D821/D822 Day School, LondonNovember 2009

In this session we will discuss the dominant views in social research.

But our first question should be ◦ ‘What is social research for?’

Any thoughts?

As postgraduate students, many of you have done degrees.

However as a Social Science student you will have some ideas about the way you think the social sciences should be studied.

Knowledge and knowing questionnaire Where do your biases lie?

Do you think that our view of the world will influence our research?

When we look at the philosophy of research two words emerge amongst the jargon:

Ontology and epistemology

The theory of being ◦ concerned with what we believe to exist (Hart, 1998:81)

Arguments about what there is, ‘out there,’ to know about. Can be thought of as a spectrum:

realism relativism

There REALLY is a REAL world

out there!

Yeah, right,

whatever …

Epistemology refers to the theories of knowledge we devise to help us to understand the real world.

They are often associated with specific assumptions Arguments about what it is possible to know about something.

We really can get reliable, factual knowledge about the psycho-social world, if we use objective methods of empirical inquiry.

But many aspects of the psycho-social world aren’t even observable - and anyway, our ‘objective’ knowledge is always turning out to be subjective – they are contingent upon all kinds of social, cultural and historical contexts. Actually, its rare to come across a real ‘fact’ in the social science!

realism relativism

Positivism is an empiricist form of realism which believes that we can know about the causes and effects of behaviour.

[Critical] realism is a cautious form of realism which believes that we can know about underlying structures.

Interactionism is an idealist form of relativism which believes that we can know about shared meaning-making.

Three key ‘in between’ positions for this course

Studies closed systems e.g. tightly controlled Knowledge is value-free Uses empirical evidence(that which is gained

through the senses) Objective; carries out observations using scientific

methods Uses quantitative methods Aims to establish causal relationships and derive

laws Theories must be falsifiable Social phenomena should be studied scientifically

by making them observable and breaking them into small units

Studies open systems e.g. many influences Considers a range of factors important to

understanding behaviour Values an integral part of research Importance of understanding from an insider

viewpoint Understanding is constructed via shared

constructs and traditions of thought Acknowledges many ways of perceiving the world. Uses qualitative methods

Aims to explore the range of factors which contribute to understanding behaviour downplays the role of explanation

Prediction may not be possible; social phenomena are fragile, contingent and local.

Social phenomena are processes not entities, and can only be studied by looking at meaningful human interaction

Studies open systems and acknowledges the complexity of reality

Emancipatory: considers that we have the potential to change structures.

Emphasises the importance of unobservable phenomena, e.g. social structures such as class

Potential for us to be misled by appearances, but there is a real world which is independent of this.

Open to varied range of methods

Argues that empirical regularities are not essentialfor causality.

Predictions are possible but not infallible. Theories cannot be decisively tested.

Social science should study the deep structures that underlie behaviour.

Three understandings of reality are invoked(Burr, 1998):

Reality as truth – [vs falsehood] Reality as materiality – [vs illusion] Reality as essence – [vs construction]

[There is a lot of binary, oppositional thinking involved in these ‘debates’].

Which position do you usually take?

Epistemologically speaking …

Methodology is the study of methods

The word "method" has its roots in the ancient Greek term “methodos”.

Methodos has been translated to have two meanings.

◦ A technical interpretation as "the path toward knowledge“

◦ A philosophical interpretation as "reflections on the quest for knowledge gathered".

Method is often held to follow from epistemology.

If we feel that individuals hold the key to understanding social phenomenon whom will we study?◦ – groups or

◦ - individuals?

Validity ecological validity, are we testing what we think

we are testing?◦ do laboratory tests generalise to the real world?

Causality Research can establish a link between two factors

e.g. Job status and job satisfaction but that does not necessarily imply causal relations between the two.

Correlation – ◦ A correlation does not imply causation

There are many unobservable factors involved in social research, as researchers we infer meaning.

Meanings may change and are bound up with societal norms etc.

We are all part of a society with it’s own culture, therefore it is difficult to remain detached whilst researching the society we are part of.

Therefore societal values do influence social scientific knowledge.

Subject-object problem:◦ How knowledge is shaped by historical and social norms,

values, constraints and pre-conceptions

Research is reflexive Research is an iterative process Researchers should be self-critical

◦ We learn as we go along What parts of our last experiment worked well or not Will we change our methods, procedures, stimuli etc.

We lay down markers for future researchers

Research involves a process of learning about research itself.

E.g. Observe behaviour, exclude values through

closure: measures outcomes. Grant structures a real theoretical status &

explore their explanatory merit; values form part of these structures.

Engage with meaning, reveal values through reflexive practices: understand processes.

People have in-built preferred learning styles (like visualiser-verbaliser)

These styles can be objectively measured and/or categorised

Learning Material can be “tailored” such that a match to the individual learning style results in better learning

There exists a personality trait “learning styles” More generally there exist a collection of

personality traits capable of measurement: Learning Styles is hypothesised to be one of them

Realist and Positivist:The learning style (personality trait) exists and can

be measured objectively

The idea of matching teaching to style is an hypothesis for investigation

Measures of learning styles are notoriously unreliable

Matching students to style produces such a small advantage (it may even be negative) that the effort of producing tailored material outweighs any benefit found

Maybe they don’t exist at all

Consider how you would approach some of the ECA topics with the various positions we have just discussed in mind.