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Reconsidering What Feels Like Failure: Lessons From Environmental Life History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Mary Faeth Chenery  and
Almut Beringer
Mary Faeth Chenery
Affiliation:
La Trobe University Bendigo
Almut Beringer
Affiliation:
La Trobe University Bendigo
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Abstract

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In the research which was the original focus for this account, an ‘environmental life history’ study, things turned out as expected—findings replicated previous environmental life history results. Yet the investigator in this apparently ‘successful’ research, Mary Faeth Chenery, was left with questions such as “So what?” and “Have I simply reproduced the conditions which contribute to the problems I'm trying to solve?” Her colleague, Almut Beringer, has critiqued—and ‘re-viewed’—the study, setting out some reasons why the research was indeed of value. The two ‘halves’ of this article open a dialogue about the value of environmental life history research, and offer some insights into qualitative research method in environmental education. In the process, implications may be drawn for environmental education and for a range of issues within qualitative research.

Type
General Section
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 14 , 1998 , pp. 27 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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