>At 17.02 -0800 97-11-13, Mike Cole wrote:
>>The Phil Jackson versus us viewers of Bulls games, example, for example,
>>reminded me that the word "theory" has its origins in a Greek word
>>for spectator, evoking the spectator/participant distinction, which
>>works for some parts of what is being discussed. But Jackson is somehow
>>"in between" since he is not on the floor playing, but next to the
>>floor "coaching" which is some mixture of teoria and praxis, and a
>>praxis of its own, etc.
>
>...and as I read yesterday's mail sort of backwards I realized that this
>was an example picked up from an earlier message in the words&numbers
>thread that I had not yet read. And I found the
>involved-but-not-in-the-game stance of the basketball coach an apt metaphor
>for research work like Martin Packer's. And Mike's, too, for that matter...
>Versus the reporter or judge stance of never-touched-by-subjective-hands
>research.
>So, well, I suppose that this is where a lot of us would inscribe
>ourselves: as running coaches rather than sitting spectators.
>
>I was quite disappointed when this was not how the example had been brought
>into the discussion by Gary Shank -- being an educational researcher with
>an interest in how to weave words and numbers together in my craft, I felt
>an immediate urge to rid myself of Gary's sticky label of "nominalism". I
>don't think it was warranted in Graham's case either, to read his posting
>as a representative of:
>
>>The notion that qual and quant methods are best used in conjunction is fast
>>approaching the state of 'received wisdom' at least in educational research
>>circles. (Gary Shank, 14.10 +0300 97-11-13)
>
I'm sorry to disappoint you, esp. when your idea is far superior to mine! :-)
But I do think it was appropriate to raise my concern based on Graham's
earlier words. He did say:
Not only is it possible to use multiple methods in any one study, but it is
unavoidable.
that seems pretty unambiguous to me......
gary, who is also an educational researcher who also uses numbers and words
together, but not nominalist and realist concepts and approaches....