Uses of theory in educational research

Abstract

In the common sense theory opposes to practice. This statement will be discussed, displaying diverse forms of using theory, for example, some academic uses are: naive use: with a good theory we can solve the problems. ritual or normative use: Every thesis has an “introduction, theoretical frame, context, etc.”. theoretical use ‘as a strait-jacket’: Theory establishes concepts to those that the reality should be adjusted”; fatuous or ostentatious use: when the theory appears as a group of highly sophisticated and difficult concepts, in a language that only those initiate can understand and that, generally, it produces an effect of rejection among the speakers; a practical disqualifying use: “Theory focuses the attention to the urgent educational problems”; a methodological disqualifying use: “Research should depict the reality free of preconceptions”; political disqualifying use: “Theory is ideology”. In the above-mentioned discussion some antecedents about the role assigned to theory in Educational research, from diverse institutional frames will be presented and the following statement will be developed: Educational research is production of knowledge inside certain standards of validity accepted by a scientific community. One of these standards alludes to a higher or lesser degree of conceptual, methodological and analytic consistency. The theoretical dimension is then constituent of the production of knowledge.