Problems with Generalization in Education Research, Their Consequences, and Their Implications

Education research is a richly funded enterprise. Millions every year are spent on myriad studies intent on illuminating one of the many areas (assessment, school type, teacher quality, and technology, for instance) that are typically of interest to education researchers. To education research, generalization is fundamental. After all, if research findings cannot be extended to another context or person then institutionalized forms of research lose much if not all of their overriding raison d’être. However, in the essay that follows I problematize the very idea of generalization in education research, and discuss the current and future impact, for research, education, and society, of persisting with institutionalized education research where generalization is problematic.