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Title: Evaluation research in education: the importance of a paradigmatic debate of fundamentals and practices Evaluation studies, being a form of applied research that intends to study how existing knowledge is applied to the development of new educational practices instead of the elaboration of new theories, have no specific methodological design. In fact, evaluation research studies combine the most diversified methods and techniques regarding social sciences research either of quantitative or qualitative formats: from descriptive to correlative, from experimental or quasi-experimental to pure qualitative designs. All formats are considered to be applicable though there will always be some methodological ambiguity over evaluation studies. In this paper the author begins by presenting and discussing the conceptual frameworks – at ontological and epistemological level- of the main paradigms that sustain research practices in the social sciences: positivism, hermeneutic and critical theories will be analysed and debated. Subsequently, the most important positions regarding the paradigmatic debate in evaluation research will also be discussed and under consideration: incompatibility between paradigms