Research group: Theory and methodology
Developing theoretically-informed applied research into education and society.
Theory and methodology
Our research
We are dedicated to developing new theory and methodology in education and social research.
The group not only works to develop better theory, but also puts theory to work to do better research.
Our Manifold Lab works across the boundaries of science, art and the social to study multi-sensory engagements with learning and behaviour.
Events
We host a range of research seminars:
And we design and deliver Manchester Met’s contribution to the Economic and Social Research Council’s White Rose Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership.
Header image: Migration (detail), ©Maskull Lasserre
Our expertise
Our research aims and objectives:
- strengthen the theoretical foundations of educational research and enhance its impact and relevance
- support the theoretical development of ESRI’s research groups
- develop cross-disciplinary research methodologies
- investigate the production, use and control of research knowledge
- improve relations between theory, practice, policy, and public interest
- lead the international debate on future directions in theory, methodology and ethics
Our projects
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Key publications
- MacLure, M. (2020) Inquiry as Divination. Qualitative Inquiry. pp.107780042093912-107780042093912
- Hackett, A., MacLure, M. and McMahon, S. (2020) Reconceptualising early language development: matter, sensation and the more-than-human. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. pp.1-17
- de Freitas, E. and Truman, S.E. (2020) New Empiricisms in the Anthropocene: Thinking With Speculative Fiction About Science and Social Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry. pp.107780042094364-107780042094364
- de Freitas, E., Sellar, S. and Bang Jensen, L. (2018) Thinking with Spinoza about education. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 50(9), pp.805-808
- Ivinson, G. and Renold, E.J. (2020) What More Do Bodies Know? Moving with the Gendered Affects of Place. Body and Society. pp.1357034X2092301-1357034X2092301
- Carlin, M. (2019) Gnosticism, progressivism and the (im)possibility of the ethical academy. Educational Philosophy and Theory. pp.1-12
- Dennis, J. (2018) Imagining powerful co-operative schools: Theorising dynamic co-operation with Spinoza. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 50(9), pp.849-857
- Gallagher, M. (2020) Childhood and the geology of media. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. 41(3), pp.372-390
- MacRae, C., Hackett, A., Holmes, R. and Jones, L. (2018) Vibrancy, repetition and movement: posthuman theories for reconceptualising young children in museums. Children’s Geographies. 16(5), pp.503-515
- Trafi-Prats, L. (2020) Aesthetic Post-Phenomenological Inquiry: A Compositional Approach to the Invention of Worlds. Qualitative Inquiry. 26(5), pp.432-439
- Harrison, M.J. (2020) Deleuze-inspired action research in the university: mobilising Deleuzian concepts to rethink research on the reflective writing practices of student teachers.Educational Action Research. pp.1-16
- Torrance, H. (2019) Data as Entanglement: New Definitions and Uses of Data in Qualitative Research, Policy, and Neoliberal Governance. Qualitative Inquiry. 25(8), pp.734-742
Contact us
Contact us
You can contact individual members of the team through their staff profiles.
For general enquiries, please contact research group lead Prof Maggie MacLure.