The case of Action Research drives a wedge between two opposite views of research methodology: an 'exclusive ' (Platonic/theoretical) one which insists that only objective and quantitative inquiries (as in physics) are genuine scientific research, and an 'inclusive ' (Aristotelian/practical) one that recognizes a need to adapt the research methods of different inquiries to the nature of their problems. The latter approach involves seeing issues of methodology as dependent on half-a-dozen contextual factors, which are crucial to Action Research, yet which the former approach ignores.