QUALITATIVE APPROACH IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH: A SOCIO-HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

For a long time, research involving educational phenomena followed the model of knowledge construction based on Physical and Natural Sciences, attending the positivist paradigm adopted by these areas. Currently, other methods allow us to understand the complexity of these phenomena beyond a mechanistic model of science. The qualitative approach has been used and recognized as scientific practice in the field of education. Thus, this study aims to discuss the contributions of the qualitative approach to research on educational practices, from a socio-historical perspective. Authors such as André (2001, 2007), Gatti and André (2013), Gonçalves (2020), Vigotski (2007, 2009) and Libâneo (2013) supported these discussions. In educational qualitative research from a socio-historical perspective, in which educational phenomenon is the object of investigation, we understand human beings as products of their multiple social relations; therefore, they are determined by history and culture, but, at the same time, interfering and transforming reality. Hence, investigating educational practices requires analyses that go beyond description, deepening the interpretation of data and considering the historical and social context.