Methods for Studying Mathematics Teaching and Learning Internationally

The focus of this chapter is issues related to methods for studying mathematics teaching and learning internationally. The chapter identifies three sorts of overarching purposes and goals of international studies, namely to uncover and analyze, across a group of countries: differences in students’ learning outcomes, achievements and attitudes; differences in curricula, teaching approaches, resources and the environments of mathematics education; and possible links between the latter and the former. The chapter provides detailed accounts of the designs, methods, methodologies, and instruments that have been used in two kinds of studies—large-scale international comparative studies, such as TIMSS and PISA, and so-called focal studies concentrating on more specific problématiques or themes. The last part of the chapter offers reflections on the nature of international comparative studies with an emphasis on their strengths and potentials as well as on their challenges and limitations. One fundamental question in this context is the extent to which the results of such studies can be meaningfully interpreted, especially in view of the massive interest amongst politicians, administrators, media, and the general public, who often do not pay sufficient attention to the characteristics and conditions of the studies.