I paradigmi scientifici della ricerca didattica

The initial positivist paradigm, derived from experimental medicine and experimental psychology, is followed by the empirical research in the didactic field, the phenomenological and the constructivist one. More recently the action research paradigm and evidence-based experimentation have been arisen. The great distinction that should be made today, as regards empirical research in the didactic field, is between the paradigms of reduction and the paradigms of complexity. The reflection on the degree of knowability of teaching practices focuses on some questions: is it pos- sible to identify similarities and coefficients between the results of research on the same theme but carried out in different contexts? To what extent is the agreement between the members of a research group sufficient to affirm the evidence of the educational results obtained with the introduction of a new teaching strategy? How is the cumulability of the results achieved by different researchers who have investigated similar teaching practices? What are the limits to the generalization of the results of empirical research on teaching practices?