Chapter 5: Making Quant Critical: Centralizing Critical Theories in Quantitative Social Studies Research

The field of social studies education has long had a strong foundation in conceptual literature and qualitative research methods. However, three decades ago the majority of social studies research was quantitative (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1991). Fitchett and Heafner (2017) posit that the shift away from quantitative methodologies was related to a shift in theoretical frameworks and corresponding research questions. For example, researchers began to be interested in how learners make sense of history (Barton, 2001; VanSle-dright, 2002), understanding the dispositions of teachers (Grant, 2003; van Hover, 2006), and a greater emphasis on multicultural education and critical theories (Castro, 2010; Epstein, 2009). Underlying assumptions of positivism and post-positivism did not align well with this emerging scholarly interest, leading the field to shift towards qualitative methodologies.