Critical pedagogy and the purpose of educational research in an age of “alternative facts”

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Notes

Notes

1 Thomas Wood and Ethan Porter published a study in 2018 refuting the “backfire effect” posited by Nyhan and Reifler (2010). Their research shows that people were swayed to change their opinions when presented with facts. However, in an interview published in Poynter (Mantzarlis 2016), Porter and Wood opine that the results of Nyhan and Reifler study may have been in part because of the particular issue used in the study (weapons of mass destruction and the Iraq War) and the “intensely partisan presidential administration in the midst of increased political polarization” (n.p.). I would argue that we are witnessing an even more intense political polarization now than we were when George W. Bush was in office. Hence, it is likely that fact-checking could have a similar backfire effect.

2 It should be noted here that government funded research is publically available through the Freedom of Information Act (see https://www.foia.gov/). The EPA makes much of its research and data available to the public on its website without the need for a Freedom of Information Act request, but certain data sets cannot be publically shared because of infringement on privacy rights.

3 It should be noted here that there are already government reports about what constitutes scientific research in education (see National Research Council 2002, 2005). This has been widely debated and critiqued in the field of educational research (see, e.g., Lather 2004 and Denzin 2009) because of the ways these policy documents limit what counts as evidence and truth.

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Tricia M. Kress

Tricia M. Kress, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Education in the Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY. She has published numerous articles and books on urban education, critical pedagogy, and the philosophy of Paulo Freire. She is co-editor of the book series Imagination and Praxis: Creativity and Criticality in Education and Educational Research for Sense Publishers. Her co-edited volume Paulo Freire's Intellectual Roots received the 2014 book award from the Society of Professors of Education.