Abstract
It is widely recognized among scientists that quantitative research methods are applicable in cases where the field of inquiry and the problem to be solved require such research. History proves however that such strict quantitative research methods have in the past also found their way into the humanities, mainly because of the efforts of positivists, instrumentalists and pragmatists. In many cases, though, it can be proved that the one sided application of these methods in the humanities has not been suitable, since there are too many anthropological variables to be controlled and too many (including statistical) suppositions to be formulated at the outset. Although the value of these methods in the humanities in cases where their application is justifiable cannot be denied, there has lately been a strong thrust for the advancement of qualitative research in the human sciences, including education. Qualitative re search methods have in fact through the centuries consistently featured prominently in the philosophical disciplines like philosophy of education, although there are traces of efforts to apply quantitative methods in these disciplines too. Through the ages, from the maieutic method of Socrates to the contemporary method of conceptual analysis, philosophers have always endeavoured to outline their methods of research, methods which have always been mostly qualitative by nature.Copyright information
- Ownership of copyright in terms of the Work remains with the authors.
- The authors retain the non-exclusive right to do anything they wish with the Work, provided attribution is given to the place and detail of original publication, as set out in the official citation of the Work published in the journal. The retained right specifically includes the right to post the Work on the authors’ or their institutions’ websites or institutional repositories.
Publication and user license
- The authors grant the title owner and the publisher an irrevocable license and first right and perpetual subsequent right to (a) publish, reproduce, distribute, display and store the Work in any form/medium, (b) to translate the Work into other languages, create adaptations, summaries or extracts of the Work or other derivative works based on the Work and exercise all of the rights set forth in (a) above in such translations, adaptations, summaries, extracts and derivative works, (c) to license others to do any or all of the above, and (d) to register the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for the Definitive Work.
- The authors acknowledge and accept the user licence under which the Work will be published as set out in https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (Creative Commons Attribution License South Africa)
- The undersigned warrant that they have the authority to license these publication rights and that no portion of the copyright to the Work has been assigned or licensed previously to any other party.
Disclaimer: The publisher, editors and title owner accept no responsibility for any statement made or opinion expressed by any other person in this Work. Consequently, they will not be liable for any loss or damage sustained by any reader as a result of his or her action upon any statement or opinion in this Work.
In cases where a manuscript is NOT accepted for publication by the editorial board, the portions of this agreement regarding the publishing licensing shall be null and void and the authors will be free to submit this manuscript to any other publication for first publication.
Our copyright policies are author-friendly and protect the rights of our authors and publishing partners.