Sunday, December 1, 2024

R. Murray Thomas. (1998) Conducting Educational Research: A Comparative View. Reviewed by Steven I. Miller, Loyola University Chicago

 

R. Murray Thomas. (1998) Conducting Educational Research: A Comparative View. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey

400 pp.

$69.50 (Cloth)         ISBN 0-89789-609-2
$24.95 (Paper)         ISBN 0-89789-610-6

Reviewed by Steven I. Miller
Loyola University Chicago

              This volume is an ambitious attempt to provide an educational research guide for those conducting research in both local and cross cultural settings. In the Preface, Thomas indicates that the book is designed for students planning research projects and for staff members in ministries of education, international organizations and the like. Curiously, he does not specifically recommend it as a textbook for university or college instructors. This may be assumed, of course, but the omission is telling in that it defines a more limited utility for the book. That is, the book can be interpreted as a type of "guide" for those doing research rather than a test to be used for the teaching of comparative analysis. From the contents of the volume, one gets the impression that it may, perhaps, be more usefully employed as a reference guide rather than an actual textbook.
              In attempting to characterize what type of book this is, Thomas (Preface) focuses on the concept of "comparative" in two senses: as a strategy that is at the heart of any research approach in the human sciences, and as a way of defining a specific field of study. While both assertions are correct, the conflation of the two does not, especially, provide a clear definition for comparative education as a field or discipline. Additionally, Thomas (Preface) attempts to highlight the uniqueness of his book by indicating that there have been no texts that focus precisely on the process of conducting comparative educational research. Of course, this claim is difficult to assess given the two possible definitions of "comparative." At least in the comparative education-as-a-field sense, Thomas is not completely correct here since there is George Z.F. Bereday's classic, Comparative Method In Education, 1964, as well as Harold J. Noah and Max A. Eckstein's, Toward a Science of Comparative Education, 1969, as two counterexamples. More importantly, however, is Thomas's return to the definitional problem (p. 2) where he gives definitions (of sorts) for the terms "comparison" and "contrast" but then indicates his stipulation will be "comparison" as including both elements of "similarity" and "contrast". Again, including both aspects makes the definition of "comparative" all inclusive, with the price, however, of really not adding to the clarity of either. Without belaboring the point, from my perspective this is the crucial issue for trying to define comparative education as a field of inquiry. That is, the real issue, epistemologically, is what constitutes a "legitimate" comparison; and this is difficult to answer unless one delves into the philosophical literature (e.g., Quine) dealing with topics such as "natural kinds" and category formation. Although Thomas need not do this for the purposes of his book, not having an awareness of these issues (or at least making a passing reference to them if known) detracts from settling the question of what the book is really attempting to do.
              This having been said, Thomas does attempt a comprehensive overview of what issues may be relevant for his intended audience. Chapter 1 outlines a scheme of analysis, indicated as "stages," and includes the following categories: Choosing what to study, Collecting Information - Methods and Instruments, Organizing and Summarizing Information Interpreting the Results and Reporting the Outcomes. These Stages are then used as organizers for chapter headings for the remainder of the volume. For example, in Stage II: Collecting Information - Methods and Instrument, there are four separate chapters on (1) Surveying the professional literature, (2) Approaches to gathering data, (3) Data collection techniques I: Content analysis, interviews and observations, and (4) Data collection techniques II: Test and questionnaires. Thus, Thomas does a nice job of providing a fairly representative and detailed summary of what it means, in general, to do research in the human sciences. By way of illustration, Chapter 5, "Approaches to Gathering Data," begins with a fairly detailed analysis of case studies. These are defined, and good illustrative and sufficiently detailed examples from a wide array of the literature are chosen to analyze various approaches.
              Indeed, one of the strengths of the volume is the extensive use of examples across various research approaches, including both domestic and cross-cultural examples. Examples relating to specific studies are further categorized as "target variables," "guiding questions," "sources of answers," and "methods of collecting answers." This approach provides a useful template for a researcher to focus on the important aspects of study under review or to have relevant questions-at-hand to begin a study. Additionally, each chapter concludes with a Research Project Checklist, consisting of a quick review of relevant concepts and procedures. With some minor modifications in format, this approach is followed throughout providing an overall focus and consistency to the many research topics addressed. The attempt at comprehensiveness may, however, be one of the drawbacks of the book. That is, Thomas's zeal to cover everything leads, at times, to overlooking some of the details needed for a complete understanding of a given technique or methods. For example, there is (pp. 227-228) a brief description of the quantitative research technique called "path analysis" and an accompanying example from a research study. The example refers both to a correlation "r" and what is known as a "beta weight." These concepts are needed to understand the idea of a "path," but the calculation of the beta-weights involve a rather complex procedure with several underlying statistical assumptions. Likewise, in terms of qualitative analysis, the discussion (pp. 93-94) on ethnographic research presents an acceptable, broad overview but, again, does not address the problems of category formation and code interpretation in enough detail.
              Thus, in its attempt at comprehensiveness, appropriateness of the volume for a specific target audience becomes problematic. Although in the Preface, as previously mentioned, Thomas indicates that the book is directed toward students undertaking research projects or individuals working in a variety of settings and organizations, how it should be used needs to be clarified. For instance, for beginning research students, it can provide a useful beginning guide for what it means to do research, but it may be enough for carrying out an actual study. This also would be the case, I suspect, for those working in ministries of education: if you only have this volume as your background information, it may not be sufficient; if you have a more extensive background in research methods it may not be necessary. This issue becomes especially crucial for the field of Comparative Education, itself. As the field is increasingly marginalized in many universities, how one teaches the "appropriate" methods to those (increasingly) few students becomes crucial. Do we give them an "overview" of methods, or more specialized methodological training? I believe the Thomas volume would lend itself more fully to the first issue.
              Finally, as an approach to facilitating the second issue, Stage V: Reporting the Outcomes, which includes two Chapters on "publishing" and one of describing future trends on technology, could be eliminated. These three Chapters could "free up" an additional fifty pages. These pages could be profitably used in giving a few more detailed examples (perhaps by way of Appendices) of quantitative, qualitative and historical approaches. For example, on the quantitative side, the very useful statistic chi-square is not mentioned. Showing students how to compute and interpret the statistic could also bring together such ideas as variables, levels of measurement, and hypothesis testing. A more detailed analysis of Grounded Theory, especially on formulating Acore categories, might clarify the qualitative approach. How to analyze primary sources on the issue of "authenticity" would clarify the intent of historical analysis. Having said this, the overall contribution of the volume is a good one. It is clearly written with an easily comprehended logic. It does make the valuable contribution, in my view, of illustrating the importance of Comparative International Education as a field of study in an increasingly shrinking and volatile world.

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