ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2 we described two spaces which, we maintain, are the concerns of any piece of empirical research. We have indicated that Luria’s theoretical problem emerged within a context of disciplined academic writing and debates. Beginning educational researchers may be interested in similarly academically located debates in respect of their theoretical position. Alternatively, they may see themselves as entering a field of professional debate concerning, for example, curriculum policy or management practice. These are different, but equally valid starting points. It is not, in our opinion, the particular referential field that defines the theoretical quality of the research. Rather, it is the extent to which the research attempts a systematic and explicit organizing of its theoretical space as a theoretical framework.
