Foundations of social research

1. Foundations of social research Introduction to theories of knowledge and foundations of social research 8 August 2013 Opening seminar of the lecture series “Foundations of social research” CoCo research centre Lina Markauskaite

2. Outline • The nature of inquiry Ontology, epistemology, axiology, etc. • Disciplined inquiry understanding methodological choices • From methodology to method understanding instruments • Putting science back into the society disciplines, societies & policies From ideal paradigms to skilful improvisation From science, technology, & evolution to intuition, craft, & creativity Note: improvisation based on Ingold, 2000

3. Key messages • The notion of knowledge that underpins modern research is more creative than the traditional positivist vs. interpretativist debate suggests: • Modern interpretative thought is more than a plain subjectivism • Modern scientific method is more than a simple “quantification & computation” • Not to turn away from the fundamental tensions between sciences, practices & policies, but to search for meaningful explanations: • To look deeper into the ideas that emerged at the intersection of modern philosophy, psychology, science & technology • To seek skilful meshing of different research methodologies, methods, techniques and tools

4. Nature of inquiry Approaches in social inquiry This section is based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006; Denzin & Lincoln, 2005

5. How do we know? • Experience – common sense knowing • Hunches • Reasoning – logic • Deductive – formal logic • Inductive – from observation to generalisation • Research – empirical science • Systematic, controlled, inductive-deductive • Empirical • Theoretical • Public, critical, self-reflective and self-correcting Francis Bacon 1561-1626 Rene Descartes 1596-1650 Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006

6. Objectivist view Social phenomenon is similar to natural phenomenon Logic of science discovering existing laws of human behaviour Origins Auguste Comte (1798-1857) Emile Durheim (1858-1917) Experiments, quasi-experiments, survey research, etc How do we know social reality? Based on Cohen et al, 2002, Neuman, 2006

7. Objectivist: Logic of scientific method Main steps: • Experience: hunches & hypothesis • Conceptualisation & quantification • Design of experiment • Systematic & controlled manipulation • Discovery of cause-effect relationships • (Dis)proof of hypothesis Main research principle- logic & experiment Based on Cohen et al, 2002

8. Classroom episode Teacher: Wilson, we will have to put you away, if you don’t change your ways, and do your homework. Is that all you’ve done? Student: Strawberries, strawberries… (Laughter) Coding [7: Teacher criticises] [4: Teacher asks question] [9: Pupil irritation] [10: Silence or confusion] Against scientific method Why did students react in such ‘odd’ way? Context. The teacher used to say: “Pupils’ work is like strawberries – good as far as it goes, but it doesn’t last nearly long enough”. Dealmont 1976, cited in Cohen et al, 2002, 21

9. Subjectivist view Social phenomenon is different from inanimate natural phenomenon Research logic accounts for subjectivity & individuality Origins Max Weber (1864-1920) Willem Dilthey (1833-1911) Phenomenology, ethnomethodology, symbolic interactionism How do we know social reality? Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman 2006

10. Subjectivist principles of inquiry Key emphasises: • Knowledge & knowing is situated • Individuals as constructors • Process of negotiation is constructed • Multiple components interact Main research principle– structuring, analysing, & interpreting situations & events Based on Cohen et al, 2002

11. Approaches & underlying assumptions • Ontology • Epistemology • Axiology • Human nature • Methodology Objectivist Subjectivist Logic & rigor Research Logic & rigor Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006

12. Objectivist External to individuals Subjectivist Product of individual consciousness What is social reality? Realism ONTOLOGY Nominalism Based on Cohen et al, 2002

13. Objectivist Objective Discovered Subject-object relationship Subjectivist Subjective Personally experienced Subject-subject relationship What is knowledge? Positivism EPISTEMOLOGY Anti-positivism Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006

14. Objectivist Respond to environment Action – a mechanic product of environment Subjectivist Create our environment Action – a “free will” How do we act? Determinism HUMAN NATURE Voluntarism Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006

15. Objectivist “Value free” science Knowledge is instrumental Subjectivist Relativistic inquiry Knowledge is transcendental, practical What is valued, right & moral? External AXIOLOGY Internal Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006

16. Objectivist Discovering universal laws in behaviour Quantification Deductive reasoning Subjectivist Understanding of social forms created by people Interpretation Inductive reasoning How do we research? NomotheticMETHODOLOGY Ideographic Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006

17. What kind of conclusions will we be able to draw? Where do we focus? What kind of evidence do we collect? What things do we choose to notice? How do we know & research? What kinds of questions do we ask? How do we see things? Some layers of social inquiry ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES Statistical Interpretative DATA Numerical Qualitative INSTRUMENTATION Integration Segregation METHODOLOGY Nomothetic Ideographic EPISTEMOLOGY Positivism Anti-positivist ONTOLOGY Realism Nominalism

18. How do we choose methodology? Partly based on Richards & Morse, 2007

19. What kinds of data do we collect? Partly based on Richards & Morse, 2007

20. How do we choose analytic techniques? Partly based on Richards & Morse, 2007

21. Research question and methodology Will the use of laptops affect students’ writing skills? How does this school use laptops in their daily practices? • A question about causation: may be ‘before’ and ‘after’ or comparison • A general question – about a whole population • Points to a quantitative study perhaps with a quasi-experimental research design • A question about meanings, experiences and practices • A question about a particular place and particular phenomenon • Points to a qualitative study, perhaps an ethnographic case study But this is not so black and white

22. Positivist Interpretaivist “Descartes error” Positivist Interpretativist (Interaction analysis, Phenomenology) Post-positivism Critical (Discourse analysis) Participatory (Action research) Feminism (Discourse analysis) Post-modernism • Critical realism • (Design based research) Complexity New materialism Performative (Arts-based inquiry) Ecological perspectives

23. “Assemblage” science New Materiality: Assemblage theory • Gilles Deluge • Realist • Assemblages vs. totalities • Social reality as emergent Emergent ontology • Properties • Capacities • Tendencies Epistemology • Population thinking • Intensive thinking • Topological thinking Simon McIntyre, in progress

24. “Performative” science Material ecology Ontology • Materialist • Phenomenological • Psychology of perception Epistemology • Performative: centrality of “raw” perception, skill, body and action • [Anthropology] is not a study of at all, but a study with. Anthropologists work and study with people. Immersed with them in an environment of joint activity, they learn to see things (or hear them, or touch them) <…> it educates our perception of the world, and opens our eyes and minds to other possibilities of being.” (Ingold, 2010, 238) It is NOT an eclectic constellation of different ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies NEXT

25. Example from my research How do concepts become “actionable”? B Model view Culture (Formal concepts) Module view Context (Functional concepts) Modality view Experience (Situated concepts) A E E B B C A C A E B E B C A A C Markauskaite & Goodyear (in progress) “Epistemic fluency and professional action”. Springer Based on Greeno, 2012; Barsalou, 2009

26. How do concepts become “actionable”? How do pre-service teachers learn conceptual knowledge? [Formal] [Functional] • [Functional] • [Situated] • [Situated] • [Functional] S2: You could have a jigsaw kind of thing happening. (…) Where you take, so if you’ve got groups, you’ve got everyone in their individual groups and then you switch it around so that you share it with the other people that were not in your group. (….) S2: It could get messy, I know, I know, but just as theoretical – it sounds like it could work, but I don’t know in practice. (….) S2: Yeah, but kids, I don’t think there’s gonna be that much discussion, I just think that’s gonna be more “show me your thing” and then ((shows writing gesture)) copy, copy, copy ((all laugh)). You know how it is. (….) S3: But maybe … [4 seconds] (…) ‘cause I remember with – when we did jigsaw – like the kids ‘d actually test, like we were tested like when we did it in a tutorial, we were tested on it, so it wasn’t just procrastination. They must have actually done something.

27. Ontological and epistemological foundations Ontology: realist, dynamic Axiology: internal-external Epistemology: manifold Human nature: grounded Methodology: interpretative Grounded cognition & manifold view of human conceptual understanding David Hume 1711-1776 Immanuel Kant 1724-1804 Stephen Toulmin 1922-2009 Thomas S. Kuhn 1922-1996 It is NOT an eclectic constellation Lawrence Barsalou Atkinson & Shriffin

28. Theory & methodology Theory • a system of interconnected ideas that condenses and organizes knowledge and presents a systematic view about a phenomenon: concepts, definitions, propositions, relationships, etc E.g., feminist theory, complexity theory, conflict theory, consensus theory Kinds of theories • Grand theories – broad narratives, ontological and epistemological postulates that define a field of inquiry. • Empirical theories – empirically testable theories • Critical theories – knowledge via interpretation or self-reflection Based on Cohen et al, 2002, Neuman 2006

29. Nature of inquiry Method, instruments & data

30. Methodology- theoretical, political and philosophical approaches to systematic inquiry “Know why” Research methods “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it” From Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet” [Polonius’ comment on Hamlet’s behaviour] • Method – systematic procedures that underpin knowledge production cycle, particularly data gathering and analysis • “Know how”

31. Data is only a very tiny representation of the “actual thing” Instruments are not equal Choice of instruments & data is a big choice Determines, what is included and what is lost forever Power of instruments: Seeing invisible Images from Dimper, eResearch Australasia, 2007

32. Power of instruments: Large picture Structured

33. Power of instruments: In depth picture Change over time • Same data can have multiple meanings • Analytical tools & techniques are key for getting results Space Individuals Images from Hopkin 2002, 90-94

34. Scientific research Empirical: Aristotle Logical-theoretical: Newton, Kepler Computational: modelling Exploratory: data-driven Social research Descriptive: qual & quan. Theory-oriented: interpretative & experimental Constructivist-critical: action, design-based, cybernetics ?“Social” data mining, performative Evolution of scientific & social methods Cutting-edge discoveries emerge at the edges of disciplinary domains from the synthesis of theories, experiments and computation using large integrated datasets Based on Szalay, 2007

35. Data mining in “a nutshell” Data mining is the process of discovering hidden messages, patterns and knowledge within large amounts of data and of making predictions for outcomes or behaviours What could be mined: • Administrative records • Digital learning traces • Texts & numbers • Lots of data It is different from canonical statistical thinking

36. Data mining vs. statistics in “a nutshell” An example: • Peter is a PhD student who will do his fieldwork in a remote area. What kind of support might help him to succeed? Possible statistical question: • Which kinds of support are related to the success of PhD students in remote areas? Possible data mining question: • What kinds of support were successful (and not) for PhD students similar to Peter? Peter Etc PhD students in rural areas Learning history Background Rural area Thesis aims Rural school

37. Statistics vs. data mining

38. Nature of inquiry Putting social research back into the society

39. Technically good Show something new Meaningful Key qualities of “good research” Not all counts as research Judgements include: Research How well was it done? Education What was achieved? Based on Yates, 2004

40. Failures: Rigour & coherence Commensurability of findings Society expectations Ideological bias Knowledge for decision-making Practical benefit for teachers “Awful reputation” of educational research Research How well was it done? Policy What does matter? Education What was achieved? Based on Whitty, 2006

41. Education is field of study, rather than a discipline Advantages: Different research questions Multiplicity of perspectives Multiplicity of methodologies Challenges: Different findings Commensurability? Epistemological awareness Disciplinary roots: Anthropology Ethology Linguistic Psycholog(ies) Sociology(ies) History Policy studies Genetics Artificial intelligence Etc… Research: Commensurability & Epistemological awareness

42. Functions of schooling Pastoral Skilling Regulative Human capital Individual expression Cultural heritage Political Education: Imperatives & inquiry approaches Pastoral Political Skilling Functions of schooling Cultural heritage Regulative Individual expression Human capital Based on Freebody, 2003

43. Purpose of research: Pasteur's quadrant Theory-oriented research: cognition, brain, etc Design based research Everyday curiosity Action research, evaluation studies Image from: http://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/is-there-archaeology-in-pasteurs.html

44. Research as “method” and Research as “craft” Findings Theory Analysis Findings Theory Analysis Analysis Findings Data Data Design Method Analysis Hypothesis Design Question Findings Data Analysis Data Hypothesis Design Findings Hypothesis Analysis Hypothesis Question Epistemic craft Improvisation based on Patton (2011) Developmental evaluation

45. How do we know? • Experience – common sense knowing • Hunches • Reasoning – logic • Deductive – formal logic • Inductive – from observation to generalisation • Research – empirical science • Systematic, controlled, inductive-deductive • Theoretical • Empirical • Public, critical, self-reflective and self-correcting • Craft – knowledge, intelligent perception, skill & improvisation Francis Bacon 1561-1626 Rene Descartes 1596-1650 Improvisation based on Ingold (2000)

46. Main sources • Barsalou, L. W. (2009). Situating Concepts. In P. Robbins & M. Aydede (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition (pp. 236-263). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Byrne, D. S. (1998). Complexity theory and the social sciences: an introduction. London: Routledge. • Carter, B., & New, C. (Eds.). (2004). Making realism work: realist social theory and empirical research. London: Routledge. • Chalmers, A. F. (1999). What is this thing called science? (3rd ed.). St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press. • Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed.). London: Routledge. • Connell, R. (2007). Southern theory: the global dynamics of knowledge in the social sciences. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. • De Landa, M. (2006). A new philosophy of society: assemblage theory and social complexity. London: Continuum. • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage. • Dimper, R. (2007). High performance computing for synchrotron radiation research. Paper presented at the eResearch Australasia conference, Brisbane, 26-29 June 2007. • Fenwick, T., Edwards, R., & Sawchhuk, P. (2011). Emerging approaches to educational research: Tracing the sociomaterial. London: Routledge. • Freebody, P. (2003). Qualitative research in education: interaction and practice. London: SAGE Publications. • Greeno, J. G. (2012). Concepts in Activities and Discourses. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 19(3), 310-313. • Hey, T., Tansley, S., & Tolle, K. (Eds.). (2009). The fourth paradigm: Data-intensive scientific discovery. Remond: Microsoft Research. • Hopkins, D. (2002). A teacher's guide to classroom research (3rd ed.). Buckingham: Open University Press. • Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: essays on livelihood, dwelling and skill. London: Routledge. • Ingold, T. (2011). Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description. Oxon, OX: Routledge. • Knorr-Cetina, K. (1999). Epistemic cultures: how the sciences make knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. • Latour, B., & Woolgar, S. (1979). Laboratory life: The social construction of scientific facts. Beverly Hills: Sage. • Markauskaite, L., Freebody, P., & Irwin, J. (Eds.). (2010). Methodological choice and design: scholarship, policy and practice in social and educational research. Dordrecht: Springer. • Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. • Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use. New York: Guilford Press. • Richards, L., & Morse, J. M. (2011). Readme first: Users guide to qualitative methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage. • Szalay, A. (2007). Science in an exponential world. Paper presented at the eResearch Australasia conference, Brisbane, 26-29 June 2007. • Whitty, G. (2006). Education(al) research and education policy making: Is conflict inevitable? British Educational Research Journal, 32(2), 159-176. • Yates, L. (2004). What does good education research look like? situating a field and its practices. Maidenhead: Open University Press.