FROM CRITICAL THOUGHT TO EMANCIPATORY ACTION - CONTRADICTORY RESEARCHGOALS

This article results from reading Lather's Getting Smart (1991) and Ha mmersley's The Politics of Social Research (1995). The theme is the de bates between 'traditional' research approaches and 'emancipatory' res earch approaches. It is argued that these debates are based on stereot ypical views which obscure important characteristics held in common, a nd both require to be interrogated. The article examines two of these characteristics, appeals to a metanarrative of emancipation and the wi ll to power, and considers the implications of the privileging of scie ntific knowledge over other forms of knowledge. It concludes by consid ering the possibilities for a praxis-oriented research which may lead to possibilities for emancipatory action.