Inquiry in a field like educational administration draws on philosophy and science, since it deals with both moral and empirical issues. As an applied field of study, educational administration is highly complex. It is concerned with what educational organizations and settings ought to be, how they work and what can be done to make them better. The nature of the field and of the times creates pitfalls for inquiry. In this paper a number of these pitfalls are considered. It is argued that when pitfalls are avoided, new possibilities are opened up. Every pitfall has its reciprocal possibility. Those examined represent the author's thinking as a longtime student of the field.
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