TOWARD DISCIPLINED INQUIRY - A METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF WHOLE-LANGUAGE RESEARCH

The purpose of this investigation was to conduct a methodological anal ysis of the available research on whole language. Studies were selecte d based on (a) embodied principles of whole language as outlined by Be rgeron (1990); (b) the usage of the term whole language in the title, abstract, or body of the article; and (c) research that focused on chi ldren's acquisition of literate behaviors. Nineteen quantitative and 6 qualitative studies of whole language were identified and then evalua ted by four raters according to their methodological adequacy in terms of (a) the adequacy of the data, (b) the research process, and (c) th e empirical grounding. In general the quality of the qualitative inves tigations of whole language was superior to that of the quantitative s tudies. The qualitative investigations were adept at establishing empi rical grounding and were also able to provide convincing evidence rega rding the transferability, dependability, and confirmability of the da ta. However, the qualitative investigations were weak in their ability to establish the credibility of the data and in their ability to desc ribe the process used to derive categories. Quantitative studies were able to deal with reliability issues and empirical grounding well; how ever, these studies were quite weak with respect to issues of validity . Guidelines for future studies of whole language are offered in the c ontext of a plea for greater methodological rigor.