THE QUESTION OF EDUCATION SCIENCE: EXPERIMENTISM VERSUS EXPERIMENTALISM

摘要

The ascendant view in the current debate about education science — experi-mentism — is a throwback to the view that dominated at the outset of the "paradigm wars," some twenty years ago. The array and quality of arguments for and against it have changed little, if at all. Experimentists have simply reasserted the virtues of the randomized experiment and elevated it once again to the level of the "gold standard." In so doing, they have ignored, or failed to answer, long-standing and fundamental criticisms. Once again, quantitative-experimental methods are being advanced as the mark of scientific rigor. Once again, researchers are being admonished that scientific research can be — and should be — thoroughly insulated from politics. And once again, those who are critical of this perspective are faced with margmalization.