The contention of this paper is that the claim of compatibility and the call for cooperation between quantitative and qualitative inquiry cannot be sustained. Moreover, these claims have the unfortunate effect of closing down an important conversation. To elaborate these points, this paper briefly reviews the transition from conflict to cooperation between the two perspectives and then notes how compatibility is based on a confusion over two different definitions of method. Finally, the discussion focuses on why this conversation, because it invokes issues crucial to our understanding of who we are and what we do as inquirers, must be reinvigorated.
The concept of paradigm as a set of ontological and epistemological benchmarks is the basis for a discussion of the influence the Newtonian mechanistic paradigm has exerted over special education theory, research, and practice. Discussions of "malcontents" with the mechanistic paradigm across the social sciences and within special education are noted. Recent literature in the field of special education is critiqued for renaming theories as paradigms, thereby leaving mechanistic assumptions in place. The contours are then drawn of theoretical reorientations and of the emerging alternative holistic paradigm and its importance for special education. It is concluded that we do not have paradigms or paradigm shifts within the field, but that the field is part of a paradigm that is undergoing change across the sciences and social sciences.
The call by educational researchers for the methodological management of the self is placed within a discussion on modes of consciousness. The management of both subjectivity and objectivity are seen as sharing the same alienated mode of consciousness that believes in the possibility of a regulated distance between self and other. Drawing from interdisciplinary writings, I explore a participatory mode of consciousness, which involves a somatic, nonverbal quality of attention that necessitates letting go of the focus on self. The recognition of kinship and therefore of ethics is at the core of a participatory mode of consciousness. I further note relations to educational research and questions to be raised if a participatory mode of consciousness is to be fostered.
The conflict which sometimes arises between acting simultaneously as a child advocate and as a professional employee is related to the philosophical underpinnings which inspire the current approach to special education. These underpinnings are manifested in a mechanistic view of reality that entered Western thought through Newtonian physics. Criticisms of this world view from various sciences are presented, centering on its narrow and inaccurate representation of reality, and specifically of behavior and learning. A nonmechanistic set of assumptions about the nature of reality and of behavior is juxtaposed as a strong force in contemporary scientific thought. This nonmechanistic or holistic world view is set forth as a better model to guide special education practices for the future.
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