ABSTRACT
The division between quantitative and qualitative methods in educational research reify recurring sets of dualistic logics based on a false separation between nature and nurture, or biology and culture. These dualistic views obscure the complexity of human diversity, essentialize notions of race, culture, and learning, and limit possibilities for critical inquiry and for new forms of knowledge to emerge. In this chapter, we engage in a new materialist deconstructionist analysis to rethink classic nature/nurture debates in order de-settle the contemporary division between quantitative and qualitative research in education. Rather than continuing to rely upon these reductionist logics, we use theories from Black feminism and Black studies to analyze the sociopolitical formations of the human and explore how critical inquiry might better account for the researcher entangled with, and as part of, the object of inquiry. The chapter concludes by discussing the importance of theory- and concept-driven research.
