Jean Piaget and the Autonomous Disciples, Alina Szeminska and Barbel Inhelder: From the "Critical Method" to the Appropriation of Research Culture

The problems addressed in this article are the transition from the Piagetian clinical method to the so-called critical method, that is, the use of objects manipulated by both the experimenter and the child, and the study of the role of Piaget's female collaborators--in particular Alina Szeminska and B & auml;rbel Inhelder--in the establishment of the critical method. Several authors suggested that Inhelder was behind certain Piagetian experimental devices and the critical method. To evaluate this thesis, we used segment analysis, dealing with the isolable, relevant, and necessary parts of an experiment. Intensive research into Piaget's research data and publications from the 1920s, compared with the early publications of Szeminska and Inhelder, showed that it was Piaget who, as early as 1922, made the transition from the clinical to the critical method and invented a number of experimental setups, including those attributed to Inhelder. On the other hand, Szeminska appeared as the creator of her experimental design. To interpret this situation, we used the concept of research culture and the focus shifted from priority issues to methodological and social practices: Piaget's students had to appropriate his research culture, a "system of methods" in a dynamic relationship. This enabled their inclusion into his research programs by learning to create new devices and thus become autonomous disciples. Piaget adopted a strategy of generosity, making available to his students research directions that he had already dealt with, on which they specialized and which he had given priority, thus helping them in their careers.