Educational research in Sweden 1948-1971 : an explorative study of internal and external factors

The purpose of this work has been to shed light on the science of education, primarily in the period 1948-1971. The work also consists of the establishment of education as an academic discipline (1910-1948). The theoretical frame of reference is Kuhn's theory about the structure of scientific revolutions. The dissertation consists of two main parts: in the first part a paradigm analysis is treated, where some theoretical considerations are applied with a view to examine the effects of external factors on educational research. The purpose of the paradigm analysis was partly to identify and describe any prevailing system of scientific norms and values that may exist, and partly to characterize the outcome of the . analysis in terms of the theory of scientific revolutions. The total scientific production, descriptions of model studies and model examples made up the three materials that were subjected to an analysis with a view to finding out the nature of the underlying paradigm. The analyses of these three material indicated,both individually and in combination, that educational research during the period in question was dominated by one system of norms and values: a neobehaviouristic one. It also turned out to be possible to distinguish one approach as deviating from the others, viz. the hermeneutic approach. The conclusion was that educational research, visavi the theory of paradigm, was in a multiparadigmatic phase. But we could also observe variations of approaches within the framework of the predominating paradigm. We took this state of affairs as a point of departure for theoretical considerations about the status of paradigm in the social sciences. The basis for this policy was Kuhn's claim that paradigm is the most controlling dimension during phases of normal science. Therefore we examined the relationship between internal and external factors within the predominating paradigm in order to shed light on the principal question as to what the main impetus of the development in Swedish educational research had been. After several analyses the question was answered in the following manner. The existence of a predominant scientific system of norms and values probably constituted one of the main prerequisites of a massive concentration on educational research. However, external circumstances gradually developed for this system of values new problems in the way of analysis. In this way the nature of educational research changed from a concentration on psychometry to a. concentration on "school research". This state of affairs has also probably implied that the scientific ambition of educational research was gradually changed from descriptive and expository reports towards official reports on questions that are important for the authorities.digitalisering@um