RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

48 THE NATURE OF INQUIRY
which points they should adopt the one, and at which
the other, approach.
(Merton and Kendall 1946)
The term research itself may take on a range of
meanings and thereby be legitimately applied to a
variety of contexts from, say, an investigation
into the techniques of Dutch painters of the
seventeenth century to the problem of finding
more efficient means of improving traffic flow in
major city centres. For our purposes, however,
we will restrict its usages to those activities
and undertakings aimed at developing a science
of behaviour, the word science itself implying
both normative and interpretive perspectives.
Accordingly, when we speak of social research,
we have in mind the systematic and scholarly
application of the principles of a science of
behaviour to the problems of people within
their social contexts and when we use the
term educational research, we likewise have in
mind the application of these same principles
to the problems of teaching and learning within
the formal educational framework and to the
clarification of issues having direct or indirect
bearing on these concepts.
The particular value of scientific research in
education is that it will enable educators to
develop the kind of sound knowledge base that
characterizes other professions and disciplines; and
one that will ensure education a maturity and sense
of progression it at present lacks.