Scientific research in a democratic culture: Or what's a social science for?

In attempting to guide both researchers and the federal government in the development of a stronger scientific culture for education research, the National Research Council report, Scientific Research in Education, falls short in its conception of research dissemination. Rather than considering the potential of new publishing technologies to ensure much wider circulation and impact for education research as integral to both its scientific quality and public responsibilities, the report presents a highly circumscribed view of publishing, in terms of disclosing it to professional scrutiny and critique. While this scrutiny and critique are indeed necessary, they are not sufficient if education research is going to play the increased public role demanded of it in the No Children Left Behind Act of 2001. This article builds on the report's reference to education research's parallels with medical research to demonstrate how greater public access to this research has contributed to the democratic quality of people's lives, while arguing that the education research community would do well to explore open access publishing models as one means of extending the desired scientific culture represented by education research.