This paper takes as its starting point the two paradigms for educational research discussed by Richard Pring in an earlier edition of this journal. The focus is on the role of language and how it might function in relation to research. Drawing on the work of Charles Taylor it is argued that language can legitimately be conceived as constitutive of certain aspects of reality. Taylor's position, it is suggested, indicates a possible relationship between language and reality which transcends both representationalism (...) and inferentialism. Some indications of the implications of this perspective for education are briefly considered. (shrink)

Educational research is being subject to damaging criticism from both outside and within the research community. The external critics are impatient of research which does not give evidence‐based answers to the questions they ask. The internal critics condemn the very research which seeks to provide those answers. These differences are reflected in the rigid distinction between quantitative and qualitative research. This paper questions the philosophical positions on which such a distinction relies.

This paper takes as its starting point the two paradigms for educational research discussed by Richard Pring in an earlier edition of this journal. The focus is on the role of language and how it might function in relation to research. Drawing on the work of Charles Taylor it is argued that language can legitimately be conceived as constitutive of certain aspects of reality. Taylor's position, it is suggested, indicates a possible relationship between language and reality which transcends both representationalism (...) and inferentialism. Some indications of the implications of this perspective for education are briefly considered. (shrink)

Educational research is being subject to damaging criticism from both outside and within the research community. The external critics are impatient of research which does not give evidence-based answers to the questions they ask. The internal critics condemn the very research which seeks to provide those answers. These differences are reflected in the rigid distinction between quantitative and qualitative research. This paper questions the philosophical positions on which such a distinction relies.

Educational research is being subject to damaging criticism from both outside and within the research community. The external critics are impatient of research which does not give evidence-based answers to the questions they ask. The internal critics condemn the very research which seeks to provide those answers. These differences are reflected in the rigid distinction between quantitative and qualitative research. This paper questions the philosophical positions on which such a distinction relies.