Table Of ContentVygotsky and Research
Despite the changes that have taken place in social science since Vygotsky’s death
in 1934, his work remains a vital source for the creative processes of research.
Vygotsky and Research provides a number of glimpses of the Vygotskian imagina-
tion at play, whilst updating key elements of the theoretical arguments developed
in An Introduction to Vygotsky and Vygotsky and Pedagogy, also written by Harry
Daniels.
Starting with a concise introduction to Vygotsky’s original thesis and a
discussion of his own approach to research methods, the book explores the
research practices which have developed in a number of fields on the basis of his
writings. These include:
• Sociocultural studies with a focus on mediated action
• Distributed cognition
• Situated cognition
• Activity theory.
A chapter devoted to each area provides examples of specific studies in order to
illustrate the underlying methodological principles and specific methods at work.
In each case, both the assumptions and limitations of practices will be compre-
hensively discussed. The conclusion outlines proposals for future developments at
both methodological and conceptual levels, in order to develop approaches to
research that acknowledge and integrate a broad understanding of social, cultural
and historical features into research designs.
The book will be of particular interest to academics and students in the social
sciences and education, and some sections relate to the interests of those whose
research involves studies of management in and across institutions and human–
computer interaction.
Harry Daniels is Professor of Education at the University of Bath, UK.
Vygotsky and Research
Harry Daniels
First published 2008
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
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© 2008 Harry Daniels
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Daniels, Harry.
Vygotsky and research / Harry Daniels.
p.cm.
1. Vygotskii, L. S. (Lev Semenovich), 1896–1934. 2.
Psychology–Research. 3. Social sciences–Research. I. Title.
BF109.V95D362008
150.92–dc22
2008004924
ISBN 0-203-89179-1(cid:13)(cid:10) Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-39592-5 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-39593-3 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-89179-1 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-39592-2 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-39593-9 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-89179-7 (ebk)
Contents
List of figures and tables vi
Acknowledgements viii
1 An introduction to Vygotskian theory 1
2 An overview of research undertaken by Vygotsky and some of
his colleagues 29
3 The sociocultural tradition 51
4 Researching distributed cognition 76
5 Situated action and communities of practice 91
6 Activity theory and interventionist research 115
7 Institutions and beyond 148
References 179
Index 203
Figures and tables
Figures
1.1 The basic triangular representation of mediation 5
1.2 Discourse and knowledge structures 19
4.1 Integrated research activity map 83
6.1 The hierarchical structure of activity 119
6.2 The structure of a human activity system 122
6.3 Two interacting activity systems 123
6.4 Typical DWR workshop layout 133
6.5 Stages of data gathering for series of workshops 136
6.6 Representation of activity with a focus on objects and outcomes
(stage 2) 138
6.7 Representation of activity with a focus on objects and outcomes
(stage 3) 139
6.8 Representation of activity with a focus on objects and outcomes
(stage 4) 140
6.9 Representation of activity with a focus on objects and outcomes
(stage 5) 141
6.10 Representation of activity with a focus on objects and subsequent
tool developmen t 142
6.11 Overall sequence of transformations of the activity 144
7.1 Overall model of description 157
7.2 Percentage of correct discriminations agreed by both teachers for
each school 159
7.3 Dominance in networks of activity systems through time 167
7.4 Example of coding grids applied to model of description 171
7.5 Representation of the structure of pedagogic practices at each
study site 173
Figures and tables vii
Tables
2.1 Findings from Shif’s experiments on becauseand although 40
3.1 The inseparability/separability difference between sociocultural
theorists 55
5.1 Characteristics of a community 99
5.2 Focus of psychological and anthropological views of situativity
theory 100
5.3 Comparison between the knowledge community and the
knowledge collectivity 101
5.4 Rogoff’s inseparable, mutually constituting planes 102
6.1 Bateson’s levels of learning 126
7.1 Extract from the coding frame for describing the classification
and framing at the classroom level 158
7.2 Coding of classroom practice in the four schools 158
7.3 The codings for each site 172
7.4 Features of the local authority 172
7.5 Sequences of communicative action 174
7.6 Tentative typology of hybridities 176
Acknowledgements
My thanks are due to the Department of Education at the University of Bath
which provides me with an appropriately challenging and yet congenial setting in
which to work. I am grateful to my colleagues in the Centre for Sociocultural
and Activity Theory Research reading group for lively and thought provoking
discussion. It is a privilege to work with people who bring a richness of ideas and
generosity of spirit to conversation.
The Economic and Social Research Council, Teaching and Learning
Research Programme provided funding for the Learning in and for Interagency
Working (ESRC TLRP RES 139-25-0100) project which provided me with
the much valued opportunity for research and reflection with close research
colleagues.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to Sarah Cox who, with tenacity and gentle
humour, helped to bring the manuscript to order.
Chapter 1
An introduction to
Vygotskian theory
In 1959 Wright Mills argued the case for sociology as an imaginative pursuit
which necessarily retained a certain playfulness (Mills, 1959). In this book I
intend to scope some of the possibilities for a Vygotskian research imagination.
In so doing I will try to avoid the sense of singularity that Mills imposed with
his title The Sociological Imagination (Morgan, 1998). My argument is that Vygot-
sky and his followers provide a rich and vivid palette of theoretical and
methodological ideas which can be utilised as we struggle to understand the
processes through which the human mind is formed. He argued that creativity is
a social process which requires appropriate tools, artefacts and cultures in which
to thrive (Vygotsky, 2004). A central argument of this book is that Vygotsky
and those who have been influenced by him provide us with tools and artefacts
which can be deployed in creative social science. These are the tools and arte-
facts for imagining ways of researching and ways of thinking about the objects of
our research.
The original texts are themselves rich and complex. They afford a multiplicity
of stimulating avenues for exploration and development. The nature and extent
of this source of inspiration is captured in the following intriguing statement
made by a modern-day Russian writer whose own imagination is inspired by his
early twentieth-century countryman.
Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory (like any great theory) resembles a city.
A city with broad new avenues and ancient, narrow backstreets known only
to longtime residents, with noisy, crowded plazas and quiet, deserted squares,
with large, modern edifices and decrepit little buildings. The individual areas
of that city may not be situated on a single level: while some rise above the
ground, others are submerged below it and cannot be seen at all. In essence,
it is as though there were a second city that has intimate and complex associ-
ations with the ground-level city but completely invisible to many. And the
sun rises above it all and the stars come out over it at night. Sometimes dust
storms and hurricanes rage, or the rain beats down long and hard and ‘the
sky is overcast.’ Life is a constant feeling of effervescence. Holidays and the
humdrum follow one another. The city changes, grows, and is rebuilt.
