388 THEORY, POLITICS AND EXPERIMENT IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: A RESPONSE The values and perspectives expressed in the paper by Walker and Evers are to be commended. These authors reject a naive empiricism in educational research. Never- theless, their treatment of the issues which they have raised is both incomplete and inadequate: In part, the problems which are encountered in reviewing their article, 'Theory, Politics and Experiment in Educational Research Methodology', arise from the very limited view which they present of what educational researchers consider to be educational research. The only publication that they cite in their article, which they tacitly assume to represent the field of educational research, is Foundations of Behavioral Research by Kerlinger (1973). It is wrong for these authors to suggest that this publication provides a comprehensive overview of educational research. The two authors are Australian scholars and it might be assumed that they are writing about educational research in the country in which they live. Perhaps it is because I am also an Australian engaged in educational research that I have been in- vited to respond to their article. However, the naively empirical view of educational research is not held in Australia and certainly not in the two universities where Walker and.Evers work. To provide evidence of my claim I note that the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has sponsored the preparation of a trend report which reviews the very substantial quantity of educational research conducted in Australia during the past 20 years. The first section of the report considers educational research from the disciplinary perspectives of philosophy, history, sociology and curriculum studies. The second section is concerned with fields of investigation, namely, educa- tional achievement, teaching and learning, teacher education, and tertiary education. The final section involves reviews of research into significant issues in Australian education, namely, privilege and disadvantage, youth in transition, Australian Aboriginals, migrants and multicultural education, and the education of girls (Keeves, 1986). The contents of this volume reveal that the educational research which has been undertaken in Australia during the past 20 years employs a broad range of research methods and is far removed from the perspectives attacked by Walker and Evers., The research traditions and current emphases differ considerably in different parts of the world where educational research is conducted, and it is not clear from the ar- ticle under review whether the authors have in mind a particular setting when they examine a view of research that is extremely narrow. Under these circumstances, I draw their attention to the recently published volumes of The International Encyclo- pedia of Education. Although it must be acknowledged that the ten volumes of this encyclopedia have been weighted heavily towards the writings and approaches to research of those scholars who have been able to write in English, different perspec- tives and different methodologies which currently comprise the field of educational research across the world are nevertheless well represented. I would contend that the particularly narrow view which Walker and Evers take to be typical of the field, is belied by the contents of this encyclopedia. Writing in the Encyclopedia, Hus6n has considered 'Research Paradigms in Educa- tion' thus: 'The twentieth century has seen the conflict between two main paradigms employed in researching educational problems. The one is modeled on the natural sciences with an emphasis on empirical quantifiable observations which lend themselves to anal- International Review of Education - Internationale Zeitschrift fiir Erziehungswissenschaft - Revue lnternationale de P~dagogie XXXII (1986), 388-397. All rights reserved. Copyright © by Unesco Institute for Education, Hamburg and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht.