理解教育政策的意义——质性取向在政策研究中的定位

Making Sense of Education Policy:The Status of Qualitative Approach in Policy Studies in Education

量化研究在教育政策研究的主导地位,在过去三十年受到质性研究的挑战;其中最重要的挑战就是,无论在教育政策制定、实施还是评鉴过程中,政策参与者特别是政策受众,对有关政策所赋予的主观意义对政策的成败至为重要。本文正是以教育政策研究中量化与质性研究取向的争论作起点,整理质性研究中三个方法学取向(现象学、语言学、诠释学)之间的关联,并尝试建构出一个整合的质性研究的指导架构,以作为质性研究在教育政策研究定位的参考。

The dominance of quantitative approach in educational policy research has been challenged by qualitative approach for the past three decades.One of the most prominent challenges from qualitative researchers is their emphasis on the importance of participants' subjective meanings attached to the education policy concerned.It has been well documented in recent decades that how participants,especially policy recipients, make sense of the policy has been of vital importance to the efficacy of the policy outcome.Taking this debate between quantitative and qualitative approaches as the starting point,this essay is set out to review and synthesize three methodological approaches in qualitative research,namely phenomenological,linguistic and hermeneutic approaches.It attempts to integrate these approaches into one comprehensive qualitative research framework,which may help qualitative researchers to locate or even justify their contributions to the field of policy studies in education.