The Necessarily, Wonderfully Unsettled State of Methodology in PER: A Reflection

Abstract

The field of PER as described in this Handbook began about 50 years ago. Many of us initially trained and became enculturated in the much older discipline of physics, and some of our expectations and esthetics for rigor of thought and empirical research might not apply: PER is a much newer pursuit, and the phenomena of learning and instruction are highly complex and difficult to conceptualize. In this chapter, I reflect on the first studies, in the 1970's, which combined qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and on the much greater diversity of work taking place today. My purpose is to suggest that methodology in PER remains significantly unsettled, like and coupled with our theoretical frameworks. And I suggest we embrace it as a wonderful privilege, to be involved as we are during the field's formation.