Hello all
It is surprising to hear this conversation about blank spots and blind spots on a PhD forum with no mention of one of the most cited articles on this question in educational research. Blank spots appear in the matrix of a well defined research area as topics, questions yet to be covered or addressed. Blind spots occur where paradigms and broader strategies of inquiry get in the way of seeing questions in other ways. For example, epidemiology in public health versus anthropology looking at the 'same' question. If you think of a rear vision mirror in the blank spot the silver backing has been scratched so there's a gap of vision there (which can be fixed). In the blind spot this is like that space behind your vehicle that the mirror doesn't cath and leads you to pull out in front of someone else.
Ignorance in Educational Research Or, How Can You Not Know That?
Jon Wagner, associate professor and acting director
Division of Education, University of California, Davis; Davis, CA 95616-8579. He specializes in school organization, cooperative research, and educational reform
In this article I argue that ignorance is a better criterion than truth for determining the usefulness of knowledge generated through different forms of educational research. This argument has implications for how we conceptualize educational research, how we teach it, and how we frame and support relationships between researchers and their subjects. The argument draws on a distinction between "blind spots" and "blank spots," and it is supported by examples drawn from the literature of educational research. The argument and examples illustrate how greater attention to the ignorance of researchers and subjects can increase our understanding of different disciplinary and organizational models of educational research, including configurations of "practitioner research" and "cooperative research."
If you track this down you will see what the article has spawned.
Dr Gavin Melles
Lecturer, Research Degree Skills
Faculty of Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Mob (03) 0402927278
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