Download Research Design and Methodology: A Comprehensive Overview and more Study notes Social Sciences in PDF only on Docsity!
RSC2601 study summaries
1. STRATEGIES OF DISCOVERY
1.1 INTRODUCTION
○Inquiry ~ Process whereby we gain knowledge by observing how things are and thinking logically about what we observed. ○Social World ~ The part of our existence dealing with how people interact ○Science = A process of inquiry using logic, observation & theory Logical (makes sense) Has a reference ( observed evidence) Gives a theory (explanation for what was observed) ○Scientific research = Systematically examine & think about a question.
1.2 SOURCES OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1.2.1 Tradition
○ We inherit a culture containing generally accepted knowledge ~ Knowledge is cumulative & we can learn from previous generations BUT Can be led into falsehood: ○Thinking traditionally → don‟t find out how the knowledge was obtained in the first place → Source of knowledge is not questioned ○Every scientific discipline is based on a tradition of thought
1.2.2 Authority
○Accepting something as true because of the status of the person who discovered the truth. ○Can help ~ The expert probably has experience & knows what he is talking about Can hinder ~ Can overestimate the person‟s expertise Experts can be wrong.
1.2.3 Mysticism and religion
○Religious knowledge is based on the authority of sacred texts ○Religion can offer meaning, but is not a reliable guide to the literal state of the world
1.2.4 Common sense
○Ordinary reasoning ○Relates to what people know intuitively/instinctively ○Helpful → In everyday life, making decisions & solving problems. → Covers topics everyone knows about & so helps communication
why: you tend to pay attention to situations that correspond to that pattern & ignore/overlook situations that conflict with it. p
○Scientific safeguards against Selective Observation ~Using a research design that specifies the number & kind of observations needed ~ Conclusions are based on analysis of all the observations specified in the research design.
1.3.4 Ego involvement in understanding
○ We are personally involved in our research, & understanding has psychological significance. ○Disproof of our understandings make us feel foolish. ○This creates a barrier to objective further enquiry. ○Scientific Safeguard against ego involvement ~ Testing of hypotheses in a systematic manner. ~ Making the research public enables evaluation by other scientists
1.3.5 The premature closure of inquiry
○Tends to follow from the other errors ○ We stop inquiring before the evidence for sound conclusions is adequate. (Before our understanding is complete) ○Scientific Safeguards ~ Doing a thorough literature review:
- this reveals the scope & complexity of the topic. However: Science is an open-ended enterprise, and conclusions are constantly modified.
1.4 Norms of the scientific community
○Norms = Rules of conduct in particular situations, that are enforced by positive & negative sanctions ○Norms in the scientific community:
- Universalism → Research is to be judged purely on the basis of its scientific merit (regardless of who conducted it or where it was done)
- Organised Scepticism → All evidence should be challenged & questioned. → This ensures that research can stand up to examination.
- Disinterestedness → Scientists must be neutral, impartial & open to unexpected observations/new ideas. → Should not be rigidly weeded to an idea or pov → Should accept, & look for, evidence that runs contrary to their views.
- Communalism → Knowledge belongs to everyone & should be shared. → Creating scientific knowledge is a public act & the findings are public property → The way in which research was conducted must be described in detail → Newknowledge is only formally accepted once it has been reviewed by other researchers & it has been made publically available in a special form & style.
○These norms can be in conflict, in which case precedence must be given to one over another. ○Norms are ideals of professional conduct → but researchers are influenced by various personal factors ○Norms of science are sometimes violated → Esp if scientists become too closely involved in agendas that go beyond the scientific field (financial/political interests) (see p14 for discussion) ○Scientists check on each other by:
- subjecting research reports to scrutiny by publishing them in academic books/journals
- Scientific community criticizes these reports, regardless of the status of the author
- admitting all knowledge is tentative, to be accepted only until disproved.
- condemning dishonesty in research. ○For this to work it is necessary that:
- Scientists work in an environment where they have autonomy from outside control.
- All research results must see the light of day (this one is problematic)
- Scientists must be reflexive: Be aware of own assumptions investigate own possible prejudices.
1.5 Stages in research
1.5.1 Stage 1: defining the problem
- research design or plan
- research problem
- literature review
- theory
- assumptions
- hypothesis
- research questions
1.5.2 Stage 2: obtaining the information
1.5.3 Stage 3: analyzing and interpreting information
- describing and interpreting quantitative data
- describing and interpreting qualitative data
1.5.4 Stage 4: communicating results
This involves writing the research report.
View of how to gain knowledge of social reality
This conception of the nature of social reality leads to the following understanding of knowledge:
- Social sciences should be studied the same way as natural sciences
- Social phenomena are open to outside, empirical observation (because they exist in their own right)
- All knowledge is based on facts & facts are empirically established by the senses.
- It is crucial that researchers approach social reality in a neutral, value-free, detached & systematic way.
- Methodological tools are developed to collect evidence that is observable (& thus measurable)
- Standardized procedures are followed, ensuring a detached approach to represent social reality accurately & free from bias.
- Knowledge gained can be used to predict occurrences & control events.
- Knowledge is cumulative, so all knowledge of a topic can be used ○Positivist ~ Want to give social science more powers of explanation. ~ Believe it is right to use our knowledge of causal social laws to help society progress.
1.7.2 The Interpretive approach
An approach to social science that emphasizes the importance of insiders‟ viewpoints to understanding of social realities.
View of social reality
○Social reality is inherently meaningful ○People interpret situations & so decide how to respond, THUS they attribute meaning to a situation by consciously participating in it. ○Meaning is constructed through human interaction & defining a situation to make sense of it. ○Meanings are generated in a social process THUS they are shared intersubjectively (between subjects) ○Patterns & regularities in behavior ~ Emerge from the social conventions established by consciously interacting human beings. ~ from the intersubjective understanding of the meaningfulness of a situation. ○Purpose of research → To make social reality intelligible by revealing its inherent meaningfulness. ○Meaningful actions must be understood from within: → This requires studying how social reality is experienced, interpreted & understood ○There is NO external social reality (separate from the consciousness of people)
View of how to gain knowledge of social reality
○To access the meaningfulness of social reality: ~ Researchers must be sensitive to the social context in which meaning is produced. ○Social reality must be approached from the perspective of those who construct it. THUS Value-freedom, neutrality & detachment is of little use. ○Values ~ an integral part of social reality ○Common sense ~ provides insights into people‟s understanding of their own situation & into how people construct & interpret their situations intuitively. ○Research into social science: ~ Justified because it demonstrates the meaningfulness of social interaction in a particular context ~ Provides outsiders with adequate understanding of the situation to communicate with insiders.
1.7.3 The critical approach
An approach to social science that emphasizes the need to uncover hidden processes and structures within society.
View of social reality
○Social Reality is multi-layered & have more dimensions than initially apparent. ○NB to move from the way society presents itself (surface structures) to the underlying mechanisms by which social reality is maintained. ○Underlying relationships ~ determine the real characteristics of a society ~ are the mechanisms which result in exploitation & discrimination ~ are masked by external appearances. ○The real, exploitative nature of society is hidden by a framework constructed by institutions such as: Mass Media →Serves the interests of the wealthy & powerful → Diverts attention from problems to frivolous things → Leads us to believe the inequalities in the world is natural, & can‟t be changed → This false consciousness leads to people unconsciously reproducing the social structures that keep the problems in place ○Exposing the illusion → exposes the underlying tensions and contradictions → Only then can the full potential of human creativity & agency be unleashed. → Creates awareness allowing people to realize they are both creators and products of social reality
THUS Social reality becomes a human construction with more than one possibility ○Once this awareness is created, the transformation of social reality becomes possible BUT While humans have the potential to change social reality through their actions, the structures of social reality enables or constrains these actions.
1.8 Contemporary methodological challenges
1.8.1 Feminist research
○One key aim ~ to demonstrate how male-oriented conventional academic research in the social sciences is. ~ “ malestream” : social reality is presented from the male POV only ~ Women are invisible & marginalized, except where they are related to men. ○Key issue = Power ~ Much research is done by the powerful, for their own benefit ○Male perspectives ~ influence how social reality is defined, & how it is known. ○Emphasis on rationality ~ Is one-sided ~ Is associated with patriarchal values ~ generates data that supports an expert-based hierarchical form of knowledge ○Particularly critical of the Positivist approach ○Ontologically ~ Introduce “gender” as a key category of social analysis. ~ Thus hoping to bring the power & subordination aspects of the relationships between men & women into play. ~ Allowing women‟s issues to be introduced into academic discourse, serving as a basis for fostering the emancipation of women. ○Feminist researchers attempt to approach their studies in the following ways: Inclusionary → POV of the powerless, & their relationship to the powerful, is considered. Colaborative → The women who are the research subjects participate in framing the results of the studies. Non-impositional → Researcher does not exclusively dictate what is studied. ○Subjects of inquiry can voice their personal experiences ○Emotions are regarded a valid topics for study ○Giving the research subjects a voice → Crucial to the development of non-hierarchical knowledge ○Reflection by both researcher and subject is encouraged to enhance understanding of social reality. ○Balance of power is alternated by acknowledging the role of the subjects in the production of knowledge ○Feminist research ~ Cuts across interpretive & critical social science approaches ~ similarities with postmodern & postcolonial approaches THUS can we talk of a unified feminist approach? ○In spite of overlaps ~ a substantial body of knowledge reflects a separate identity, esp regarding features like:
- the questions asked (are they gender sensitive?)
- How researchers locate themselves in their research (do they collaborate)
- purpose of the research (is it emancipator)
1.8.3 Postcolonialism
View of social reality
○The colonial experience ~ seen as central to an understanding of social reality ~ Created a persisting inequality ○European POV is regarded as the norm against which all others are measured (similar to feminist perspective on men) ○Modernity ~ Rose out of enlightenment + democracy + the industrial revolution ○Europeans ~ See modernity as their own creation ~ See colonized groups as lacking “modernity” , & thus deficient compared to them ~ This is a simplistic dualized view of the world, reducing it to sets of binary opposites & unfairly characterizing the previously colonized people.
View of how to gain knowledge of social reality
○Much of the knowledge gathered so far is seen as biased ~ represents views of the colonizer (as subjects of knowledge) about the colonized (as object of knowledge) ○Those who have been marginalized must become subjects/creators of knowledge in their own right ○For this to happen ~ Power relations in knowledge institutions must change, so that Eurocentric knowledge is no longer regarded as the dominant kind of knowledge.
2. THE ROLE OF THEORY IN RESEARCH
2.2 The theoretical grounding of research
2.2.1 Defining theory
Theory = A conceptual framework that provides an explanation of certain occurrences or phenomena. ~ Is based on reasoning, & provides an interpretation of the facts collected ~ Consist of logically interconnected propositions ~ Prevents fragmentation of knowledge by ordering & identifying a clearly defined relationship between phenomena. ~ Provides an inquiry with focus, by suggesting which evidence we need. This provides a sifting mechanism, keeping the evidence generated manageable, preventing an overwhelming level of information ~ Can yield insight by organizing evidence in a new way. ~ Can make connections between phenomena previously thought unconnected. ~ Enables us to make sense of the data we collect, and generates new lines of enquiry. Proposition = An abstract statement of relationship between phenomena ~ Generalized abstractions about social reality ~ Statements about the state of the world supported by facts ~ Can provide explanation when logically organized into a coherent whole.
2.2.2 Theory as a conceptual framework
○Theories are constituted through concepts ○NB - a concept is an abstract idea, and not the phenomenon in itself THUS there is a potential margin for error in our characterization and observation of the phenomena we study. ○Terminology ~ Can overlap with words used in everyday language ~ MUST be clearly defined ○Concepts ~ “A shorthand language” through which researchers communicate ~ Identify & describe phenomena ~ The starting point of theorizing ~ New concepts ideally open up new avenues to explore ~ Concepts are related to each other ~ A set of concepts is associated with a particular theory
