Abstract

The tension between the generality of approach in causally-driven quantitative educational research and the individuality of particular cases is exemplified in the types of reasoning employed. Unlike the scientific search for antecedents, still popular in some forms of educational research, investigating particular persons and policies necessarily requires a form of practical reasoning. In order to ease this tension between qualitative and quantitative research, this essay asks questions as to what is to be described and how this is to be done. Responding to these questions, it is argued, necessarily draws attention to a range of ethical issues often ignored.