ABSTRACT
Research should never take place in a vacuum; it is a field whereby knowledge is developed and added to by researcher after researcher. Educational research is a cooperative activity and contributing researchers are obliged to know the previous research in their field before embarking on a new line of inquiry. Just as it would be ridiculous for a biologist to go into a strange environment and begin applying his or her own names to flora and fauna, it is folly for an educational researcher to embark on a study without first becoming familiar with prior research.
