Can Educational Research Inform Educational Practice?

Knowledge is rooted in experience and requires a form for its representation. Since all forms of representation constrain what can be represented, they can only partially represent what we know. Forms of representation not only constrain representation, they limit what we seek. As a result, socialization in method is a process that shapes what we can know and influences what we value. At base it is a political undertaking. This article addresses the politics of method and its effects on the character of educational research.