These essays bring a familiarity with the educational research community to contemporary debates about educational research, as well as a grasp of the ways in which philosophical sources and analysis can inform them. They are both measured and passionate - sparked by a personal curiosity, which takes the author into unexpected resources and territory (such as the insights of museology into debates on educational research as narrative fiction) as well as more familiar material relating to, for example, issues about the assessment of quality of educational research and the concern for its relevance. The book makes a case, by its own example as well as in its argument, for the continuing contribution of philosophical thinking to the development and critique of educational research.