Points to remember
The following are the major points introduced in this chapter. Ensure that you are very confident with their meaning, content, context and significance.
1
Social research is purposive and rigorous investigation, which aims to generate
knowledge.
2
Social research has a long history. It has been used extensively for more than
2000 years.
3
Social research as we know it today was introduced by Comte in 1848.
4
The theoretical basis of Comte's conception of social research is positivism.
5
Positivistic research was developed to offer a 'scientific' impression of
the world.
6
Positivism and positivist research have dominated the research scene for the
largest part of the history of the social sciences.
7
Positivistic research is still the most dominant type of research in the social
sciences.
8
Positivistic research was challenged by a number of schools of thought,
particularly by symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, phenomenology and
philosophical hermeneutics.
9
Criticisms also came from Marxists, feminists and supporters of action research.
10 Some
of the criticisms centred on perception of reality, the methods it used, the
relationship between researcher and researched, the goals it served and the
politics of research.
11 The
aims of research vary according to the type of underlying methodology.
Positivists aim to explore, explain, evaluate, predict and to develop/test
theories; interpretivists to understand human behaviour; and critical theorists
to criticise social reality, emancipate, empower and liberate people, and
propose solutions to social problems.
12 The
motives of research are educational, 'magical', personal, institutional,
political and tactical.
13
Adherence to ethical standards is expected in quantitative and qualitative
research. Ethics relates to professional practice, the researcher-respondent
relationship, the researcher-researcher relationship, and the
researcher-animal relationship.
14 The
politics of research is very strong and affects the type and nature of knowledge
produced by social inquiry.