Reframing Quality and Impact - The Place of Theory in Education Research - Presidential Address

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa

The address argues that educational research quality depends on the capacity to engage theory, particularly social and critical social theory, and on recognizing research’s situatedness within contested fields of knowledge. It responds to research assessment pressures in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, where terms like value-free, evidence-based, and impact shape what counts as “quality.” The paper revisits arguments for theory’s necessity, showing how theory reframes research questions, informs analysis, and supports reflexivity, including examples from an ARC-funded project on recontextualisation of health knowledge in schools.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Preamble

Debates on quality, neutrality, and impact

Theory as a prerequisite for research

Dividing practices

RQF pressures and usefulness of research

Challenges in research proposal conceptual frameworks

Reframing Quality and Impact: The Place of Theory in Education Research Jan Wright University of Wollongong AARE President’s Address 2007 Abstract In March 2004, Stephen Ball and others presented a symposium at the conference of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) on the necessity of theory in educational research. Like Ball, I have observed that theory, not just social theory, is a difficult space and one that divides researchers (those comfortable with theory and those less so), within educational research. It is an aspect of educational research training that rarely receives the attention essential for ‘quality’ educational research. In the context of the contemporary research assessment exercises, it is worth reflecting on the relationship between research informed by social theory and expectations of quality and impact. In this paper I revisit the argument made by Ball and others for the necessity of theory, and discuss its role in framing research questions, informing analysis, and promoting reflexivity on the significance and relevance of research. I illustrate this process by discussing the ways theory can assist in the generation of research agendas and questions. I conclude the paper with an example of how a team of educational researchers from Australia, UK and New Zealand have made use of social theory to inform an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project investigating the recontextualisation of health knowledge in schools. Preamble The various research assessment exercises in UK, New Zealand and now Australia have motivated discussions around the nature of ‘quality’ and the purpose of educational research. To a certain extent this is also a discussion about theory, although the word is unlikely to be mentioned, in that terms such as ‘value free’,‘neutral’, ‘critical’, ‘practical’, ‘transformational’,‘evidence-based’ all invoke particular ontological and/or epistemological positions, that are and can be contested. One of the questions educational researchers face in the context of such exercises, though The Australian Educational Researcher, Volume 35, Number 1, April 2008 •1 JAN WRIGHT again implicit, is what value is attributed to robust theoretically informed research and which theoretical positions will have value? This becomes particularly pertinent in questions of the usefulness of research, or, in the Australian Research Quality Framework (RQF) as proposed by the former Liberal Coalition government, the‘impact’ of research1. On one hand, discussions about educational research are always discussions about theory, where epistemological and ontological positions are sometimes made explicit and sometimes not. As Kinchenloe and Berry (cited in Sikes, 2006) point out, we cannot do research without theory; theory shapes how we identify a research problem and then how we frame the research that will address it, whether the research is action research, self-study, an evaluation or an intervention, an ethnography or narrative inquiry, or a poststructuralist genealogy. I will argue in this paper that the quality of educational research rests in large part in its capacity to engage theory, to recognise the situatedness of the research in a contested field of knowledge, and to be able to speak to the work of theory in relation to the analysis and explanation of data. My own position is certainly not value free and the direction of this paper and the language and terminology I use clearly reflects my preference for particular theoretical positions. However, my purpose is not to provide a definitive position on the place or value of particular theories in educational research, but to provoke discussion about an issue which, from my point of view, is erased from many commentaries on the ‘good’ of educational research and‘good’ educational research. Rather, I am interested in arguing that there is a need to recognise the assumptions that underpin research decisions, that there

FAQs

Why does the address focus on the necessity of theory in educational research?

It argues that theory is essential for identifying and framing research problems and for shaping how research addresses them, which in turn affects the quality and relevance of educational research.

How do research assessment exercises influence discussions of “quality” and “impact”?

They motivate scrutiny of value-related notions embedded in terms like evidence-based and transformational, raising questions about which theoretically informed approaches are credited as useful or impactful.

What role does theory play in framing research work, according to the paper?

Theory helps frame research questions, inform analysis, and promote reflexivity about the significance and relevance of findings, including how theory assists in developing research agendas.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa