Educational Research in the Postdigital Age

Nowadays, educational research faces the challenge of big data and algorithms. Through automated processes of data collection and manipulation, big data and algorithmic processes have introduced new research opportunities. However, these opportunities are strongly limited by various data and algorithmic biases. Introducing new opportunities and limits, big data and algorithms have significantly transformed contemporary educational research. These transformations are dialectically intertwined with educational politics, policy, and practice. The complex interplay between ways we do research and ways we apply this research brings about a new set of philosophical, methodological, and practical questions and challenges. The paper outlines the main challenges of educational research in our messy, unpredictable, and constantly changing postdigital condition. Postdigital transformations in research, politics, policy, and practice are in permanent interaction and cannot be thought of without each other. In our postdigital age, educational researchers have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to lead these transformations in responsible and sustainable ways.