ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION As noted earlier, traditional notions of validity, including that advanced in Chapter 2, have come under increasing criticism in the last decade or so. One particular line of attack has followed from what Tyler (1986) describes as the 'postmodernist turn'. This has gathered pace in the 1980s and 1990s to such an extent that Richardson (1993, p. 706) can assert that 'We have an historical opportunity to create a space for different kinds of science practice.' I think this is true, but I see these new techniques and approaches as enriching our existing research methods armoury, rather than replacing it. In this chapter, I look at some new ways of seeing and of presentation which aim to emulate Wordsworth in various ways in constructing words and actions that live on themselves in 'the life of things'.
