Empiricists work with general concepts defined by their observed sets of objects. Their explanations involve their general concepts derived by trial and error from their untheoretical observations and experience. This paper distinguishes empirical educational research from scientific research to avoid confusion between the two. A reason for the success of science may be because science uses abstract concepts drawn from empirical phenomena rather than with general concepts. The empiricist's mistake is to ignore the abstract concepts of the theoretical level. Lavoisier's oxygen theory of combustion is provided as an example of a scientific endeavor, and a classroom observation study is provided as an example of an empirical education endeavor. Science often develops ideas from imaginative conceptual leaps to produce abstract concepts. Educational empiricists use general categories generalized from observables. (YP)