Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Studies in Higher Education, 37 (8), 2012, © Informa Plc
Accepted author manuscript, 340 KB, PDF document
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - How often are theories developed through empirical research into higher education?
AU - Ashwin, Paul
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Studies in Higher Education, 37 (8), 2012, © Informa Plc
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - This article reports on a review of empirical research published in selected higher education journals in 2008, which was focused on examining how often theories are developed through research. This review found relatively little evidence of theory development. Drawing on the notions of internal and external languages ofdescription, it is argued that this is partly due to the lack of explicit conceptualisation of the object of research in the writing-up of higher education research, and the lack of a discursive gap between the ways in which research objects are conceptualised and the ways in which data are analysed in accounts ofempirical research into higher education. In conclusion, four ways of promoting such a discursive gap in the reporting of research are discussed.
AB - This article reports on a review of empirical research published in selected higher education journals in 2008, which was focused on examining how often theories are developed through research. This review found relatively little evidence of theory development. Drawing on the notions of internal and external languages ofdescription, it is argued that this is partly due to the lack of explicit conceptualisation of the object of research in the writing-up of higher education research, and the lack of a discursive gap between the ways in which research objects are conceptualised and the ways in which data are analysed in accounts ofempirical research into higher education. In conclusion, four ways of promoting such a discursive gap in the reporting of research are discussed.
KW - theory
KW - methodology
KW - languages of description
KW - higher education
KW - data analysis
U2 - 10.1080/03075079.2011.557426
DO - 10.1080/03075079.2011.557426
M3 - Journal article
VL - 37
SP - 941
EP - 955
JO - Studies in Higher Education
JF - Studies in Higher Education
SN - 0307-5079
IS - 8
ER -