Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ One provocative question: what on earth does evidence-based really mean?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This is a question I've posed in these pages on a regular basis over the years. When 'evidence' involves test scores for a dozen students in a psych class at a mid-western U.S. university, it seems to be stretching the meaning of 'research' pretty thin. Moreover, "the outcomes of an investigation may be influenced by a number of factors, including: ontological perspective; the framing of the research questions; methodological approaches; analytical methods; researcher interpretation and the degree to which any funding body remains impartial." Indeed, the call for 'evidence-based' practices on the part of politicians seems pretty thin. On what basis do they assert such practices are not being used? "What universities need is a knowledge-rich government, not political polemic that does not even reach the baseline of the 'hierarchy of evidence'."

Today: 6 Total: 1104 [Direct link] [Share]


Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 4:23 p.m.

Canadian Flag Creative Commons License.

Force:yes