Revisiting the Question of Evidence

Abstract

The Right has done much of its work in the name of scientific "objectivity," wildly deploying a popular discourse around "the real world" to achieve a range of specific ends. Complicating this are the long-standing critiques of "objectivity" and "reality" itself among many on the Left. Although such critiques can help us unmask some of these agendas, they leave us little space to contest them in new ways, to offer our own counterclaims about the "the real world" and its demands. The author suggests here that progressives can usefully interrupt this Rightist discourse by revisiting "common sense" connections between research methodology and epistemological orientation- particularly those around quantitative methodology.

Keywords

qualitative research quantitative research evidence Sokal Affair critical pedagogy

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