4: A Philosophical Consideration of Recent Research on Teacher Effectiveness

Abstract

uninformed or unintelligible. Criticism of the second kind is useful because it is pertinent to the research effort and directed to reparable defects. Criticism of the third kind, though apparently significant, cannot be heeded because the remedy is unknown or because its implications are that the shop must be closed and a new calling found. Except for some contributions in philosophy of science, educational researchers of my acquaintance place most philosophical criticism of their work in the first and third categories. Wolman (1971), for example, thought the deficiencies of philosophical criticism were serious enough to warrant an attempt by psychologists to build their own philosophy of science, rather than having to depend on the often misguided and destructive critiques of philosophers. Lazersfeld (1962) concluded that many philosopher-critics no idea of the workaday world of the empirical researcher, and as one consequence the social scientist may have to muddle along without benefit of the explicating clergy (p. 470). The educational researcher's preference, understandably, is for criticism of the second kind. This kind of criticism can be met and resolved without radical