Education for Sustainable Development Research from the Researchers' Point of View

Research is not just a simple application of research methods. It is undertaken by human beings who hold personal views on the environment. The way in which the researcher sees environmental changes may have an impact on the research questions and the choice of research practices. The researcher may be a contributor to cultural development either through influential research results, powerful theories or models, or through the choices of research orientations or personal preferences. These contributions are especially important in the research for education for sustainable development (ESD), where it is hard to avoid a stance on environmental change. In this article, the researchers of ESD describe their preferences for research. The descriptions are evaluated in reference to four research orientations to get a full-bodied perspective on research preferences and practices. The article gives a glimpse of the researchers' own ideas about their work and its relation to environmental change. (Contains 2 figures.)