Meeting ontologies: actor-network theory as part of a methodologically heterogeneous research project

Abstract

How does a researcher investigate phenomena that continually emerge through, with and as various practices? This paper explores this question, drawing on transformative reflections on the unfolding process of an empirical research project investigating professional practice in Dutch early childhood education. The project initially applied an open, exploratory mixed-methods research design, with the aim of gaining a comprehensive understanding of educational realities. As the research project proceeded, however, we found ourselves exploring the multiplicity of educational realities. Incorporating actor-network theory (ANT) into the study design led to an important ontological re-positioning of the project. Drawing on our experiences, we aim to develop the argument that a methodologically heterogeneous research approach is a valuable way to evoke the paradigmatic and methodological reflexivity and humility that is needed to capture the emerging multiplicity of professional practice.

En/countering the doings of standards in early childhood education: drawing on Actor-Network Theory to trace enactments of and resistances to emerging sociomaterial policy assemblages

“…Below, we will describe the starting points of the approach that we took -the data and questions about it -and, subsequently, explain the approach to data analysis through an ANT lens. For a more detailed description we refer the interested reader to Oosterhoff (2021).…”

“…The starting point of the ANT analysis was the narratives of eight experienced Dutch early childhood teachers, which were developed during semi-structured interviews conducted as part of the larger study of ECE (Oosterhoff 2021). The teachers talked about events that occurred in their daily practice, about their drives and frustrations, about tensions between professional responsibilities and external regulations and about dealing with these tensions.…”

“…The guiding yet open character of the heuristics allowed us to perceive professional practices in new and unsettling ways, and to recognize agency as distributed (Oosterhoff et al 2021). Further research should be carried out to determine how these timely heuristics might be utilized in teacher education and for in-service professional development to support professionals worldwide in adopting a new way of thinking about responsibility -the idea of moving towards questions -and in developing response-ability in currently rapidly shifting professional practices within schools.…”

“…This paper explores these issues in the context of Dutch ECE. We draw on data collected during a recent multi-phase empirical study conducted by the first author (Oosterhoff 2021), which investigated: How does the workplace environment affect the professional autonomy of early childhood teachers? The data in the study suggested that a variety of actors exert influence on teaching practice in many different and interrelated ways.…”

“But we´re talking about Jonas?!” Danish ECEC Between Quality Cultures

“…Within the framework of projects like Starting Strong 1+2 and Babies & Bosses among other initiatives, emerging standards for quality improvement are established on a transnational level (Krejsler, 2012). Thus, the discursive practices of quality reform work in combination with a global trust in digital quantification, standardization, and calculation (se also Popkewitc, 2012;Oosterhoff et al, 2023).…”