Lecture
LTP Colloquium: "Evidential Pluralism and educational ethnography"
- Date
- Thursday 25 September 2025
- Time
- Location
-
P.J. Veth
Nonnensteeg 1-3
2311 VJ Leiden - Room
- 0.06
The Leiden University Centre Theoretical Philosophy is pleased to announce a lecture by Dr. Rosa Runhardt, Assistant professor - Philosophy of Mind and Language at the Radboud University.
Abstract
Evidence-based policy is typically grounded in a narrow conception of evidence, one that prioritizes comparative studies and quantitative meta-analyses as the preferred base for establishing causal claims. However, this prevailing theory of evidence—often implicitly adopted in policy contexts—faces serious limitations when it comes to capturing the complexity of social interventions, particularly in fields such as education. In this talk, I will argue that this narrow conception ignores the extensive volume of knowledge that is generated in research fields such as educational meta-ethnography. Far from being epistemically inferior, I contend that meta-ethnographies could make an essential contribution to the evidential base for policy. I give a causal re-interpretation of meta-ethnographic studies as providing evidence of a so-called causal mechanism complex. This evidence can play a crucial critical role, as meta-ethnography shows how the complex enables, reinforces, or counteracts a policy of interest. I will illustrate this potential use of meta-ethnography using an example, Holly Craggs and Catherine Kelly’s qualitative meta-synthesis of adolescent experiences of school belonging (2018). Finally, I will discuss implications of my re-interpretation for philosophy of evidence, in particular the prominent Evidential Pluralism movement led by Jon Williamson.