The Role of Context in Educational RCT Findings: A Call to Redefine Evidence-Based Practice

2020
In this commentary, we complement other constructive critiques of educational randomized control trials (RCTs) by calling attention to the commonly ignored role of context in causal mechanisms undergirding educational phenomena. We argue that evidence for the central role of context in causal mechanisms challenges the assumption that RCT findings can be uncritically generalized across settings. Anchoring our argument with an example from our own multistudy RCT project, we argue that the scientific pursuit of causal explanation should involve the rich description of contextualized causal effects. We further call for incorporating the evidence of the integral role of context in causal mechanisms into the meaning of evidence-based practice, with the implication that effective implementation of practice in a new setting must involve context-oriented, evidence-focused, design-based research that attends to the emergent, complex, and dynamic nature of educational contexts.
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
页码:285-288|卷号:49|期号:4
ISSN:0013-189X
收录类型
SSCI
发表日期
2020
学科领域
循证教育学
国家
美国
语种
英语
DOI
10.3102/0013189X20921862
EISSN
1935-102X
资助机构
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of EducationUS Department of Education [R305A140602]
资助信息
The research reported herein was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A140602 to Temple University. All statements reflect the authors' own opinions and do not reflect the policies of IES or the U.S. government.
被引频次(WOS)
3
被引更新日期
2022-01
来源机构
Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE) Temple University Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE) Temple University University of Illinois System University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Old Dominion University University of Illinois System University of Illinois Chicago University of Illinois Chicago Hospital
关键词
classroom research experimental research learning environments research utilization