Constructing the epistemethodological framework in educational policy research practice

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand how the concept of epistemethodology is mobilized in educational policy research conducted by the Research Group on Public Policies of Curriculum and Assessment (GPCA, acronym in Portuguese) of the Graduate Program in Education at the Regional University of Blumenau (PPGE-FURB). This is a meta-research study, that is, research on research, which seeks to make explicit the articulation between epistemology, methodology, and authorial positioning in the production of knowledge. To this end, the object of analysis was the doctoral dissertation of a GPCA member, highlighting the coherence between the adopted perspective, positioning, and approach. The dissertation is grounded in a Marxist perspective and expands through dialogue with cultural studies, enabling an understanding of reality based on its historical, social, economic, and ideological contradictions, thus adopting a neo-Marxist stance. As an approach, the relational analysis developed by Michael Apple and Stephen J. Ball’s network ethnography stand out, both used as a theoretical-methodological framework. This study considers that epistemethodology implies that the researcher assumes themselves simultaneously as both character and painter of the studied framework, and that research is constructed in accordance with how the researcher themselves is constituted.

Keywords: Epistemethodology. Education policies. Meta-research.