The methodology of educative research
Luigina Mortari, Federica Valbusa, Marco Ubbiali
Educative research is transformative, because it aims to improve educative practice. Therefore, it is not only explorative research, aimed at deeply understanding an educative phenomenon, but it is mainly operative research, aimed at experimenting working hypotheses on the field and rigorously studying their effectiveness. When participants are children, educative research is qualified as research for children, because it is structured as an offer of experiences which are meant to be significant for their flourishing. This implies the use of instruments with both heuristic and educative valence. How is a research design of this type structured? How is it characterised from an ethical perspective? What are the best methods of collecting and analysing data? The authors will answer these questions by presenting MelArete, an example of an educative research project implemented in nursery and primary schools within a project of ethical education.
Keywords
Educative research, research for children, ethical education.
