Philosophy of Educational Research: New Epistemological, Methodological and Historical Approach

Abstract

The philosophy of educational research has traditionally been one of the least studied fields in the epistemology of the social sciences and humanities. However, a philosophical reflection on education itself, in the search for an ultimate explanation of what it means in the field of human evolution, necessarily implies knowing how to obtain information for its knowledge. This, in an epistemological context, implies analyzing the research methods used in the educational sciences. Throughout its history, educational research has experienced three stages of methodological evolution in its search for scientific effectiveness: (a) research without adhering to a particular model, (b) research applied to practice, and (c) research inserted into practice. The analysis of these methodological evolutions shows a history of great academic value, of fascinating philosophical debates, which every educator and educational researcher should know, and which nevertheless remains practically unexplored and unstudied in its entirety in the academic field. Key-words: educational research; philosophy of education; epistemology; theory of education; methodology, history of education.