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Traditions of Inquiry in Education: Engaging the Paradigms of Educational Research

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A Companion to Research in Education

Abstract

In this chapter I examine debates over the relative merits of qualitative and quantitative research in education from the perspective of Michael Oakeshott’s critique of rationalism in the study of human conduct. Contrary to the positivist view that causal explanation based on randomized experimentation is the highest standard of knowledge, I argue that when it comes to the study of human subjects, even statistical generalizations depend upon a prior form of qualitative understanding. The chapter concludes by considering some consequences of this perspective, which I call ‘transcendental pragmatism,’ for the practice of inquiry in education.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The National Research Council of the American Academy of Science offered a broader account of ‘rigorous science.’ It recognized the academic respectability of a variety of methodologies in educational research that included such qualitative disciplines such as educational anthropology (Feuer et al. 2002). However, a number of critics point out that this view does not veer very far from the narrow empiricist path (Eisenhart 2005; Erickson and Guiterrez 2002; Moss 2005; St. Pierre 2002).

  2. 2.

    Oakeshott was not especially rigorous about the way he uses such terms as ‘behavior’, ‘conduct’, ‘skills’ or ‘abilities’. He sometimes referred to a tradition of practice, for example, as a tradition of behavior, when by the idea of practice he clearly had in mind meaningful conduct not merely observable or unintelligent actions. Similarly, he describes skills as abilities of lesser complexity, and often uses the term complex abilities to denote more sophisticated capacities. To simplify, I use the term ‘behavior’ to denote activities that are less, and ‘conduct’ endeavors that are more, meaningful or intelligent. Similarly, I use ‘skills’ to denote less and ‘abilities’ more, complex capacities (Alexander 2008).

  3. 3.

    Marx and Engels were among our most incorrigible political rationalists in Oakeshott’s view. In reference to dialectical materialism he wrote that, “no other technique has so imposed itself upon the world as if it were concrete knowledge; none has created so vast an intellectual proletariat, with nothing but its technique to lose” (Oakeshott 1962, p. 26).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International School, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Hanan A. Alexander

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  1. Hanan A. Alexander
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Correspondence to Hanan A. Alexander .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Alan D. Reid

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

    E. Paul Hart

  3. Hamilton Campus, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Michael A. Peters

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Alexander, H.A. (2014). Traditions of Inquiry in Education: Engaging the Paradigms of Educational Research. In: Reid, A., Hart, E., Peters, M. (eds) A Companion to Research in Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6809-3_2

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