[AAACE-NLA] evidence based research

[George demetrion]

Dear Jose & others,

While I don't care for the medical analogy between education and medicine (the teacher dispenses treatment to the student/patient), I do appreciate the general tenor of the definition of "evidence-based practice" as you describe below.  On that objective methodologies stem from the particular purpose of a given research project.  That's one thing and that's reasonable.  Where the problem comes in for me is when experimental design is interpreted as the gold standard.  In my view, that's putting methodology ahead of the particular research question at hand.  It's like saying that we seek the best approaches to assessment that can get at whatever it is we're trying to figure out about learning, and then saying the standards have to be measurable, uniform, and quantifiable.  In defining the parameters of assessment (or research) thusly, one limits the focus to what the methodologies allow one to see.  There may be good practical/political reasons to do so, but that's not synonymous with good science.

George Demetrion

----- Original Message -----
From: Jose L. Cruz
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 4:07 PM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: RE: [AAACE-NLA] evidence based research

One source defines evidence-based practice as... "a total process beginning
with knowing what clinical questions to ask, how to find the best practice,
and how to critically appraise the evidence for validity and applicability
to the particular care [instructional] situation. The best evidence then
must be applied by a clinician [teacher] with expertise in considering the
patient's [students] unique values and needs. The final aspect of the
process is evaluation of the effectiveness of care [instruction] and the
continual improvement of the process" (DePalma, 2000).
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/aaace-nla/attachments/20050128/87cf38fe/attachment.htm