Reshaping Graduate Preparation in Educational Research Methods: One School’s Experience

Questions about the proper preparation in research methodologies of doctoral students in education are again on the front burner, fed by deepening skepticism about the value of educational research as well as a revived “paradigms war” and broad criticism of the state of graduate education. Faculty struggle to decide whether or not to require all doctoral students to study both quantitative and qualitative research methods, regardless of students’ diverse talents, interests, and career aspirations. Should students be required to “appreciate” both methodologies or to be able to use both? How should research methodologies be taught, and what proportion of doctoral study should they occupy? This article describes the processes and circumstances in which the faculty in a school of education at a research university grappled with these questions and, in time, significantly redesigned its doctoral curriculum. Although the faculty’s experience is necessarily particular, their engagement in practical reasoning, local knowledge, and local politics may, as an instance of curriculum deliberation, inform reflections on graduate preparation in other schools of education.