This paper explores how the three concepts of vision, metaphor, and fantasy serve educational research for a better understanding of teachers' minds regarding educational issues. Drawing upon data based on a review of the literature, the following has been found: a semantic comparison showed that the concepts were similar in their abilities to create visual images and function as communication media, but differed in origin, time orientation, reality reflection, activity orientation, and consensus creation. Empirical findings demonstrated the importance of question formulation, the researcher's position, and the scope of the study. In conclusion, the paper proposes how the different concepts might help in designing improved research and better educational usage of the concepts. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)