What is a stereotype and how does a stereotype conduce to prejudice? How do forms of ignorance abet injustice against the marginalised? To explore these issues, we will examine how stereotyping and prejudice contribute to forms of ‘epistemic injustice’ whereby what certain groups of people know is given less credibility and weight simply because of their disability, sex, class or ethnicity. The testimony (what they know or experience) of members of stigmatized groups is likely to be discounted because of (often unconscious) prejudicial beliefs and attitudes, which can magnify the effects of injustice as well as create others, such as failing to recognize certain questions as relevant for inquiry, such as the sexual abuse of vulnerable girls and boys, or sexuality of disabled or impaired people. Our judgments, as we will learn, are likely to be affected by implicit biases even when we think we’re making judgments of scientific or argumentative merit. We will here focus on, in particular, the work of Miranda Fricker – Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (2009). This module will dovetail with EDU7254 and EDU7256.
The module is concerned with the production of a 15-20k word dissertation. Supervision takes place on a one-to-one basis. The dissertation may be composed of a literature review, systematic review, meta-analysis, secondary data analysis or an empirical study in an area of educational research.
This introductory research methods module is compulsory for all Masters students in the School of Education and assumes no previous experience or knowledge of research methods. The aim of the module is to provide a general research overview and to contextualize the broad range of approaches and debates that are evident within contemporary educational research. The module aims to provide students with an understanding of the theory and an appreciation of the differing perspectives that underpin quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Students will be introduced to the ethical issues related to educational research as well as a range of methodological approaches, within which the key theoretical and practical issues will be addressed.