Research Methodology

Foundations The Social

Sciences

T. Jayaraman
School of Habitat Studies
Lecture IV & V

Studying the Social World

What is the difference between the study of the

natural and social worlds?
One view There is no substantial difference.
The natural sciences are the exemplar for the
social sciences, especially as understood in the
pursuit of the empirical perspective.
In later years, natural sciences as understood in
the sense of logical empricism
Generally referred to as positivism

Typical tenets of Positivism

The empiricist view of the natural sciences is

accepted
Science is valued as the highest or even the
only genuine form of knowledge
Scientific method, as represented by empiricism,
can and should be extended to the study of the
human/mental/social, to establish them as
science
Once social science has been established, it will
be possible to have an objective, predictive
view of the social world.

A Positivist Manifesto
In his 1929 presidential address to the American Sociological
Society, William F. Ogburn laid out the rules.

In turning sociology into a science, he said,it will be

necessary to crush out emotion. Further, it will be
desirable to taboo ethics and values (except in choosing
problems); and it will be inevitable that we shall have to
spend most of our time doing hard, dull, tedious, and
routine tasks (Ogburn 1930:10). Eventually, he said,
there would be no need for a separate field of statistics
because all sociologists will be statisticians

(p. 6).

Natural vs Social

But is not society different from nature?

Thoughts, feelings, subjective experience
matter!!
Thoughts and feelings matter and have a
causal effect on the world (both social and
natural)
Acts based on the meanings we attach to
them The way we act depends on the way we
think about the world around us.

Empiricism and Social Science

Are there facts in the social sciences?

Natural facts and Institutional facts Latter
created by human agency

What about emergence?

Social facts as a consequence of emergence

Critiques of Positivism

Are there laws of society ? Many of them turn

out to be trivial.
Even if there are laws can we meaningfully
determine what they are? There are no
experiments to conduct.
More generally, vast variety of conditions
under which laws will be valid, make it doubtful
whether such laws would indeed be derivable
or useful

Human vs the Natural Sciences

The question of humanism

Endowed with feelings. Other issues like
values, rights, etc
Importance of Empathy!!

Value-ladenness of enquiry

More Fundamental Criticism

Interpretation & Meaning

Actions have meaning invested in them.

(Ex. Raising the hand to vote, going around the

temple)

Key aim of social enquiry Understanding why

people act the way they do
Make sense of the actions, beliefs, value systems,
institutions, that form the social world
Uncover the beliefs and intentions that inform
human action within the larger (social) context in
which they reside
Aim is Understanding and NOT explanation (but
which explanation?!)

What is Meaning?
Perceptual meaning How a subject perceives the
world, including actions of others and self
Doxastic meaning What a subject believes
Intentional meaning What a subject intends,
desires, etc to bring about
Linguistic meaning How the verbal behaviour of
the subject is to be translated
Symbolic meaning What the behaviour of the
subject (verbal or non-verbal) symbolizes
Normative meaning What norms are reflected or
embodied in the behaviour of the individual

Three attitudes to meaning

i) Stay away from meaning as much as possible.
What people do is the key, and not what they
think they are doing!!
[ Not necessarily positivism More in the tradition
of mainstream economic theory]
Meaning set aside and studied independently
from other aspects of society.

Second attitude
Meaning, in some sense, is everything.
Nothing outside of meaning, especially the
meaning that agents themselves express.
[ Tends to over-privilege the dominant view in
society or among social groups]

The Traditions from the Social

Sciences

This view of science as Understanding and

not explanation embodied in the practice of
many social sciences sociology and
anthropology
Economics a different case Especially
contemporary mainstream economics
Behaviourism in psychology (the equivalent of
extreme empiricism in the natural sciences)
(Social data based on purely behavioural
description)

Descriptivism

Descriptivism (Phenomenology)
Seek to describe how people make sense of
their everday world - Draws from cultural
anthropology and ethnomethodology

Aim to uncover the sense of purpose and

meaning of their beliefs and actions within the
broader context of worldviews, institutions,
values and practices.
Produces not explanation but a thick
description
But is this sufficient for critique or tell us what
is going on?

Thick Description
Provide an elaborate account, which enables the
reader to see and feel what is going on.
Provide a chance to see the subject in great
detail.
Culture not a causal power. It is a context
within which social processes, institutions, etc
can be described.

Hermeneutics

Meanings yes, but not only that of the subject

Dialogic interaction between that of the subject
and those studying it.
Term taken from the study of texts constant
interpretation and re-interpretation
Meanings are not singular Multiple meanings
that have to be negotiated between themselves
Hermeneutical enquiry is evaluative

(Positivism pushes values to the subjective,

descriptivism is uncritical of the values of the
subject)

Hermeneutics as Explanation

As long as meaning can be expressed, they

provide an empirical basis for understanding
behaviour, actions.
Their validity can be verified.
Meaning-ladenness of observation not an issue
when we have accepted theory-ladenness of
data in the natural sciences

Third attitude to meaning

How does meaning arise?
Meaning immanent in the nature of society itself.
Meaning is shifting, phenomenal and contested.
Capable of change and indeed evolves.

Marxism

Being determines consciousness

The objective/natural and social/subjective are
both important but with a clear order of priority
Marxism enables one to make sense of the
debate between interpretive and positivist
schools of thought
Does it presuppose a definite commitment to a
particular view (broadly speaking) of the
evolution of society? Not necessarily.

Marxism (continued)
Contradictions are a fundamental aspect of social reality and the
very source of eventual change and transformation.
Contradictions are reflected in different ways at different levels.
Contradictions in thought reflect the contradictions in society.
Objectivity is partisan but nevertheless objective.
False consciousness versus truth .
Learning/Knowing driven by the contradiction between
perception/meaning/actions and reality (true of both the natural
and social reality).

More on the D-N model of

explanation
Closely related form is the I-S (inductive-statistical) explanation
In this form very common in the social sciences.
But statistical inference needs to be carefully handled. All
correlations do not necessarily indicate causal connections.
More generally, DN is suspect in terms of causation (and
therefore explanation)
Ex: Barometer is falling. Whenever a barometer is falling, a
storm is approaching. Hence a storm is approaching.
Obviously the barometer is not the cause.

Functional Explanation
Is an explanation with two characteristic claims:
That a social practice or institution has a characteristic
effect
That this social practice or institution exists in order to
have this characteristic effect
Examples:
Birds have hollow bones in order to help flying
The custom of brideprice among the Lele serves to
enhance social interdependence across generations

More on the Functional

First part of functional explanation not very significant.
Second part is the real key.
A practice has a particular effect
The practice persists because it has that effect
The practice is causally prior to the effect.
Example: Initiation rites and social solidarity
(key solidarity alone does not produce initiation)
Also typical in trait-environment relations ( but need a selection
process to select a particular practice)
Fresher's party and learning from peers!! (Ceremonial custom)
In general we must show a causal connection between the
outcomes of a social institution/practice for preserving the overall
equilibrium and the practice itself.

From Functional to the

Evolutionary
Functional explanation may freeze the existing
state of the world.
But a changing world will provide a better
explanation of why a practice or institution
survives. And how it comes into being.
In biology, very powerful.

Structural Explanation
Social phenomena determined by the causal properties of social
structures
Social structures are persistent over long periods of time. Independent
of the behaviour of individuals. Imposes constraints on the behaviour
of individuals.
Social structures are enduring regulative systems that define
opportunities and constraints that guide, limit, and inspire individual
action.
Version 2: Structures are abstract constructions which are then
realised in a particular form. Built by the mind, in abstract form.
Example: Kinship

Social Construction and Social

Constructivism Revisited
Much more significant in the social sciences.
What about poverty? Is poverty natural OR
Socially constructed?
Social construction much better here .....
Explanation in terms of social, economic, political
processes that make social reality
Also explains how poverty is gradually eradicated

Social Constructivism
Identity is a typical arena for Social Constructivism.
How we conceive of ourselves makes for what is
identity?
Identity is constituted by the way we think about ourselves.
Or the description of roles such as motherhood? Is it
biology or is it the way we conceive of motherhood (caring,
feminine qualities) that
determines what it
But is that all?

Critical Theory/PostModernism/Radical Skepticism

The Skeptical Viewpoint Radical skepticism of enlightenment
values.
Critical of universalist claims.
Radical critique of Enlightenment values based on tracing their
historical origins.
Knowledge always as means to power (but power with out a
subject).
Close cousin cultural relativism.

Key problem of skepticism

Actually, in philosophical terms, undermines itself.
Skepticism does not provide a guide to action.
In developing societies, does not provide a radical
agenda of social change and transformation.

Revisiting Marxism
Some characteristic features
Concept of Ideology
Standpoint epistemology