Foundation Social Research

The Foundations of Social Research

Introduction:

Questions

Research is About

◦ What methodologies and methods will we be employing in the research we propose to do? ◦ How do we justify this choice and use of methodologies and methods? ◦ What kind of knowledge do we believe will be attained by our research? ◦ What characteristics do we believe that knowledge to have? ◦ How should our audience regard the outcomes of our research? ◦ Why should our audience take these questions seriously?

The Foundations of Social Research At

issue in the questions are four steps of inquiry that constitute the basic elements of the research process: ◦ What methods do we propose to use? ◦ What methodology governs our choice and use of methods? ◦ What theoretical perspective lies behind the methodology in question? ◦ What epistemology informs this theoretical perspective?

The Foundations of Social Research

Methods:

The techniques or procedures used to gather and analyze data related to some research question or hypothesis. Methodology: The strategy, plan of action, process or design lying behind the choice and use of particular methods and linking the choice and use of methods to the desired outcomes.

The Foundations of Social Research Theoretical

Perspective: The philosophical stance informing the methodology and thus providing a context for the process and grounding its logic and criteria. Epistemology: The theory of knowledge embedded in the theoretical perspective and thereby in the methodology.

The Foundations of Social Research

The Foundations of Social Research

The Foundations of Social Research (See

Table 1, page 5 of Crotty

Text) What purpose do the four elements serve? ◦ Ensures soundness of research design (validity) ◦ Assists in justifying research ◦ How might we outline our research proposal in these terms? 2 methods

The Foundations of Social Research 1.

Discussion of Research Methods 2. Discussion of Research Methodology 3. Discussion of Theoretical Perspective 4. Discussion of Epistemology (In communication…)

The Foundations of Social Research 1.

Discussion 2. Discussion Perspective 3. Discussion Methodology 4. Discussion Methods

of Epistemology of Theoretical of Research of Research

The Foundations of Social Research Epistemology

◦ A way of looking at the world and making sense of it ◦ How we know what we know ◦ The nature of knowledge, its possibility, scope and general basis ◦ Philosophical grounding for what kinds of knowledge are possible and how we can ensure that they are both adequate and legitimate.

The Foundations of Social Research Major

Types of Epistemology

◦ Objectivism ◦ Constructionism ◦ Subjectivism

The Foundations of Social Research

Objectivism

◦ Meaning and meaningful reality exists as such apart from the operation of any consciousness. ◦ The tree in the forest is a tree, regardless of whether anyone is aware of its existence or not ◦ Without humans, it carries intrinsic meaning of ‘tree-ness.’ When human beings recognize it as a tree, they are discovering a meaning that has been there all along.

The Foundations of Social Research

Constructionism

◦ There is no objective truth waiting for us to discover it. Truth, or meaning, comes into existence in and out of our engagement with the realities in our world. There is no meaning without a mind. ◦ Meaning is not discovered but constructed. Subject and object emerge as partners in the generation of meaning.

The Foundations of Social Research Subjectivism Meaning

is imposed on the object by the subject. The object itself makes no contribution to the meaning Meaning comes from anything but the object to which it is ascribed.

The Foundations of Social Research Question

to class for discussion:

◦ How would taking one of these three epistemological stances affect how you do your research?

The Foundations of Social Research

Ontology

◦ The study of being ◦ Concerned with what is (as opposed to how we come to know what is) ◦ Concerned with the nature of existence ◦ Ontological issues and Epistemological issues tend to emerge together ◦ “Realism is often taken to imply Objectivism” One is ontological, one is epistemological, which one is which, how are they different? See p.

The Foundations of Social Research How

would creationists and evolutionists view the 3rd paragraph statement on p. 10? What does it mean to say, “The existence of a world without a mind is conceivable. Meaning without a mind is not.”

The Foundations of Social Research On

page 12, Why does Crotty tell us that there are very few restrictions on where these leftto-right (and even occassionally up and down) arrows may go in the four part schema? Do you agree, why or why not?

The Foundations of Social Research Crotty

critiques research textbooks that pit qualitative and quantitative methods against one another and instead argues the divide should be at the epistemological or theoretical level, not at the methodology or methods level. Why does he do this?