THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF DATA - METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF INVESTIGATING LEARNING IN THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT

Educational researchers have traditionally drawn on procedures and met aphors from the hard sciences to guide their thinking about methodolog ical issues. One frequently invoked metaphor is that of the purity of data, which a researcher can contaminate through the process of invest igation. This article questions the appropriateness of the purity meta phor, using a perspective provided by Vygotsky's notion of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and its emphasis on a genetic method in wh ich development is mediated by cultural tools and signs. Methodologica l problems emerging from this conception of the ZPD-including problems of defining research, identifying an appropriate unit of analysis, co nsidering the relationship between evidence and telos(and optimal sens e of development), and accounting for the mediational role of assessme nt-are reviewed Finally the work of Luria (1976) is examined from the neo-Vygotskian perspective developed in this article.