The Challenges of Fieldwork in Comparative Education Studies in Japan : A Methodological Consideration(<Special Issue>Educational Studies in Japan: Present State and its Challenges)
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概要
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The purpose of this article is not to discuss fieldwork at large but rather to examine the position and role of the research method in one discipline, comparative education. For this purpose, first of all, the content of articles published by the Japan Comparative Education Society's journal over the past 35 years is analyzed. Based on this analysis, the implications, significance as well as apprehension surrounding doing fieldwork in comparative studies of education are then discussed. There are 504 articles published from the first volume to the latest No. 39. The classification based on a full reading of all the articles indicates 86 (approximately 17.1%) are found to be based on the data and information collected and formed by the researchers themselves with the various techniques in their fields. While studies about Western advanced countries account for a majority in all articles, those utilizing various techniques in the field remain limited at 20. The rest of the fieldwork-based articles concern developing countries. However an increasing number of fieldwork-based studies have been appearing in the JCES journal. Not only has the speed of this increase been accelerating, but also the quality of the fieldwork seems to have been improving gradually. Similarly, countries and areas to be the object of investigation have been diversifying. What is perhaps the most salient phenomenon is that studies centering on advanced Western countries are also coming to adopt fieldwork as their primary research method. These recent academic trends may indicate that studies in Comparative Education in Japan are finally coming into their own: what was long considered a 'peripheral' or 'consumer' position in academia is now being replaced with hope for making original and active contributions to research in the field.
- 日本教育学会の論文