In considering the contribution of educational psychology to an understanding of student learning, Noel Entwistle suggests the need to start by deciding the purpose of research in this field, and then consider the contributions already made, and what might be the way forward. Looking at the approaches to research used in exploring student learning and studying, the emphasis, in the early stages, was on using inventories with scales that could be explored through multivariate statistical analysis. Only later did it become acceptable to report analyses of student interviews, and even now many psychological journals seem wary of accepting findings that are not based on 'hard' evidence. There seems to be an uneasy tension between researchers of the different methodological persuasions, which may prevent ideas flowing freely between them. This friction is reminiscent of the earlier 'wars' between the learning theorists, who adopted experimental methods, and researchers exploring individual differences using survey techniques. And yet the contrasting methods used in exploring learning and studying ought to be equally acceptable, and complementary, as long as both represent disciplined enquiry (Cronbach & Suppes, 1969).