Identifies five methods of phenomenographic research in early work at Gothenburg University (Sweden): discursive; experimental; naturalistic; hermeneutic; and phenomenological. Argues that phenomenography is a productive form of research, even if the degree of methodological reflection applied by phenomenographers to their work is found wanting.…

Responds to T. Anderson and C. West's article in the same issue (which criticized the methodological foundations of an earlier article by the current author). Discusses epistemological assumptions of the Anderson and West article. Addresses the nature of meaning and interpretation. Discusses Anderson and West's deterministic assumptions. (RS)

A type of feminist scholarship, standpoint epistemology, provides a methodology that can enrich information management and research. Standpoint epistemology is a compromise between the objectivity of positivism and the extreme relativity of postmodernism. A variety of techniques in feminist research diversify the information professional's…

The structure and process of college institutional research is compared with three different ways in which science is conceptualized. It is concluded that, although institutional research has much in common with science, it is distinct because the dynamic nature of institutional research prevents development of a cohesive body of knowledge.…

Piaget's last two works may add a new level of coherence and generality to his theories, which are grounded in an insight about the interdependence of reality and knowledge about reality. Piaget expanded Kant's epistemology to encompass three systems operating in the frames of biology, psychology, and culture. (MDM)

Argues that the concept of subjective theory and the corresponding methodology have considerable potential for second-language research in terms of building adequate models of second-language learning, teaching, and production; developing adequate methodology to analyze the mental processes underlying second-language learning, teaching, and…

Some epistemological and methodological concerns about cross-cultural qualitative research include reliance on partial knowledge, middle-class cultural and political bias, the fluidity of identity, and power relations between researchers and subjects. Critical reflection, revision of traditional methods, and design of new methods can address these…

Examines anti-objectivist arguments made by constructivists using their therapeutic approach. Concludes that none of the arguments are cogent. Considers whether acceptance of a constructivist, non-objectivist epistemology is likely to affect constructivists' therapeutic practice. (Author/JDM)

Assesses selected examples of research on significant life experiences. Compares the ways in which these studies use retrospective accounts of experience with autobiographical approaches to curriculum inquiry that have been informed by phenomenology and hermeneutics. (Author/CCM)

This paper explores the notion of "whakapapa" as providing a legitimate research framework for engaging in research with Maori communities. By exploring the tradition and meaning of "whakapapa", the paper will legitimate how "whakapapa" and an understanding of "whakapapa" can be used by Maori researchers…

In this article, I argue for adopting an ethical lens that interrogates our ends and purposes when generating research on second language learning and teaching, in light of concerns surrounding questions about the uses and users of our work. Such an ethical lens would help us transform our methodological and epistemological debates and would also…

In asking the provocative question: "What's wrong with ethnography?" Hammersley draws attention to what he sees as the conceptual and methodological confusion arising from two competing strands of practice: "naive realism" and "relativism". As a solution, he offers "subtle realism" to steer a path through and beyond the confusion. This paper…

The National Research Council report "Scientific Research in Education" claims to present an inclusive view of science as it responds to federal government attempts to legislate educational research. This author argues, however, that the report in fact narrowly defines "science" as positivism and "methodology" as quantitative. These definitions…

In this article, the author discusses the implications of articles by Louise Chawla (1998) and Karen Malone (1999a) for "doing research." One of the most interesting implications of these two papers for environmental education research is the issues they raise about the challenges for environmental education researchers and education researchers…

This paper situates paradigm talk with its insistence on multiplicities and proliferations in tension with a resurgent positivism and governmental imposition of experimental design as the gold standard in research methods. Using the concept of "coloring epistemologies" as an index of such tensions, the essay argues for proliferation as an…