From the 1990s to the 2000s, researchers debated on the professionalization of the field and the social purpose of adult education with different approaches and different perspectives.

 

The purpose of adult education was to respond to societal changes such as the growing global economy, increasing cultural diversity, economic shifting from an industrial to an information-based economy, trends in social policies and new social movements, etc. (Cunningham, 2000; Hill & Moore, 2000; Quigley, 2000; Ziegahn, 2000).

 

From the 1990s, scholars attacked the continuing focus on consensus integration and a psychology of individualism in adult education (Cunningham, 2000) and suggested to increase the social functions of adult education with different perspectives (For example, Cunningham, 2003; Heaney, 2000).

 

 

From the 1990s to the early 2000s, the field of adult education became more complex.  Scholars continuously attacked the dominant scientific, rational and psychological perspectives in research and instead called for a sociological and a critical perspective (Cunningham, 2000).

 

 

The perspective of critical reflection greatly influenced adult education research approaches in the 1990s, although it is challenged by the rising postmodern perspective which emphasizes the local, the provisional and the changing (Brookfield, 2000).

 

 

During this period, quantitative research declined and qualitative research increased dramatically. Sociological and critical perspectives in research were stressed, while historical research still made up a small proportion of the research methods (Taylor, 2001)

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