Navigating the Education Research Maze

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

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2. Navigating, Negotiating and Nullifying Education Research Mazes: Successful Strategies for Mobilising Contextual, Conceptual, Methodological and Transformational Challenges and Opportunities

   • Patrick Alan Danaher, Dolene Rossi, Francis Gacenga

   Pages 1-16

3. Navigating the Politics, Ethics, Philosophies and Theories of Education Research Mazes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-19

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   2. Working in the Research Maze: At What Price?

      • Cecily Jensen-Clayton, Atholl Murray

      Pages 21-45

   3. “Have You Been Non-compliant?” Dilemmas of Decision-Making for School Principals and Education Researchers

      • Karen Trimmer

      Pages 47-65

   4. Navigating the Terrain of Methodological Uncertainties to New Spaces of Research

      • Yvonne Salton

      Pages 67-78

   5. Navigating the Scholarship of Integration: Insights from a Maze

      • Jay Somasundaram, Prue Howard, Rob H. Reed

      Pages 79-95

4. Navigating Mazes in and with Specific Research Methods

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-99

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   2. Practice-led Research: Creating, Embodying and Shifting My Understanding of Research

      • Bernadette Meenach

      Pages 101-114

   3. Investigating Creative Arts Practices in Australian Home Education Through Design-Based Research: Entering the Research Maze with the Spirit of Adventure

      • Katie Burke

      Pages 115-130

   4. Meandering in the Maze of Mixed Methods: Navigation Strategies of a Researcher into the Influence of the Mass Media on Children’s Science Understandings

      • Jennifer Donovan

      Pages 131-144

   5. Navigating, Negotiating and Nullifying Contradictions in the Research Around School Curriculum Change

      • Wendy Fasso, Bruce Knight, Ken Purnell

      Pages 145-161

   6. Research as a “Quest” through a “Maze” of Representations: Understanding Metaphorical and Image Constructions in a Research Community

      • Rennie Naidoo

      Pages 163-180

5. Navigating Mazes in and with Specific Research Tasks and Technologies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 181-182

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   2. Many Paths to Discovery: The Increasingly Complex Literature Maze

      • Lindy Ramsay, Moira Williamson

      Pages 183-197

   3. Food for Thought: Managing Secondary Data for Research

      • Nargis Pervin, Rohit Nishant, Philip J. Kitchen

      Pages 199-215

   4. The Compass, Navigation and the Journey: A Role for eResearch in Navigating the Research Maze

      • Francis Gacenga

      Pages 217-233

   5. Collaborative Research: A Partnership That Seizes Opportunities, Navigates Challenges and Constructs New Knowledge and Shared Understandings

      • Dolene Rossi

      Pages 235-252

   6. Working Beyond the Research Maze

      • Cecily Jensen-Clayton, Atholl Murray

      Pages 253-273

6. Back Matter

   Pages 275-289

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This book depicts rigorous and vigorous accounts of strategies used successfully by researchers to negotiate their way through the research maze. The metaphor of the maze evokes several different and sometimes contradictory elements of contemporary education research, including complexity, confusion, messiness, multiplicity and risk. While these are not necessarily or wholly negative attributes, it is important for researchers to be able to articulate and implement effective strategies for engaging wholeheartedly with these situations to navigate the education research maze. 


The book is structured around three main themes; politics, ethics, philosophies and theories of education research mazes; mazes in and with specific research methods; and mazes in and with specific research tasks and technologies. Each account develops broader lessons for enhancing the impact, quality, relevance and significance of research in other disciplines as well as education. 

• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative Research
• Mixed-Methods Research
• School Principals
• Practice-led Research
• Design-Based Research
• School Curriculum
• Secondary Data
• Collaborative Research
• eResearch
• literature reviews
• Research computing
• Research contexts
• Research ethics
• Research methods
• Research philosophy
• Research politics
• Secondary data

• Central Queensland University, North Rockhampton, Australia

  Dolene Rossi

• University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia

  Francis Gacenga, Patrick Alan Danaher

Dolene Rossi is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Central Queensland University, Australia. Dolene is currently a member of the Central Queensland Hospital Health Service ethics committee.

Francis Gacenga is the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation eResearch Analyst at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.



Patrick Alan Danaher is Associate Dean (Research and Research Training) in the Faculty of Education, Law and Arts at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. He is also currently Adjunct Professor in the School of Education and the Arts in the Higher Education Division at Central Queensland, Australia.

Policies and ethics