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the scope is more likely to be undefined, and a more philosophical mode ofoperation is adopted.SCIENCE AND RESEARCHIt would be possible to become embroiled in virtually endless arguments aboutthe relative merits of either including or excluding certain elements in variousdefinitions of science and research. As many of these issues have beenaddressed in other sections of this book, we shall simply present the followingdefinitions which are in agreement with definitions that have been discussedelsewhere.What is science?Science may be defined as that system of concepts, theories, findings, andmethods that is accepted by a number of scientists. (Compare the precedingchapters).Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaWhat is research?In keeping with the definition that was presented in chapter 1, research may bedefined as a collaborative activity by means of which a given phenomenon inreality is studied in an objective manner, with a view to establishing a validunderstanding of that phenomenon.The manner in which the concepts science and research were used in thepreceding section, indicates that science refers to the system of scientificknowledge, while research refers to fix process by means of which a system ofthis nature is established. Research is, therefore, a specific way of conductingan investigation and, in this context, it is interesting that the French wordrecherche refers to both research and the work done by a detective. It isimportant to note that this definition of research does not specify a specificmethod or group of methods that are regarded as scientific.Although a definition of social scientific research therefore involves neither apreference for, nor a rejection of, either qualitative nor quantitative approaches,it is possible to distinguish between what is scientific and what is not byapplying the criteria that are intrinsically part of the definitions. It is, however,necessary to employ a model of scientific research if we are to provide anoverview of the distinctions and similarities between the qualitative andquantitative scientific approaches. We shall present such a model in briefoutline in the following paragraphs.A MODEL OF RESEARCHThe three essential components that are present in all research are concepts,156