single Case in Educational Research	83
	6.1 Quantitative Research Methods and the Predilection for Large Numbers	84
	6.2 The Function of the Single Case Within a Quantitative Research Tradition	85
	6.3 Different Forms of the Single Case	87
	6.4 Generalising from the Single Case?	89
	6.5 The Single Case as a Source of Conjecture and Refutation	92
	6.6 Relating the Particular to the Particular	93
	6.7 The Case as Offering a Vicarious Experience	94
	6.8 Case Study: Science or Art?	96
	6.9 Historical/Biographical Note	98
	Notes	98
	References	99
	7 To Frame the Unframable: Quantifying Irregular Migrants' Presence	101
	7.1 Introduction	101
	7.2 Techniques for Estimating Irregular Migration Numbers	103
	7.3 Counting the Uncountable: Some Conceptual Problems	105
	7.3.1 Different Definitions, Different People	106
	7.3.2 The Homogenisation of Complexity	109
	7.4 Does It Make Sense To Say...	111
	7.5 Appendix 1: Methods for Stock Estimates