Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Relativism: The Case for Qualitative Methodologies in Educational Research

Abstract

In recent decades, the innovative approaches of qualitative modes of inquiry advocating the use of naturalistic and/or critical ethnographic techniques for the narratologically driven study of phenomena in pedagogical contexts have succeeded in beckoning for a reexamination of traditional views of research methodologies based upon the foundationalism of empiricist science within the dominant paradigm of quantitative forms of analysis. Reframing the discourse of the debate around the key issue of objectivity, and by implication subjectivity and relativism also, this essay addresses epistemological questions about the nature of ontology, theoretical questions concerning the knowledge of sense perception(s), and methodological questions regarding the scientific truth-effect of procedure(s) integral to arguments for and against the use of qualitative forms of analysis as a viable and effective means for conducting educational research.