ABSTRACT
The positivistic impulse and the behaviorist research traditions merge with Thorndike’s argument that anything which exists, exists in some amount and can thus be measured. Such an idea when applied to education focuses research on statistical analysis of quantified variables. If the objects of positivistic research in education can always be quantified, then antipositivists argue that quantifiability becomes an essential precondition for that which is to be studied. Thus, given enough time the truth or falsity of the findings of educational research can be established-that is, data can ultimately be verified in a quantifiable manner (Macmillan and Garrison, 1984; Donmoyer, 1985; Lather, 1991).
