Good Education Research
in “What Is “Good” Education Research?” Karl Hostetler (2005) argues that education research should not only be understood as the researcher’s knowledge of“sound procedures but also of beneficial aims and results” (p.16). The beneficial aims that Hostetler is referring to here all revolve around human well-being. He elaborates that his aim is to “propose that good research requires our careful, ongoing attention to questions of human well-being” (p.16). He goes on to urge education researchers to focus on the ways that can make achievingthis goal possible. Using the No Child Left Behind legislation as an example, Hostetler criticizes current definitions of research as narrow and limiting in their scope because they only see research as experimental studies or quantitative and qualitative methodologiesaiming to yield a set of immediate solutions or actions. These definitions do not pay attention to what good comes from such policies or actions or how they can contribute to the overall well-being of those involved.
