The Undergraduate Education Studies Dissertation: Philosophical Reflections upon Tacit Empiricism in Textbook Guidance and the Latent Capacity of Argumentation

Abstract

GibsonThis cover sheet may not be removed from the document.Please scroll down to view the document. AbstractThe final-year undergraduate dissertation is commonplace in Education Studies programmes across the world and yet its philosophical assumptions are complex and not always questioned. In England there is evidence to suggest a tacit preference for empiricism in textbooks designed to support early researchers. This brings, we suggest, problems associated with dualism, instrumentalism and of accounting for value, redolent of the dilemmas that emerge from Hume's empiricist epistemology.The paper suggests that if argumentation were explicitly taught to undergraduates it may help oversee the more judicious use of empirical approaches that are currently privileged in dissertation guidance. Key wordsEmpiricism, Dualism, Values, Argumentation _________________________________________________ 2 "Usually (but not always), there will be an expectation that the kind of evidence you collect during a research project you undertake at university will be empirical. That is to say, you will be expected to go out into the wide world and collect data yourself rather than relying on information marshalled by others -for example in a book. (In fact, a research project as a literature review -that is, just as a literature review -is sometimes acceptable, but if you want to do a research project that is based solely on the literature you should check with your tutor)." (Thomas, 2013: 20-2)