Dilemmas and Virtues in Research Communication

ABSTRACT

John Dewey's vision of communication posits a hopeful ideal that educational researchers are hard pressed to meet, for the language that facilitates exchanges between scholars often encumbers their attempts to convey their work and findings to a wider lay audience. The canons of inquiry (of foremost concern to researchers) rarely coincide with the exigencies of policy (of foremost concern to laypeople). Three potentially incompatible conditions must be met in order to bridge this communicative gap: access, belief, and impact. The condition of access requires that the language and style researchers use to present the findings of their investigations be comprehensible and appealing. The condition of belief demands that researchers gain and maintain credibility in the eyes of their audience. The condition of impact emphasizes the inherent tensions between the tentativeness of knowledge and the need for certainty in action. Israel Scheffler's notion of a “double consciousness,” consistent with the author's notion of “second thoughts,” is proposed as an aid in enabling resolute commitment while holding virtuous action and decision open to revision in light of new insights and wider knowledge.