Criticizes the previous article on positivism in educational thought by Denis Phillips. Takes issue with Phillips' assumption that, at the base of theoretical disputes and inquiry, there exists a final and absolute truth. (GC)

Identifies 10 differences between scientific and artistic approaches to qualitative research: (1) forms of representation employed; (2) criteria for appraisal; (3) points of focus; (4) the nature of generalization; (5) the role of form; (6) degree of license allowed; (7) interest in prediction and control; (8) sources of data; (9) basis of…

Knowledge, rooted in experience, requires forms for its representation. Forms of representation limit what we seek. As a result, socialization in method is a process that shapes what we can know and value. At base it is a political undertaking. Examines the effects of the politics of method on educational research. (Author/BJV)

Responds to points raised in five articles which responded to an article by these authors (Flinders and Eisner) in the same issue of this journal about educational criticism as a form of qualitative inquiry. (SR)

The author notes a trend in educational research away from the scientific model and toward new designs emphasizing process, context, personal, and qualitative concerns. He describes the approach he uses at Stanford, educational connoisseurship or educational criticism, and outlines its basic components: discernment, description, interpretation,…

This analysis describes some of the general features of art and goes on to look at what the artistic treatment of research entails. Artistically crafted research that includes coherence, imagery, and particularity can help to explain what is important about schools. Further, the education of teachers should be regarded as the education of artists.…

Guidelines to help ensure that educational research is meaningful and important include (1) have confidence in your own conviction and methods; (2) remember that the conduct of research is an artistic activity; and (3) try to situate the inquiry in a social and historical context to increase its meaning. (SLD)

Educational researchers are not engaged in discovering mechanistic universal truths sought by positivists or tidy prescriptions about what works. Instead, they provide guidelines and interpretive material to liberate the teacher's intelligence so that the teacher can use whatever ability he or she can achieve. (SLD)

Explains how the author's ideas about the development of the mind and forms through which its contents are revealed developed. Also, explores uncertainties the author has felt about educational philosophy and practice, and discusses implications for future educational research that does justice to the development of human intellectual capacities.…