The article is focused on the research that has been developed by the ESSA Group (Sociological Studies of the Classroom) and which is fundamentally based on Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse. It presents the theoretical assumptions and the methodological procedures that have guided the conception of the models and instruments of analysis and the steps followed in their construction. Aspects related to validity and reliability criteria are also referred. It is clarified the epistemological positioning of the research, while discussing the extent to which that research departs from the dichotomy between naturalistic and rationalist approaches and reflects an option that rejects the strongly contextualised and idiosyncratic character of qualitative methodologies, guided by postmodernist perspectives in educational research. It is also discussed the extent to which the fundamentally rationalist positioning that has been adopted, has not coincided with an experimental design or a quantitative data analysis.
The article intends to provide a basis for reflection of the potentialities and limitations of the mixed research methodology that has guided the empirical work carried out by the ESSA Group and, as a consequence, of the objectivity value of the results that have been suggested by the application of the instruments.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT
