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SERIES FOREWORDOne of the major characteristics of science is that a high premium is placed onthe validity and credibility of findings. The most important rationale formethodological analysis is therefore to be found in the emphasis which isplaced on the scientific nature of research. Stated differently, the aim ofresearch methodology is to develop and articulate strategies and methods bymeans of which the validity and credibility or research results in the socialsciences may be maximized. Broadly speaking, “these are also the aims whichled to the inception of the HSRC Investigation into Research Methodology.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaOne of the more specific aims of the research programme on the methodologyof the social sciences is to publish a series of reports, monographs, andcollections of papers which contribute to the literature in the area. Researchreports are published in the Research report series of the investigation, whilemonographs and collections of papers are to be published in the series in whichthis monograph appears, i.e. the HSRC Studies in Research Methodology. It isintended that the material published in both series should be representative ofthe many themes encountered in the field of methodology, and the eventualcontent will therefore range from philosophical to practical-technical material,and from quantitative-statistical to the other pole of qualitative-interpretativeapproaches.As indicated by the authors, the motivation for this particular volume is to befound in the clear need for a greater degree of conscious and systematicthinking about general methodological principles. The aim was to write a bookin which considerations of validity that are central to all disciplines in thesocial sciences would be discussed in an introductory fashion. The manner inwhich highly complex issues have been simplified and systematized in thisvolume makes it an excellent introductory text for those who need a clearerunderstanding of the methodology of the social sciences.KF MAUERvii