Experimental and development work in adult education

• Jukka Tuomisto Tampereen yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33336/aik.96512

Abstract

The editorial deals with the purpose and contents of this edition of the journal which is dedicated to experimental and development work in adult education. This edition origins can be traced back to a need to provide information on the numerous experimental and development projects being conducted in the field of adult education in Finland. Another factor related to the publication of this edition is the comparative study of adult education projects in various countries being conducted by prof. Alan Knox of Wisconsin-Madison University.
In Finland the nationwide experimental and development work in adult education is organized to a great extent by the National Board of General Education and the National Board of Vocational Education. For this reason this edition provides an overview on the development projects as well as more detailed presentations of some of these projects. Other significant bodies which initiate experimental and development projects include provincial education departments, universities, municipalities, and enterprises. It is regrettable that information regarding the activities of enter­prises is hard to come by even though a great deal of this kind of activity goes on in enter­prises.
Experimental and development work should always be based on scientific research. Thus, universities should be involved in it more than they have been so far. Research workers who take an active part in experimental and development work should be entitled to use a part of the time allocated for teaching and rese­arch in this manner. Participation in experimental and development work presupposes on the part of the researcher’s familiarity, not only with traditional quantitative research approaches, but also with qualitative research. Researchers have, in fact, shown increasing interest in the latter research approach during the past few years. This provides them with a good starting point for participating in experi­mental and development work.
Generally, experimental works is by nature more in the line of activity study than quantitative research. It is quite seldom that traditional! experiment layouts can be employed in experimental work; this is due to the fact that practical situations are complex and they are acted upon by many different factors. Adult educators in the field are also in need of more information concerning qualitative research methods in order to be in a better position to participate in experimental work. This is why they should be exposed to this type of training as soon as possible.