A Discourse that Disciplines, Governs, and Regulates: The National Research Council’s Report on Scientific Research in Education

Abstract

This article discusses the National Research Council (2002) report’s six guiding principles that define good scientific educational research. The principles and discussion focus on good educational research in terms of the “rigor” of the research as well as the “scientific” base and principles adhered to in doing the research. This article critically examines the normative base from which the consensual definitions of rigorous research and good science were drawn for the report and by its authors, and looks at the margins where other research falls, by definition. By using a variety of examples of research from around the world that highlights the need for complex historical, political, and cultural lens to examine policy, research, knowledge and power constructions, Bloch suggests that the report represents only one truth among many, limiting further inquiry. By examining the relation between knowledge and truth, the danger in a limited perspective is underlined.