A statement that represents an observation in words in a parsimonious manner so as to answer ‘how’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ questions about objects, events and changes in events. While description can distinguished from (scientific) explanation, it cannot be separated from it. Thus, when theory changes explanatory principles, so does the way in which observations are described. Pure description, unhampered by theory or interpretation, is a myth invented by the logical positivists as what has to be described is guided by explanatory principles. In research on human development, the descriptive problem has suffered from neglect. Joachim Wohlwill (1928-1987) in his book The study of behavioral development (1973) put it as follows
“… it is the neglect, not to say disdain, of this phase on the part of psychologists that has held up progress in our discipline by encouraging the construction of elaborate theoretical edifices built without concern for a domain of empirical facts to which they might be applied.”. (p. 42).
See Descriptive explanations, Explanation, Law, Logical positivism, Model systems, Prediction and explanation, Process