Researching International Processes of Education Policy Formation: conceptual and methodological considerations

ABSTRACT This article elaborates one approach to conceptualizing and investigating international processes of education policy formation (IPEPF), which are dynamic, multi-level and processual in nature. This contribution is important because, although research is increasingly conducted on phenomena with such characteristics, extended discussions of how these processes are either conceptualized or researched are rare. This article engages with both issues. With regard to the latter, the article adapts and tailors to the phenomena of IPEPF a range of qualitative methodological strategies suggested by Miles and Huberman, and by Yin. In this article, I discuss a number of issues related to conceptualizing and conducting research on what I term international processes of education policy formation (IPEPF, defined below). The purpose is to elaborate on the conceptual dimensions and methodological strategies related to undertaking research on policy production processes that include action across multiple levels (e.g. international, national, local) and among multiple types of actors (e.g. international development institutions, national policymakers and local program staff). Thus, the contribution of this article, and of the four articles in this issue of RCIE generally, is not that it presents findings on the outcomes of such research, but rather that it presents one approach to conceptualizing and investigating policy formation processes that are dynamic, multi-level and processual. Such a contribution is important because, although scholars increasingly conduct research on such phenomena, extended discussions of how these processes are conceptualized and researched are rare.[1] The present article engages with both issues. With regard to the latter, it adapts and tailors to the phenomena of IPEPF a range of case-study strategies suggested by Miles & Huberman (1994