American Researchers’ Perceptions of the Purposes and Methods of Social Studies Education Research

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  • 教科教育学研究とは何をどのように研究することか
  • 教科教育学研究とは何をどのように研究することか : 米国在住の社会科教育研究者に対するインタビュー調査を通して
  • キョウカ キョウイクガク ケンキュウ トワ ナニ オ ドノ ヨウ ニ ケンキュウ スル コト カ : ベイコク ザイジュウ ノ シャカイカ キョウイク ケンキュウシャ ニ タイスル インタビュー チョウサ オ トオシテ
  • 米国在住の社会科教育研究者に対するインタビュー調査を通して

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Abstract

For researchers seeking to investigate research questions in more than one country, there are barriers of time, cost, languages and research methodologies and approaches to overcome. The previous studies indicated different research goals employ different research methods. For instance, the primary goal of Japanese social studies research is to explore questions such as ‘what is social studies’ or ‘what should be done’, while the goal of researches in the United States is to find ‘what is happening in actual situation’. The purposes of this study are to explore the perceptions of the research purposes and methods of the social studies education researchers in the US through based on the interviews of three researchers and to find the similarities and differences in the research purposes methods in the United States and Japan. Findings showed differences in the relationship between research and practice and the factors have influenced the researchers’ perceptions. The interviews did not clarify good or bad practices, but they attempted to know what is happening in reality. This is because that they believe that the role of researchers would provide the ‘mirror’ with which teachers can reflect on their classroom practices. In spite of small number of interviews, the findings of this study could help Japanese researchers to reflect their own research and find similar characteristics for their own studies.

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