THREE APPROACHES TO SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

1. THREE APPROACHES TO SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH INTERPRETIVE CRITICAL POSTIVISM Reason for research: Discover natural laws with the desire to predict and control events Understand and describe at a deep level, beyond the surface To embolden, empower and enable people to change society Nature of social reality and the Nature of Knowledge: Stable, preexisting patterns ororder that can be discovered; reality/truth is out there, to be captured and measured. Fixed. Big “T” truths. Depends on human interaction; fluid; always shifting and changing. Socially constructed. Situational. Small “t” truths Conflict filled and governed by hidden or masked underlying structures. Knowledge is both knowable and socially constructed Nature of human beings: Self-interested, rational individuals shaped by external forces Social beings who create meaning in interactions and constantly make and remake their worlds Creative, adaptive creatures with unrealized potential trapped by illusion and exploitation Role of common sense: Clearly distinct from and less valid than science Powerful, everyday theories used by ordinary people False beliefs that mask power and objective conditions Most influenced by: Technical/rational, enlightenment approaches – “hard” sciences. Literature, humanities, history, sociology Non-academic. No one academic discipline or practice. Individuals: Paulo Freire; Karl Marx; The Frankfort School Theory looks like: Logical, deductive system of interconnected elements Description of how a group’s meaning system is generated and sustained Critique that reveals true conditions and helps people define different ways for themselves An explanation is “true” if: Logically and empirically connected to laws on based on facts Resonates or feels right to those being studied Supplies people with needed tools Good evidence: Based on precise observations (empirical) that others can repeat (replication) Embedded in the context of fluid social interactions Informed by theory and practices that unveils illusions Place for values: No place – value free, except for choosing topic Integral part of social life and of the researcher’s life. No right and wrong (relativism) Everything begins with a value position; some are right, some are wrong Outcome: Knowing more across situations; predictability. More research. Writing papers and presenting to academic and professional audience. Knowing things more deeply, particularly within situations; pop culture star, if you make it Social change. Researcher should be invisible and the work is not about the researcher. Knowledge will transfer Audience Other researchers and decision makers Everyone Community that wants to change; other similar communities Adapted from: Neuman, W. Lawrence (2000). Social Science Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. p. 85.