因果関係の発見をめぐる認識論的・方法論的立場の多様性 -米国における「科学的な教育研究」の内容をめぐる議論を参考にして-

Abstract

Now “evidence” is required even in education. In the United States, the discussions around what is “scientific educational research” have been notable since 2000. This paper discusses epistemological and methodological positions from which one investigates and examines the effectiveness of the interventions, what works on the outcome interested, or causation between the variables. On the methodological positions, Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) is especially important element to decide the position because quantitative researchers often regard RCT as a determinate means to discover the causation. The purpose of this paper is to show the diversity and disparity on the epistemological and methodological positions. This paper examine the five actors, (i) U.S. Department of Education、(ii) SRE、(iii) Pierre、(iv) Howe、(v) Maxwell. First, Department of Education takes a stance of positivism and regard RCT as ‘gold standard' for evaluating an intervention' s effectiveness. Second, SRE takes a stance of postpositivism whose difference from positivism is accepting the incompleteness of human. postpositivism is that SRE gives qualitative method the role in the scientific research, although it remains limited to the auxiliary role. Third, Pierre takes a stance of postpositivism and makes a critical attack on SRE in the terms of not accepting the diversity of epistemology and methodology. Fourth, Howe exposes the problem of black-box about RCT. Finally, Maxwell takes “realist approaches in philosophy that see causation as fundamentally a matter of processes and mechanisms rather than observed regularities.”