ABSTRACT
The case for a positivist approach to educational theory and research rests on the twin assumptions that only a scientific approach to education can ensure a rational solution to educational questions, and that only instrumental questions about educational means are amenable to scientific solution. Because of the barrage of criticisms that have been levelled at both of these assumptions, there is now a growing realization that educational research based on positivist principles does not really conform to the image of a non-ideological activity that was once supposed. As a result, positivist approaches to educational research have been challenged and new epistemologies have been sought. In recent times, educational psychology, curriculum theory and educational administration have all explored the possibilities offered by alternative research methodologies for structuring their activities in more appropriate ways.
