Download - HSRC Press

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaformer as studies involving a contextual research strategy, while the latter arereferred to as studies involving a general research strategy.Typical examples of studies which are of contextual interest are those in thehistorical sciences (where a specific historical event is subjected to a searchinganalysis), the “hermeneutic” sciences like languages, arts, jurisprudence, andtheology (where a specific text or work of art is the object of analysis), and thesocial sciences where the aim may be to subject a single case, a group, or asub-culture to a searching investigation.Well-known examples of the last category include Bogdan’s study of a singletranssexual (Jane Fry), Whyte’s study of a specific sub-culture (Street CornerSociety), and, obviously, the multitude of ethnographic studies in which theobject of investigation is a single tribe. In all the examples cited, the primaryaim of the investigators is to produce an extensive description of thephenomenon, event, or group within the context of the unique setting of thedomain phenomenon. As a rule, the phenomenon is studied because of theintrinsic interest which the researcher has in the topic.In contrast with the above, the aim of a researcher is often to study arepresentative number of events or people with a view to generalizing theresults of the study to a defined universe. It is important to note that a strategywith a general interest clearly implies that it is possible to generalize to adefined universe or population. Typical examples of research that is ofgeneralizable interest are experimental studies, comparative research, andvarious types of surveys. While studies which have contextual interest arebound to the unique context of the domain phenomenon, studies which are ofgeneralizable interest ought, strictly speaking, not to be limited by time, place,space, or the variability or uniqueness of the particular group which has beenstudied. It is for this reason that the sample is selected to be as representative ofthe total population as possible: the group which is investigated is thus merelya sample, but it is important to note that it is a sample which is representativeof the universe.Notwithstanding the close logical relationship between contextual and generalinterest (ideographic and nomothetic strategies), it is essential that theresearchers be clear about the strategy which they intend following beforeembarking upon the project. The implications for the eventual validity of theresearch are far reaching. At this stage we should draw a further distinctionbetween internal and external validity which is directly related to the earlierdistinction made between contextual and general interest. In the remainder ofthe text, the term internal validity will be used to refer to the fact that a studyhas generated accurate and valid findings of the specific phenomena whichhave been studied. We may therefore refer to a project as having producedinternally valid results if the constructs were measured in a valid manner, thecollected data are accurate and reliable, the analyses are relevant for the type ofdata, and the final conclusions are adequately supported by the data. The term50