Fuhrmann, Bettina. 2010. Can Empirical Research on Education be Replaced by Common Sense?. In Proceedings of the 17th EDINEB Conference: Crossing Borders in Education and Work-Based Learning, Hrsg. Steve Halley, Chris Birch, Dirk Tempelaar, Mike McCuddy, Núria Hérnandez Nanclares, Sandra Reeb-Gruber, Wim Gijselaers, Bart Rienties, Ellen Nelissen, 261-273. Maastricht:

Abstract

Discussions on various pedagogical issues such as instructional quality reveal that many people cannot imagine that research findings could possibly not be consistent with their own personal experience. They even consider some research findings in the field of pedagogy self-evident and consequently the research a waste of money and time. If these people were right, they would be able to distinguish right from wrong statements (concerning for example several issues of instructional quality) without prior knowledge of relevant research findings. The study described in this paper empirically explores whether this assumption is correct. The results will show impressively that it is not and that it is therefore not safe to rely (only) on one's experience, beliefs and common sense when it comes to answering pedagogical questions.