190114 SE Philosophy of Science and Educational Research Methods (2021W)

The aim of this seminar is to make students acquainted with recent developments in methodological approaches in educational sciences and their theoretical underpinnings. Therefore the focus of the seminar is double. On the one hand, students acquire insight into the philosophical-theoretical positions that characterized methodological debates from the second half of the 20th century to today. On the other hand, students learn how these different positions have impacted educational research, including its object of inquiry, methodological entry points, research methods, and ethical and political considerations.

The course sketches the historical development of theoretical and methodological debates starting from the linguistic turn and its aftermath in practice theory. Of central interest will be the influence of the linguistic-analytic, postmodern, and praxeological approaches of authors like Wittgenstein, Foucault, and Schatzki respectively, including their sedimentation in educational research methodologies. Thereafter the focus will shift to those methodologies that often take as their point of departure the critiques formulated with regards to the approaches mentioned earlier as being social-constructivist. Again, seminal texts of authors focusing on relationality and materiality (e.g., Latour, Stengers, Haraway) will be read alongside applications of their methodologies in educational research.