The framework set out in this article attempts to synergistically engage both "external"
influences and "internal" constraints in an assessment of the process of scientific inquiry
that does justice to relevant aspects of the various rationalist, constructionist, and
relativist perspectives. The framework's assessment structure is deeply qualitative in
character and the conclusion reached is that such non-quantitative assessments are not
only possible but can be systematically and reliably made and "rationally "justified. The
article ends with a constructive critique of the present development of the framework.
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