The Paradigm Wars and Their Aftermath

A "Historical" Sketch of Research on Teaching Since 1989

N. L. GAGE

Raging during the 1980s, the Paradigm Wars resulted in the demise of objectivity-seeking one-way causal links, but there are no
quantitative research on teaching—a victim of putatively devastating attacks from anti- such "billiard-ball" causal connections
naturalists, interpretivists, and critical theorists. Subsequently, the interpretivists' between teacher behavior and student
ethnographic studies flourished, enhancing the cultural appropriateness of schooling, and learning. Third, scientific methods can
critical theorists' analyses fostered the struggles for power for the poor, non-Whites, and be applied only to natural phenomena
women. Two alternative versions of the aftennath are also conceivable. Pragmatism and that are stable and uniform across time,
Popper's piecemeal social engineering offer paths toward a productive rapprochement of space, and context in a way obviously
the paradigms, one guided by the moral obligations of educational research. untrue of the human world of teaching
and learning. So, the critics asserted,
Educational Researcher, Vol. 18, No. 7, pp. 4-10
we should not search for the kind of
prediction and control that scientific
method might yield but rather for the

A s I begin this history, we have

arrived at the year 2009—a decade
after the turn of the millennium—and
1970s, using the relatively new idea of kind of insight that historians, moral
observing teaching in classrooms with philosophers, novelists, artists, and
fairly objective low-inference schemes, literary critics can provide. The futility
are looking back at what happened in had not, according to the critics, paid of scientific research on teacher plan-
research on teaching during the 2 off. Even the 12 successful field ex- ning, for example, was inherent in the
decades since 1989. Why have I chosen periments with teaching practices de- futility of teacher planning itself,
1989 as the year in which to begin this rived from correlational findings—to because
historical sketch and commentary? assess the causal efficacy of those
Because it was in 1989 that what came teaching practices in improving out- the teacher may change objectives
to be known as the "Paradigm W a r s " comes (Gage & Needels, 1989, p p . from month to month or from week
had come to a sanguinary climax. 1
268-287)—had not impressed the critics. to week; unforeseen events—a hot
day or one student's open cruelty
The search for scientifically grounded
The Situation in the 1980s to another—may necessitate re-
ways to understand and improve vising plans; the demands people
Although it is the ensuing years with teaching had led nowhere. Moreover, place on the schools can change
which I shall be primarily concerned, even if such "positivistic social science" from year to year, from communi-
we need first to look at the situation in had succeeded, one writer said, it ty to community. . . so that the
the 1980s, because the events since 1989 would have bred ideas that "can only teacher cannot necessarily construct
grew out of that situation. As you will be implemented in an authoritarian, his battle plan in 1984 for 1985, in
recall, research on teaching of the kind manipulative, bureaucratic system" September for May, on Monday for
(Cazden, 1983, p. 33). Friday, or during second hour for
that had flourished in the 60s and 70s
third hour. (Tom, 1984, p. 71)
had come in for a severe beating dur-
ing the 80s. Such research had been The Antinaturalist Critique So went the anti-naturalist critique.
characterized as "at best, inconclusive, The critics who asserted the failure of
at worst, barren" (Tom, 1984, p. 2) and research on teaching also offered ex-
"inadequate to tell us anything secure planations of that failure. Perhaps the
and important about how teachers most fundamental explanation was the
should proceed in the classroom" (Bar- antinaturalist position that h u m a n af- N. L. GAGE is Margaret jacks Professor of
row, 1984, p. 213). fairs simply cannot be studied with the Education and (by courtesy) Professor of
The attempt to lay a scientific basis for scientific methods used to study the Psychology, Emeritus, Stanford Universi-
the art of teaching had failed, said the natural world. Thus the term "social ty, School of Education, Stanford, CA
critics. Beginning with Joseph Mayer science" is at its root an oxymoron. 94305. He specializes in educational
Rice early in the 20th century, and con- And why is the scientific study of psychology and research on teaching. This
tinuing through the work of such men h u m a n affairs impossible? First, article is based on the author's address at
as E. L. Thorndike, A. S. Barr, and because h u m a n affairs, including the annual meeting of the American Educa-
David G. Ryans, the effort to use scien- teaching and learning, are inextricably tional Research Association, San Francisco,
tific method to study and improve involved with the intentions, goals, and March 29, 1989, as the recipimt of the 1988
teaching had come a cropper. Even the purposes that give them meaning. Sec- AERA Award for Distinguished Contribu-
correlational research of the 1960s and ond, a science is involved with direct, tions to Educational Research.

4 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
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The Interpretivist Critique individuals as able to construct their
designs," an "inclination to simply pro-
own social reality, rather than having
vide technical expertise for hire" (Ap-
A second barrage of criticism, often ple, 1986, p. 15).3
reality always be the determiner of the
related to the criticisms I have just individual's perceptions. Thus they Instead, the critical theorists implied,
described, descended from the inter- believe strongly in something akin to
we should have been looking at the
2
pretivists. These writers called for a what political commentators during the
relationship of schools and teaching to
focus on the "immediate meanings of 1988 U.S. presidential campaign called
society—the political and economic
action from the actors' point of view" "spin control." As you will recall, spin
foundations of our constructions of
(Erickson, 1986, p. 120)—a focus that control refers to the interpretation of an
knowledge, curriculum, and teaching.
they found absent from the mainstream event to the advantage of a given party
The critical theorists emphasized the
of research on teaching of the 60s and or candidate. Losing in a primary elec-
importance of power in society and the
70s. They saw sharp differences be- tion could be interpreted as a victory if
function of schools in defining social
tween their own theoretical presupposi- the spin controllers could point to very
reality. They stressed the ways in which
tions and those of the quantitative, low expectations. The ordinary per- education served the interests of the
objectivity-seeking researchers. They son's everyday construction of socialdominant social class, which in our
were "pessimistic" (Erickson, p. 120) reality is not done as consciously and
society has consisted of the rich, the
about the possibility of combining in- manipulatively as that of the political
White, and the male, as against the
terpretive and objectivity-seeking ap- operatives who used spin control. Butpoor, the non-White, and the female.
proaches. Thus, in focusing on it was such meaning-perspectives or in-
These class interests had led educators
behavior rather than on behavior and terpretations of events that the inter-
to serve, however unwittingly, the
its meaning (i.e., on "actions"), the pretive researchers considered impor-functions of reproducing the in-
standard researchers had disregarded tant. And, in their opinion, the "stan-
equitable social class structure and other
the interpretations of teachers and dard" researchers had grievously arrangements that currently exist and
pupils. The interpretivists considered neglected meaning-perspectives, to proceed as if the societal status quo
the focus on specifics of action and because they tried to observe behavior
should go unquestioned.
meaning-perspectives to be overlooked (not action, defined as behavior plus
But, the critical theorists asserted,
by the objectivists' research on meaning) objectively.
human beings can change the social
teaching. Interpretive researchers dif- Because causation in human affairs is structure, and they need not be
fered from "standard" researchers in determined by interpreted symbols, the dominated by it. Properly educated and
their "theoretical presuppositions about kinds of prediction and control that can motivated people can undertake to
the nature of schools, teaching, be achieved in the natural sciences are change our society into one in which
children, and classroom life, and about not possible in human affairs. Because the poor, the non-White, and the
the nature of cause in human life in the positivistic and behavioral research female will no longer be subordinate.
general" (Erickson, p. 125). They re- on teaching of the 60s and 70s had Schools, like other social institutions,
jected the conception of cause as typically been aimed at such prediction such as the media and the legislatures,
mechanical or chemical or biological, a or control, it was clear that such must be the scenes of the necessary
conception they said was used in the positivistic and behavioral research was - struggles for power. Educational
"standard" approaches to research on doomed to failure. So it ought to be research ought at least to be aware of
teaching. They also rejected the supplanted by interpretive research on the possibility of such struggles. Better,
assumption of uniformity in nature— teaching, which would examine the it ought to enter into them on the side
the assumption that phenomena would conditions of meaning created by of the oppressed so as to reconstruct
occur in the same way in different students and teachers as a basis for ex- education and the society at large for
places and times. They rejected the use plaining differences among students in the achievement of greater social
of linear causal models applied to their achievement and morale. It was justice.
behavioral variables as a basis for infer- differences in organization and in the
ring causal relations among the resulting meaning that, although they The implication of the critical
variables, because such models presup- may be "quite small indeed, and theorists' position was that the kinds of
posed fixed and obvious meanings of radically local," might "make a big dif- research on teaching that had been
certain types of actions by teachers. done until 1989 by so-called positivists,
ference for student learning" (Erickson, attempting to use scientific methods,
Instead, the interpretive researchers 1986, p. 129). and even to some degree by inter-
emphasized the phenomenological pretivists, exploring social constructions
perspective of the persons behaving. In The Critical Theorists' Critique of reality, had been more or less trivial.
this perspective, behavioral unifor- A third kind of attack on previous This research has constituted a kind of
mities are seen "not as evidence of research on teaching came from the technical attempt to improve the "fine
underlying, essential uniformity among critical theorists. In their view, most details" (Erickson, 1986, p. 120) of
entities, but as an illusion—a social con- educational research in general and teaching—"the little differences in
struction" (Erickson, 1986, p. 126). The research on teaching in particular had everyday classroom life that [according
effects on people's actions of their in- been governed by a merely "technical" to both the positivists and the inter-
terpretations of their world create the orientation aimed at efficiency, ra- pretivists] make a big difference for stu-
possibility that people may differ in tionality, and objectivity. It exhibited a dent learning" (Erickson, p. 128). In-
their responses to the same or similar "tendency to measure anything that stead, the critical theorists implied,
situations. moves," a "neglect of latent political what is needed is a reconsideration of
Thus, interpretive researchers regard commitments in research questions and the whole structure of society in which

OCTOBER 1989 5
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education, including teaching, goes on. involved in research on teaching, but time in the social studies classes of the
no longer as mere objects of study or nation.
The Effect of the Criticisms recipients of the findings of technically Among academicians, many educa-
What happened as a result of this oriented experts. Rather, doing action tional psychologists, for example, came
onslaught from the antinaturalists, the research, teachers became the gener- to realize that they had gone into their
interpretivists, and the critical theorists? ators of the findings, which they in- field to realize their social values, their
As you all know, the critics triumphed. ferred from qualitative studies of their desire to contribute to the improvement
During the 1990s and thereafter, the own teaching, from thinking about of society and mankind's lot, while
kind of objectivist-quantitative, or scien- what worked well and what didn't, and simultaneously adhering to the values
tific, research on teaching that had been from discussing their ideas with other of science and avoiding the passions
done up through the 1980s ground to teachers. Occasionally the teachers and ambiguities of politics. They could
a halt. The field saw almost no correla- might collaborate with a professor thus improve education and society by
tional or experimental studies of brought in for a day or two to advise cultivating and applying scientific
teaching using structured observation on ways to help teachers do better what methods and findings and yet steer
systems intended to enhance teachers already had in mind. clear of the political fray. What the
objectivity. These fundamental changes, which critical theorist contributed to the
Faculty members, graduate students, had been implicitly (and more and educational psychologist was a realiza-
and research workers were convinced more often explicitly) demanded by the tion of the futility of this strategy.
of the futility of the old way of study- critics, did not merely change the Education is of necessity a political pro-
ing teaching. In schools of education, mainstream of research on teaching. cess, said the critical theorists, and even
enrollment declined in courses in tests Rather, the changes had the effects on the act of refusing to get involved in
and measurements, statistics, experi- teaching that their proponents had im- politics—not necessarily the politics
mental design, and survey research. plicitly promised. The ethnographers' of political parties but nonetheless
Structured classroom observations, findings made teachers aware of small politics—is a political act.
achievement tests, attitude inventories, changes in teaching that made a big dif-
and the use of statistics to estimate the ference in student achievement. An Alternative Effect of the Criticisms
reliability and the interrelationships of Teachers realized that their ways of ask- Now let me offer another look at what
such measures virtually disappeared. ing questions, giving children oppor- happened after 1989. In this second ver-
Research grants and contracts from tunities to recite, and conducting sion of what happened, all but the first
foundations and governmental sources reading-group sessions, for example, part is true. That is, the interpretivists
became virtually unobtainable for had often been alien to their pupils' did continue their work and did bring
objective-quantitative researchers. The familial and community culture and about the kinds of improvement in
Division of Educational Psychology of their pupils' expectations and under- teaching that I have sketched. The
the American Psychological Association standings of how to behave and think. critical theorists also continued their
saw its membership shrink to about a So what went on in classrooms became work and achieved the kinds of im-
fourth of what it had been during the much more culturally appropriate for provement in curriculum and teaching
1980s. AERA's Division on Teaching the poor, the minorities, and the female that their ideas implied, even if the
and Teacher Education saw its students. In short, some of the fondest peaceful social revolution to overthrow
members become almost exclusively hopes of the interpretive students of capitalism and install a democratic
devoted to interpretive-qualitative classroom phenomena were realized. socialism has not yet occurred.
studies and critical-theoretical analyses. Critical theorists also achieved the But what did not happen was the
The journals that published research kinds of changes in teaching that their decline in so-called positivistic or
on teaching contained almost no articles orientations and research had made mainstream research on teaching. This
reporting tests of statistical significance, them want. For example, in teaching decline did not occur, because the field
correlation coefficients, effect sizes, or history, teachers no longer relied on the of research on teaching, and educa-
meta-analyses. Instead, they were filled standard history and civics textbooks tional research at large, indeed the
with reports on ethnographic studies of that raised no questions about the social sciences as a whole, recovered
classroom phenomena and by socio- status quo (Adler & Goodman, 1986). from their confusion and came to a
political and economic analyses of the Instead, pupils were sensitized to the great awakening.
ways in which teachers, curricula, and ways in which their previous history The confusion was illustrated by one
schools perpetuated the unjust social courses had neglected almost every- writer who, although denying that
order. The critical theorists also found thing done by people who were not paradigms are "competing," con-
ways to work toward the reconstruction white men, political leaders, military sidered them later in the same
of society along lines that would reduce heroes, or industrialists. Moreover, at paragraph to be "rival" (Erickson, 1986,
the inequalities, the social-class least equal, if not greater, attention was p. 120); but the distinction between
cleavages, and the other injustices given to what had been done in the "competing" and "rival" is, of course,
endemic in capitalist societies. course of history by white women, by unrecognized in dictionaries. And some
Research on teaching, having rid men and women of color, by peace ac- objective-quantitative researchers (e.g.,
itself of the scientific methodology that tivists, and by labor leaders. The hard, Gage & Needels, 1989; Yates, Chan-
had led it astray, became more a mat- cruel facts about what had been done dler, & Westwood, 1987) awakened
ter of observing teaching carefully and to slaves, striking coal miners, union from their torpor in responding to
reflecting deeply on what was ob- organizers, radical journalists, and left- criticism and began to reply, point by
served. Teachers became much more wing political parties began to get equal point.

6 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
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 More important, all researchers product research. Although the latter their well-documented analysis
realized that what might be called the kind of research had often been con- demonstrated the value of a nondoc-
"oppositional component of the cerned primarily with content-general trinaire formulation.
paradigm" was invalid. This compo- and managerial aspects of teaching- The antinaturalists—those who
nent had stated that any paradigm in- such as the ways in which teachers believed that the methods of the natural
herently implied an opposition to alter- organized their classes, asked ques- sciences were inappropriate for the
native paradigms. Given their new tions, or reacted to responses—nothing social sciences—also eventually became
understanding of the falsity of the op- prevented process-product research aware of the errors of their thinking.
positional component, researchers from also being concerned with They realized that they had mistaken-
realized that there was no necessary an- the teacher's pedagogical content ly loaded onto scientific method a lot of
tagonism between the objectivists, the knowledge. ontological baggage that was un-
interpretivists, and the critical theorists. Process-product research was also necessary in gaining the advantages of
Social researchers agreed with Howe recognized to be compatible with inter- scientific method in objectivity and
(1988) that the "incompatibilists"— pretive, ethnographic studies of trustworthiness. They conceded that
those who said that the quantitative classroom phenomena. Thus, what scientific method could be used for pur-
and qualitative perspectives must of Erickson (1986, p. 135) had endorsed as poses other than building a science—a
necessity be mutually exclusive and good examples of interpretive research network of laws that would hold
antagonistic—were simply wrong. (Au & Mason, 1981; Barnhardt, 1982) forever everywhere. Rather, scientific
Philosophical analyses resulted in a came to be recognized also as examples method could be used for "piecemeal
triumph of pragmatic resolutions of of process-product research, because social engineering" as envisioned by
paradigm differences over claims of ex- they related ways of teaching to what Karl Popper, namely, for making
clusive possession of the one true students learned. Many process- "small adjustments and readjustments
paradigm. These resolutions did not product studies in the 2 decades since which can be continually improved
result from merely glossing over basic 1989 have employed both objective- upon." The piecemeal social engineer,
philosophical differences. They came quantitative and interpretive-qualitative Popper had said,
rather through new realizations among methods.
scholars that paradigm differences do In short, it was finally understood knows that we can learn only from
not require paradigm conflict. our mistakes. . . . he will make his
that nothing about objective-quan- way, step by step, carefully compar-
First, it became apparent that pro- titative research precluded the descrip- ing the results expected with the
grams of research that had often been tion and analysis of classroom processes results achieved, and always on the
regarded as mutually antagonistic were with interpretive-qualitative methods. look-out for the unwanted conse-
simply concerned with different, but Classroom processes need not be quences of any reform; and he will
important, topics and problems. There described solely in terms of behaviors avoid undertaking reforms of a
was no essential incompatibility be- or actions; they could also be described complexity and scope which make
tween, for example, process-product in terms of meaning-perspectives. No it impossible for him to disentangle
research on teaching (the search for calamity whatever befell those who causes and effects, and to know
relationships between classroom pro- studied teaching in the same investiga- what he is really doing. (Popper
tion with both objective-quantitative [1944] 1985, p. 309).
cesses and students' subsequent
achievements and attitudes) and and interpretive-qualitative methods. Scientific method had reshaped our
research that focused on teachers' and Indeed, most of these investigations whole conception of the physical and
students' thought processes and with both kinds of methods turned out biological universe, including hu-
meaning-perspectives. The two kinds to be more fruitful of insights, under- mankind itself—with enormous gains in
of researchers were simply studying standings, predictive power, and con- human health and longevity, in free-
different important topics. The implica- trol resulting in improvements of dom from hard physical labor, in
tion of necessary antagonism or incom- teaching. mobility, in communication, and in the
patibility was unjustified. A year after One persuasive harbinger of par- spread of culture. If science had also
she characterized positivistic social adigmatic rapprochement came from produced nuclear bombs and other
science as necessarily authoritarian, Goldenberg and Gallimore (1989). They technologies that threatened the very
manipulative, and bureaucratic, the contrasted two hypotheses much used survival of our species and its environ-
same writer endorsed "interdisciplinary for the improvement of teaching: the ment, natural and social science also
collaboration" and acknowledged that "universalistic" and the "cultural com- offered some of our major hopes of
she "should not have exploited patibility" hypotheses, derived from warding off those disasters. So research
psychology/anthropology differences to the objectivist and the interpretive ap- workers should hesitate a long time,
make a point" (Cazden, 1984, p. 184). proaches, respectively. They laid out perhaps forever, before tossing aside an
Moreover, Shulman's pioneering at- quite evenhandedly the strengths and intellectual tool as tremendously
tention to teachers' "pedagogical con- inadequacies of the two approaches. powerful as scientific method had prov-
tent knowledge" (1987)—namely, the They pointed to the omnipresent need en itself to be. Scientific method need
content-specific ways in which teachers for artistry in the implementation of not be forgone in human affairs. Along
understood, formulated, presented, ex- scientific findings, as had also been with people all over the world, those
plained, and discussed the content be- done by Gage (1978,1985). Finally, they who did research on teaching began to
ing taught—was recognized as long noted the dependence of educational recognize, now that the second millen-
overdue and extremely valuable, but improvement on the political forces em- nium was over, that the triumph of
also as not at all antagonistic to process- phasized by critical theorists. All in all, natural science and the advances of

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social science had been the greatest grade levels, subject matters, student What ended the interdisciplinary war
achievements of that millennium. It cultures and economic levels, and com- and brought about the present produc-
was Popper's piecemeal social tech- binations of these, were examined— tive harmony among the paradigms? To
nology rather than holistic social revolu- sometimes through interpretive case some degree, it was the dawning of the
tions that came to be recognized as the studies, sometimes through corre- realization that, if the social sciences did
proper orientation of the social sciences. lational studies, sometimes through not get together, they would perish.
So the social sciences need not be field experiments with random-assign- The practical, everyday world of
based on any assumptions of unifor- ment-to-treatment of real teachers and families, work, education, and govern-
mity in nature. Uniformity, it was their classes, and sometimes through ment had looked upon the paradigm
recognized, is not an all-or-none mat- critical-theoretical analysis. The wars uncomprehendingly and, as time
ter. Although many human arrange- knowledge about process-product rela- went on, with increasing impatience.
ments may change over time and place, tionships began to become even more The social scientists, including the
it was not true that they must change. useful than it had been during the educational researchers, had better put
Many social arrangements, such as 1980s, when the first programs for in- their house in order and agree upon a
classroom teaching, had stayed put for corporating such knowledge into decent respect for one another, some
many decades, even for centuries, and teacher education programs and the standards of research conduct, some
had been found occurring in the same practice of teaching had begun to criteria of validity, some goals for their
form in many countries. While they blossom (e.g., American Federation of work, and some ways of achieving
lasted, they could be studied produc- Teachers, 1983). The substantial value those goals. If they do not, we'll have
tively with scientific methods. When of even weak relationships in im- to get along without them, said the
they changed, scientific method could proving the probabilities of desirable ef- citizens whose children and dollars
track the change. Most teaching ar- fects of teaching practices became bet- were at stake.
rangements did not exhibit the random ter understood (Gage, 1985, pp. 11-15), Alarmed by this threat to the whole
and rapid change over time and place so that teacher educators no longer con- enterprise of social and educational
that, the antinaturalists seemed to sidered such a relationship to be useful research, the newer generations of
think, would make scientific method in- only if the correlation coefficient research workers began to come to their
applicable. Whatever uniformity social equaled at least .39 (cf. Medley, 1977, senses. They understood well enough
phenomena might exhibit, as long as it pp. 7-8). that scientists should learn from
was substantially greater than zero, Another insight has made research philosophers' analyses of their concepts
would be good enough to make the on teaching more productive since and methods. But they also understood
methods of science usable. 1989: the realization that the paradigm that the philosophers of science could
So what happened in research on wars in educational and social research accommodate their analyses to what
teaching in the decades after 1989? In were in part wars between the dis- scientists actually did. They began to be
particular, what happened to process- ciplines. It was psychology, in large influenced more by old-fashioned
product research on teaching, which part, that bred the objective-quantita- pragmatism. They recognized that the
especially had been belabored by the in- tive approach to research on teaching. moral and rational foundations of the
compatibilists, the antinaturalists, the It was anthropology, in large part, that three paradigms were virtually iden-
interpretivists, the cognitivists, and the spawned the interpretive-qualitative tical, dedicated to the same ideals of
critical theorists? As the years went by, approach. It was mainly the work of social justice and democracy and the
the ineluctability of process-product analysts from economics, political goals of an education that would serve
research became ever more apparent. science, and sociology that produced those ideals. So they paid more atten-
Educators simply wanted to know as critical theory. tion to effectiveness in achieving those
much as possible about how different Added to these disparate disciplinary ideals. If the research of the objectively
ways of teaching were related to dif- origins of the approaches was the and quantitatively oriented in-
ferent levels and kinds of student chronic scarcity of research funding and vestigators led to improved student
achievement and attitude. academic positions in these disciplines. achievement and attitudes, the research
The long and important agenda of The scarcity had led to competition be- community paid respectful attention. If
process-product research continued to tween the disciplines—competition such results were produced by
be acted upon. Processes in teaching manifested in derogation of the con- interpretive-qualitative investigators,
were investigated in interpretive and cerns of the other disciplines and the arguments for their concepts and
cognitive terms as well as in terms of glorification of one's own. What had methods were considered to be
teachers' and students' actions. seemed to be merely intellectual strengthened. If the analyses of the
Through the use of multiple perspec- disagreement also turned out, as ex- critical theorists led to reforms that
tives, the teachers' pedagogical content perience accumulated, to be turf wars resulted in social and educational
knowledge was described in ever more in the attempt to gain for one's own benefits, their ideas were also thus sup-
valid ways. Products, or the outcomes discipline a greater share of the research ported. As William James had put it:
of teaching, were investigated in ever funds, the academic positions, and the
more authentic terms—with essay tests, other kinds of wherewithal needed for
No particular results then, so far,
real-life performances, group processes, a discipline to flourish. Jobs and in- but only an attitude of orientation,
and concrete products, as well as with comes had been at stake, as well as is what the pragmatic method
the multiple-choice tests that had been ideas about the best way to do research means. The attitude of looking away
prevalent through the 1980s. Process- on teaching or educational-social from first things, principles,
product relationships, in all the various research in general. "categories,"supposed necessities; and

8 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
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 of looking towards last things, fruits, 1915 and 1989 had come from educa- tion continued. The objective-
consequences, facts. Qames, [1907] tional psychology or from the testing quantitativists persisted, and the
1955, p. 47, italics in original) and statistics allied to educational interpretive-qualitativists also carried
Pragmatism also applies to ideas. psychology; only a few represented on. The critical theorists continued to
Pragmatism means that "ideas . . . such other fields as administration, regard both groups as engaged in mere
become true just in so far as they help philosophy, anthropology, curriculum, technical work, more or less, on the
us get into satisfactory relations with or sociology. details of education and teaching while
other parts of our experience" (James, The realignment of the disciplines neglecting the social system that deter-
p. 49). made sociology and anthropology mined the basically exploitative and un-
Thus, as the years went by, the recognize—much later than psy- just nature of education in capitalist
educational research community, in- chology—that education was properly society.
cluding research on teaching, aban- their concern. So they began to have Some psychologists suggested that
doned the debate on whether objec- much more equal influence in educa- the wars continued because they
tivistic-quantitative methods were com- tional research, including research on reflected deep-seated differences in
patible with interpretive-qualitative teaching. Thus, of the 20 AERA awards human temperament and values—dif-
methods. Both kinds of methods were since 1989, only 5 went to psycholo- ferences determined not genetically but
respected, sometimes used alone, and gists; 5 went to sociologists, 5 to by equally powerful features of early
sometimes combined in the same anthropologists, and 5 to various other home and school experience. These
study. fields. temperamental differences inclined
Similarly, the critical theorists came Similarly, the lines between the people toward basically different in-
to appreciate the value to their own disciplines were blurred as doctoral tellectual orientations that have been
analyses of both kinds of methods. programs in education began to turn given such labels as tough-minded ver-
They discovered that structured and out people with broader training. The sus tender-minded, scientific versus
quantified observations in classrooms new training comprised courses in humanistic, nomothetic versus idio-
had already, in the 3 decades preceding teaching and curriculum and also graphic, statistical versus clinical, and,
the 1980s, compiled a strong record of psychology, sociology, anthropology, of course, positivist (or postpositivist)
effectiveness in revealing the un- relevant parts of economics and political versus hermeneutic.
conscious biases of teachers along science, and the philosophy of the Although differences among re-
social-class lines, skin-color lines, and social sciences. This ecumenical yet searchers in these orientations could be
gender lines (Brophy & Good, 1974). feasible training resulted in a generation rationally resolved, it turned out that
Ethnographic studies in classrooms also of research workers equally adept in Thomas Kuhn had been right (Barnes,
revealed such biases. Both kinds of data and loyal to the approaches of 1985). These were rational issues, but
entered into the arguments of the psychologists, anthropologists, sociolo- not purely rational issues. They were
critical analysts, along with findings, gists, economists, and political embedded in the ethos of communities
from both kinds of sources, on matters scientists. of researchers, who huddled together
of the hidden and the explicit cur- Thus, from the jungle wars of the in embattled camps and fought off the
riculum, textbook production and con- 1980s, educational researchers, in- aggressions of their opponents.
sumption, school administration, cluding those concerned with teaching, Perhaps paradigm wars could even-
school-community relations, and a host emerged onto a sunlit plain—a happy tually be resolved in the natural
of other aspects of education in which and productive arena in which the sciences, because the results of research
the power relations of society strengths of all three : paradigms in those sciences were unambiguous
manifested themselves. Today, not - (objective-quantitative, interpretive- enough, consistent enough, and stable
long after, the start of the 21st century, qualitative, and .critical-theoretical) .were enough to compel the surrender of one
critical theorists are embroiled in a abundantly realized-, with a corre- paradigm community to another. [Link]
debate about whether Popper's sponding, decrease in the harmful ef- the human sciences the results were not
piecemeal social engineering or Marx's . fects of their respective inadequacies. that unambiguous; consistent, arid
holistic social revolution holds the bet- Educational'researchers today look back stable. What the results meant'lay top
. ter promise of [Link] to a more. with amused tolerance at the invidious much in the eye of the beholder. Arid
humane society. - "; . recriminations that the* paradigrh- the beholder's" upbringing had made
...These [Link] recqgni-- ioyalists-had hu'rled-at other paradigms the beholder either tough-minded or
• tiori of paradigm compatibility .under-. fin the-1980s. . " '/.:.^ . :: : ' ''0'-:'-' tenderrminded, :
scientific or humanistic^
mined, the hegemony of psychology in .and soon. - '
• . .' . :.'.
:'A Thu-d Version of-the Effect of trie At any rate, for-whatever reason) we.
. educational research—a hegemony that
Criticisms ".-•• ..y: -.'••'•' fincl ourselves in 2009 in [Link] the
.-' had. existed .throughout most of the
.*20th century because psychology had Now.'let me'turn, to a third version of. .same condition of paradigmatic war
a half-century's head start in devoting the aftermath of the paradigm wars' of, :".tnat existed in the 1980s.'How long the ,
' itself wholeheartedly to the study of the 80s. This version is epitomized by war will last, and whether it will lead
education. Thus, between .1964 and Alphonse Karr's apothegm: "The more to the demise of social and educational
1989, 19 of the first 26 recipients of the things change, the more they remain research, including research . on
AERA Award for Distinguished Con- the same." What happened after 1989 teaching, are questions that cannot be
tributions to Educational Research had in research on teaching was. pretty answered in the year 2009.
been psychologists. A large majority of much the same as what happened
the first 73 AERA presidents between before 1989. The invective and vitupera- • Let me recapitulate this sketch, of

OCTOBER 1989
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what has happened in research on objectivity at all is possible, whether summary (NIE-G-81-0021). Washington, DC:
teaching since 1989. I have given you "technical" research is merely trivial, Author.
Apple, M. W. (1986). Teachers and texts: A
three versions of those events. In the whether your paradigm or mine should political economy of class and gender relations
first, the so-called positivistic, get more money, I feel that I should in education. New York: Routledge & Kegari
establishmentarian, mainstream, stan- remember that the payoff inheres in Paul.
dard, objectivity-seeking, and quan- what happens to the children, the Au, K. H., & Mason, J. (1981). Social organiza-
titative approach had died of the students. That is our end concern. It is tional factors in learning to read: The
balance of rights hypotheses. Reading
wounds inflicted by its critics. In the up to us to decide which history of Research Quarterly, 77(1), 115-152.
second version, peace had broken out, research on teaching since 1989 will be Barnes, B. (1985). Thomas Kuhn. In Q. Skin-
but it was not the peace of the grave. the true one. ner (Ed.), The return of grand theory in the
The three approaches were busily and human sciences. New York: Cambridge
harmoniously engaged in an earnest University Press.
Bamhardt, C. (1982). "Tuning-in": Athabaskan
dialogue, lifting the discussion to a new teachers and Athabaskan students. In R.
level of insight, making progress Notes Barnhardt (Ed.), Cross-cultural issues in
toward workable solutions of educa- Alaskan education (Vol. 2). Fairbanks: Univer-
tional problems, and generating theory I am extremely grateful for suggestions sity of Alaska, Center for Cross-Cultural
that fit together, as seen from the generously given by J. Myron Atkin, Clare Studies.
Burstall, Christopher M. Clark, Margaret C. Barrow, R. (1984). Giving teaching back to teachers:
perspective of each of the three ap- A critical introduction to curriculum theory.
Needels, Denis C. Phillips, and Samuel S.
proaches. In the third version, nothing Wineburg. My early work on this paper was Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble.
that was true in 1989 had really done while I was a Spencer Fellow of the Brophy, J. E., & Good, T. L. (1974). Teacher-
changed, and the wars were still going Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral student relationships: Causes and consequences.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
on. Sciences in 1987-1988, and I am greatly in-
debted to the Spencer Foundation and the Cazden, C. B. (1983). Can ethnographic
Which of these versions is the true Center for their support. research go beyond the status quo? An-
one? To give you the answer, I shall "One set of battles took place at an "Interna- thropology & Education Quarterly, 14, 33-41.
have to return from 2009 to 1989, where tional Conference on Alternative Paradigms for Cazden, C. B. (1984). Response. Anthropology
we actually are, despite the rhetorical Inquiry," sponsored by Indiana University and & Education Quarterly, 15, 184-185.
Phi Delta Kappa, directed by Egon Guba, and Eisner, E. W. (1985). The art of educational evalua-
device in which I hope you have in- held on March 25-26, 1989, before the annual tion: A personal viezo. Philadelphia: Falmer.
dulged me. meeting of the American Educational Research Erickson, F. (1986). Qualitative methods in
The answer to the future lies with us, Association in San Francisco. The conference research on teaching. In M. C. Wittrock
with you. What you do in the years announcement described the debate on (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd
paradigms as "characterized by jockeying for ed., pp. 119-161). New York: Macmillan.
ahead will determine whether the wars position and the carving out of territory, Gage, N. L. (1978). The scientific basis of the art
continue, until one paradigm grinds the sometimes resulting in ad hominem attacks and of teaching. New York: Teachers College
others into the dust. Or, on the other charges of lack of integrity ... sometimes Press.
hand, whether pragmatic philosophical acrimonious but always lively." In 2 days of lec- Gage, N. L. (1985). Hard gains in the soft sciences:
analysis shows us the foolishness of tures and discussions, more than 200 partisans The case of pedagogy. Bloomington, IN:
struggled with paradigmatic issues. The con- CEDR, Phi Delta Kappa.
these paradigm wars and the way to an ference ended with the expectation of more
honest and productive rapprochement Gage, N. L., & Needels, M. C. (1989). Process-
such strenuous engagements. product research on teaching: A review of
between the paradigms. Even as we 2
Space limitations preclude consideration of criticisms. Elementary School Journal, 89,
hope that our political leaders will con- the differences between interpretivists, 253-300.
tinue to avert the ultimate nuclear phenomenologists, constructivists, symbolic in- Goldenberg, C. N., & Gallimore, R. (1989).
teractionists, hermeneuticists, and other pro- Teaching California's diverse student
disaster, so we must hope that our in- tagonists of "qualitative" approaches. For the population: The common ground between
tellectual leaders—the philosophers, present discussion, I consider only one educational and cultural research. California
scientists, scholars, research workers, in spokesman (Erickson, 1986) for this broad Public Schools Forum, 3, 41-56.
short, the members of AERA and their category of thought; the resulting limitations of
Howe, K. R. (1988). Against the quantitative-
counterparts around the world—will the discussion seem unavoidable in the present
qualitative incompatibility thesis, or dogmas
brief analysis. Similarly, for the sake of brevi-
keep us from getting bogged down in ty, I shall consider the connoisseurship-and-
die hard. Educational Researcher, 17(8), 10-16.
an intellectual no-man's-land. James, W. ([1907] 1955). Pragmatism and four
criticism advocated by Eisner (1985) to belong
essays from The Meaning of Truth. New
I find myself better motivated to suc- in the general category of "qualitative"
York: Meridian.
paradigms, although it is derived from
ceed at this difficult task whenever I re- aesthetics rather than anthropology.
Medley, D. M. (1977). Teacher competence and
mind myself of what we are all about. 3
Here, again, brevity precludes any attempt
teacher effectiveness: A review of process-product
Educational research is no mere spec- research. Washington, DC: American
to represent critical theorists more than sketch- Association of Colleges for Teacher
tator sport, no mere intellectual game, ily, and I can only hope that I have done justice Education.
no mere path to academic tenure and to their general orientations and values.
Popper, K. ([1944] 1955). Piecemeal social
higher pay, not just a way to make a engineering. In D. Miller (Ed.), Popper selec-
good living and even to become a big tions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
shot. It has moral obligations. The Press.
References Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and
society that supports us cries out for teaching: Foundations of the new reform.
better education for its children and Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1-22.
youth—especially the poor ones, those Adler, S., & Goodman, J. (1986). Critical theory Tom, A. (1984). Teaching as a moral craft. New
at risk, those whose potential for a hap- as a foundation for methods courses, jour- York: Longman.
py and productive life is all too often nal of Teacher Education, 37(4), 2-8. Yates, G., Chandler, M., & Westwood, P.
American Federation of Teachers. (1983). (1987). Teacher effectiveness and process-
going desperately unrealized. American Federation of Teachers Educational product research: Another look. South Pacific
So even as we debate whether any Research and Development Program: Executive journal of Teacher Education, 15(2), 18-24.

10 EDUCA TIONA L RESEA RCHER

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