ABSTRACT
These quotations provide examples of a growing condition affecting educational research: veriphobia (Bailey 2001), or a general aversion to talk of truth or its associates, such as fact, knowledge and evidence. Technically, veriphobia is a ‘virus of the mind’ (Dawkins 2003), passed from mind to mind via journal articles, conferences and seminars. These viruses can travel both longitudinally (from master to pupil) and horizontally (from peer to peer), and, as such, they have great virulence and potency. Potentially fatal to research and enquiry, veriphobia can be extremely virulent and resistant to treatment.
