Drawing inspiration from the research conducted in Italian schools involved in the reform process, the article proposes to investigate two visions in the research on Sociology of Education: one distal and the other proximal. The distal vision is offered by quantitative research nowadays supported by extensive public funding and framed as comparative international programmes, while the proximal one concerns mainly qualitative methodological and epistemology perspectives. In an attempt to bring the strengths of each into focus, the article approaches these two visions.