Methodology matters: methodological possibilities for quality improvement - Kathy Luckett

This article discusses methodological issues in relation to models of quality assurance for higher education. It first traces the historical development of the widely adopted pragmatic model and shows how this model has been adapted by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) for the South African context. It then sets out some basic tenets of critical realism in order to critique the pragmatic model from a critical realist perspective. Finally it proposes a theory-based approach to evaluation located in a critical realist paradigm as an approach that has the potential to effect the improvement or even transformation of educational practice as a possible outcome of quality assurance.
From: Perspectives in Education, Vol. 25 (3), Sept. 2007