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Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaexamples. If I were to be asked why I am citing Rokeach, it would be a simplematter to elaborate and to refer to several published studies (which I accept asbeing both reliable and valid) and his findings on the nature and structure ofvalues. In the same way that invoking personal preference is unacceptable,invoking personal authority is far too arbitrary, subjective and emotional to beof any use as a yardstick for epistemic statements.(3) Invoking casual observationA third, and somewhat more sophisticated strategy which is frequentlyencountered in arguments, is to invoke a number of casual observations whichmay have been made as support for the argument. To statement 1 I could, forexample, have replied: Well, I have never met anyone who does not think thatice cream is delicious. Even in the case of statement 3 a more extensivegrounding may have been:I travelled quite extensively abroad last year and because 1 am ratherinterested in the question of divorce rates, I made a point of reading thenewspapers in those countries, and of taking particular note of thenumber of divorces reported. As a matter of fact I listened to some of thecourt hearings of divorce cases. If I were to compare what I saw therewith my impressions and experience here, lam quite convinced that ourcountry has a particularly high incidence of divorce.Although the supporting evidence which the person has cited in this case refersto specific empirical observations, and while it may be regarded as a roughcomparative study, the evidence simply cannot conform to the requirements ofreliability and validity — demands which are usually regarded as integralcriteria for scientific knowledge. The observations were not systematic andthey may well have been biased; consequently the result could be a distortedimage of the actual situation. There is also no way in which the observationscould be verified by a different observer. The so-called “observations”,therefore, remain mere accidental observations which were made under casualand non-systematic circumstances.The different strategies discussed (and others, for example, appealing toanother person’s feelings, claiming that the issue is self-evident, and so on) areusually quite adequate for the language games of everyday life. When theprimary aim is no more than communicating, understanding, or persuading, wewould, as a rule, require very little more than these strategies. When, however,it is our aim to gain valid knowledge of reality (phenomena/events/behaviour)in order to explain it, and also to predict future tendencies and events, when itis the aim to unravel the causes of human interaction or to develop a logicalreconstruction of an historical event, a far greater premium is placed upon suchvalues as reliability, credibility, accuracy, validity, and objectivity.6
FIGURE 1.1RESEARCH COMMUNITY(Sociological dimension)RESEARCHER(Teleologicaldimension)METHODOLOGYRESEARCH GOAL(Ontological dimension)SCIENTIFIC IDEAL OFTHE SOCIAL SCIENCES(Epistemologicaldimension)Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaRESEARCH DOMAINSOCIAL REALITYDIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL SCIENCES RESEARCHIn the remaining part of this chapter a model will be presented which embodiesa particular approach to the interpretation of the process of research in thesocial sciences. Although it is not claimed that the model is either exhaustiveor universally valid, an attempt has been made to develop a model that includethe most important insights which have been gained from recent developmentsin the philosophy and methodology of science. Following a discussion of themodel, we will indicate how the model can be used in distinguishing betweengood and poor research in the social science.In terms of this model research in the social sciences would be defined asfollows:Social sciences research is a collaborative human activity in which socialreality is studied objectively with the aim of gaining a valid understandingof it.7
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Page 10 and 11: important methods of operationalizi
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IntroductionConcept and meaningConc
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ductivism, refers to the belief tha
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Social isolation1. Sometimes I feel
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manifestations of alienation, it ou
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found between theoretical and conce
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IntroductionSources of data, reacti
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that they have tradition, culture,
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categories. Finally, the research c
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affiliation, or presumed affiliatio
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pectancy effects was conducted by R
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ticipant’s perception of his or h
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(v) Questionnaire length effects(vi
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We have, in an earlier section, dra
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example of the double blind experim
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CONSTRUCTIVE REPLICATIONIn conclusi
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IntroductionAn example: The Reiger
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Coloured youths were fatally wounde
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ehaving violently towards some of t
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multivariate techniques are much mo
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tial validity. A closer inspection
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validity (as a rule we will not use
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CONTEXT EFFECTSIs it reasonable to
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analysis, text analysis, and case s
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IntroductionConceptsStatementsConno
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The schematic representation also g
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DICHOTOMOUS, POLYTOMIC AND CONTINUO
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People therefore, depending upon th
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higher than the mean scores on meth
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Source ofinformation Sender Recipie
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of the modellandum which are deemed
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phenomena or variables and, for thi
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i.e. from a collection of mutually
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system, the Aristotelian theory of
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IntroductionThe spectrum of the soc
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• How do scientist study underlyi
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the scope is more likely to be unde
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A number of comments will serve to
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ConceptsIn figure 7.2 below, qualit
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A research report is usually a logi
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to be found between qualitative and
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at which people are placed towards
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The different levels can probably b
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proach should be canonized and anot
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Goals of this chapterIntroductory r
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is written, the wise researcher wou
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Some of the characteristics that ar
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falls within more than one discipli
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earlier on. The aim of the project,
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Example 3Title of projectAtlas of l
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IntroductionThe context of reportin
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METATHEORETICAL GUIDEIINESIt is gen
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the researcher’s views, insuffici
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Suggestions for further reading:Bes
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2. THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONMedical s
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particular outpatient centre experi
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3. METHODOLOGICAL STRATEGYSymbolic
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the organisation). Secondly, a larg
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tations of the subjects; it is conc
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Although costly, videotaping of the
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16. First half of 1981.17. Gold (19
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2. How is value-orientation defined
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in practice. In contrast, pragmatis
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ian style of management result in l
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Quality of supervision of stoping g
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TABLE IIIANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR M
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FIGURE 2 — SECOND ORDER INTERACTI
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A further consideration in the choi
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gangs with supervision that was ass
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percentage of transfers not being m
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for all the relevant factors. Discu
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WHITE, V.P. (ed.). 1983. Grant prop
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connotation 58ff, 126ff- convention
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hermeneutics 21heuristic function,
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Naive inductivism 57naturalistic re
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esearcher image 82-83researcher ori
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