Y. S. Lincoln and E. G. Guba consider L. Sechrest's comments on their book "Fourth Generation Evaluation" as less a criticism than an attempt to demolish. D. M. Fetterman also objects to much of Sechrest's address. E. J. Posavac generally agrees with conclusions of Welch and Sternhagen. (SLD)

The metaphysical assumptions undergirding conventional (positivist) approaches to research in the social sciences provide a warrant both for deceptive research and for objectifying human research participants. The present status of ethical guidelines for inquiry are reviewed. Special ethical problems typical of naturalistic inquiry are outlined.…

All social science serves some agenda: social science research is a value-bound, value-determined, context-situated, and ideologically loaded enterprise. Each researcher makes choices in the following areas, whether tacitly, implicitly, or deliberately: (1) a paradigm choice, either conventional (rationalistic) or emerging (naturalistic); (2) the…

This paper presents criteria for establishing the trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries, and specific techniques to facilitate their achievement or determine the degree of their achievement. The following criteria are briefly described: fairness; and ontological, educative, catalytic and tactical authenticity. Explored in greater detail,…

The revolution in hard sciences is explored, from the Cartesian-Newtonian worldview to the Heisenbergian universe, and consideration is given to whether the conventional, Cartesian model is a serviceable one for research in the social/applied sciences. Five axioms comprising the existing paradigm of logical positivism are outlined (reality,…