Who are we trying to help?

I have to admit, and this makes me sound pretty naïve, that I was a little surprised when trying to process the idea of someone proposing that educational research be considered a service to teachers and students. If that is not your goal, why research? If service is not your goal, why research education in particular? That being said, I realize that researchers are not the only ones susceptible to losing track of their moral motivations. Teachers and administrators can also lose sight of what’s important (and that’s ‘important’ by my pre-service potentially idealistic standards, of course) when getting caught up in test scores, school grades, reduction, as Wollman-Bonilla describes, even the research telling them what they “should” and “should not” be doing.

Bringing in the Freedman article about medical research helped put all our other readings in perspective for me. One would think, being a science field that pertains to every living thing, including the researchers who make claims, write articles, and decide which ones print, that medical researchers would make a serious effort to stay truthful and ethical in their work. Reading about Ioannidis’ findings did not surprise me that much, but they introduced me to the complicated world of research in general. If medical researchers, whose findings could strongly impact the health of many, often end up telling only versions of the truth, how can we expect other less scientific fields to be uncorrupted? Amidst all this uncertainty, I appreciate the questions Wollman-Bonilla asks throughout her article. She asks that researchers remain aware of why they research, and who they are trying to help when they do it. I hope her article was circulated well, as I would imagine her simple questions and proposals could bring those who have strayed back to their initial reasons for going into a field such as education or medicine.