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Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaEXPLANATORY STUDIESThe major aim of explanatory studies is to indicate causality between variablesor events. The researcher may, for example, not be satisfied merely to showthat a relationship exists between intelligence and scholastic achievement butwishes to indicate the direction of the relationship (high intelligence results inbetter scholastic achievement). The major aim is, therefore, to attempt toexplain a given phenomenon (such as good scholastic achievement) in terms ofspecific causes (such as high intelligence). Even in this simple example it isclear that a valid explanation cannot be achieved unless it is possible to showthat intelligence is the sole cause of good scholastic achievement. In thisexample there are obviously a large number of possible explanations for highscholastic achievement: the motivation of the pupil, the family background andsocio-economic status of the family, the nature of the curriculum, and so on.A valid causal explanation must, therefore, meet three central requirements:(i) that a demonstrable relationship exists between the phenomena or,stated differently, that the causal (or independent) variable covaries withthe dependent variable, and(ii) that there is a specific sequence of cause and effect (temporal sequence),(iii) that a specific phenomenon is the real cause of y.The example which we employed in the previous paragraph is, of course,rather artificial as in modern approaches to the study of causality it is acceptedthat an event may be the result of a number of causes. The assumption ofunilinear causality has, therefore, been replaced by a more sophisticatedapproach to the study of causality in the social sciences. (Cf. the references tocausal inference/models at the end of the chapter).There is a direct relationship between explanatory research and predictive andevaluative research. If it were possible to construct a causal model of scholasticattainment showing the influence of intelligence, motivation, and familybackground on scholastic attainment, in other words, how scholastic attainmentis proportionally influenced by the presence of these variables, it ought, inprinciple, to be possible to make generally valid predictions of future scholasticattainment.In evaluation research we are primarily concerned with the assessment orevaluation of the effectiveness of a given practice, intervention, or socialprogramme. The following is an example of this type of research: In an attemptto improve the scholastic attainment of children in Namibia, a school readinessprogramme was introduced for all first grade children in the country. After aperiod of three years a researcher was instructed to establish the effectivenessof the programme. The task of the researcher was to determine whether theintroduction of the programme had led to a noticeable increase in the scholasticattainment of the children: it was expected of the researcher45