ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how and why new models of social science seem to be being produced at the present time. The pressure derives from concerns about the quality and the utility of social and educational research more generally, not just concerns about qualitative approaches. The chapter derives from an increased government focus on value-for-money in research, and how social research might better serve social policy. It explains these pressures and this trend in a wider context of social and political activity, in order to explore how intellectual change is accomplished in the field, and to begin to identify what spaces there may be for alternative visions of how critical qualitative research can be located and conducted. The chapter illustrates what an approach to investigating and understanding the production of research power' might look like. Collaborative research is also mandatory for projects that apply for funding from the European Union (EU).
