Revolutionising educational technology: The imperative for authentic qualitative research

Abstract

The field of educational technology research has been described as dominated by quantitative approaches, superficial and lacking methodological capacity. Calls for more qualitative research and for bringing researchers from diverse backgrounds together have been made to contribute towards solving complex educational challenges. This research employed a critical methodological literature review to examine 1538 research articles published in 2021 editions of 13 top educational technology research journals and identified 168 qualitative and 231 mixed research articles. Applying a research description framework, a detailed study of these two subsets shows that only half of the articles describe their research design and even less address researcher beliefs (31.5% for qualitative, 6.5% for mixed research). Of the mixed research articles, only 20% demonstrate strong qualitative characteristics. The detailed examination of the methodological descriptions undertaken in this research highlights that prior reviews overestimate the qualitative characteristics of especially mixed research studies and that those studies in general do not have the methodological underpinning required for drawing on different perspectives. The article contributes a simplified framework for the description of research approaches which can be used by editors to outline their expectations for research descriptions in a way accessible to prospective authors from a wide variety of backgrounds. The article calls on journal editors to proactively facilitate publication of educational technology research that brings together researchers from different substantive areas and belief systems. Articles that provide authentic qualitative research that is rigorously defended will offer new conceptualizations for addressing the complex challenges educational technologies aim to address.