The structure of educational research: The role of multivocality in promoting cohesion in an article interlock network

Researchers interested in the social and intellectual features of scholarly knowledge have emphasized the importance of small-scale, informally organized groups of people interested in the same or closely related research problems. The structure of these social networks, in large part, influences the way which research problems are identified, studied and transformed into policy. Building on popular concerns about the state of the educational research field, this study examines what its structure implies about the field's ability to integrate ideas and practices. Using data about which articles readers access from the online database of the Teachers College Record, one of the field's more popular journals, it is shown that the article interlock network exhibits a structure that fits parameters of both small-world and structurally cohesive models. Furthermore, this study unpacks the network's community structure to show that those articles that serve as the core through which much of the network is connected possess a multivocal identity; an ambiguous identity that appeals to multiple audiences simultaneously. Results are suggestive of mechanisms that could be used to promote greater cohesion across the network's distinct communities.