Eva
At 08.14 -0500 99-06-20, James Wertsch wrote:
>Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 08:14:45 -0500 (CDT)
>From: James Wertsch <jwertsch who-is-at artsci.wustl.edu>
>To: Eva Ekeblad <eva.ekeblad who-is-at ped.gu.se>
>cc: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
>Subject: Re: a comment from Wertsch
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>
>Eva-
>
>I think your comments on "unkempt forests of literature" is very much on
>target. It's hard to know sometimes what this the chicken and what is the
>egg--empirical examples or forests of literature. Of course the realistic
>answer is that these things are hopelessly mixed up with one another. One
>seeks out literature that will help with the examplar one has in mind, on
>the one hand, and one's theoretical orientation guides one's selection and
>analysis of empirical phenomena, on the other. I guess I continue to be
>impressed with how much the empirical phenomena guide so much of what we
>do. Depending on what one gets started on in empirical studies (perhaps
>because of pressures from funding agencies, one's disciplinary and
>departmental politics, etc.), one is likely to go down one or another
>theoretical path.
>
>Jim