This book probes the intellectual foundations of scholarly inquiry into educational administration, policy, and politics. The contributors ¿ all recognized scholars in the fields of educational organization, administration, policy and politics ¿ tackle the question of epistemology directly, addressing anew what rules of scholarly conduct should guide research and practice in the field, and how those rules of inquiry should guide the training of scholars and education professionals. The Introduction places the chapters in a common intellectual framework for rebuilding confidence in social science inquiry and of the legitimacy of the university as an arbiter of scientific knowledge claims. Intended audiences for this volume include research scholars, faculty, graduate students, and policy agency staffers in the fields of educational policy, politics, and administration, educational evaluation, and educational foundations.