Introduction & Overview
Research Methods, what's the deal with them?
Why is it that we spend so much time
developing,
talking about,
and examining the methods we use to conduct research?
Cozby indicates that there are many uses
of research methods:
1) Making sense of News and Scientific Reports in everyday
life
2) Limitations to other sources of knowledge (i.e. intuition
and Authority).
these include skepticism in empiricism and the principle of
falsifiability
Background to Research Methods
Starting with an interest to know
something about someone (else) and
trying to make sense of their behaviour or
possibly even to predict and control it.
In the simplest sense the ways in which
we get to known someone can be considered
to be the "methods" that we use to "research" or gather facts about other people.
How do you know someone?
Historically this has been going on for a
very long time, however
it became systematized in the 19th century, as psychology moved
philosophy
to its own separate discipline.
The scope of Human Knowledge
The sciences each have their own assumptions and methods
It was largely the use of "scientific" methods that made the difference;
that "constructed the subject", the discipline of psychology.
According to Kurt Danziger (1990) early
psychologists turned to methodology
as a way to make their knowledge claims more
legitimate, more respectable,
and ultimately more marketable.
He points out that making use of
aggregate data (group data) and how individuals
vary (like the bell curve) with
respect to group norms (means), these methods became
a tool for psychologists to
gain respect and be considered a "real" science.
As a result, Danziger identifies this "methodolotry" as coming to dominate
disciplinary discourse in psychology in trying to become a
real science.
What this means is that we have come to idolize, almost pray to the sacred methods.
Along side of this strong emphasis on
becoming "Real Science",
this has also lead to the ongoing debate
over whether or not psychology
is a "pure" or "basic" research
discipline or merely an "applied" professional practice.
All of this begs the question: what is "Real Science"?
Consideration of the history of research methods requires a look at the history of science and the philosophy of science.
What is science?
A basic question asked by many and answered in almost as many ways. Early roots of science (as with much of western thought) begin with Plato and his search for everlasting truth and reality.
The Philosophy of Science
Many diverse view on the nature of science
exist today, generally the biggest division lies in the
Natural Science - Human Science division.
Initially articulated by Wilhelm Dilthey, this distinction plays a major role in
the understanding of science and the practical use of scientific methods for
psychology. (see
world-views for more
detail)
What is the Philosophy of Science?
Two kinds of accounts: Descriptive and
Prescriptive
ii) Logic: The
study of correct reasoning
-Examples: Deduction and Induction
iii) Metaphysics:
The careful study of concepts or first principles
such as: Substance, Quality, Causal Relations
-Examples: (Ontology) Idealism and Materialism
iv) Ethics: The
theory of (moral) evaluation.
Not traditionally a part of science, although many
current philosophers of science suggest that it cannot be
avoided
Historical development of
Sciences:
Pre-paradigm, Normal Science, Crisis, Revolution . . .
Disciplinary
Matrix: The set of fundamental (unstated)
assumptions underlying the paradigm. Usually
unconscious,
and not subject to empirical testing
Shared Exemplars:
Models of good research through which
students "learn to see" the world through the paradigm's
perspective
Implicit
Hermeneutics: interpretation, dialectic between "observer"
and "the world", value sensitive and critical of
paradigm choice.
Verification of generalizations (Laws) is central to methods
Much of the methods of psychology are
built upon this model of science. Thus the bulk of what we know through
our text and others like it are part of this positivist view of science
that comes out of behaviourism and the rise of
operationism in psychology.
Cozby indicates that science involves:
Description, Prediction and explanation (at least good enough)
Predictions involves attempts to establish causation through:
1) Temporal precedence, 2)
covariation, 3) no alternative explanations
Bold conjectures and refutations ought to be the methods of science
Two contexts of activity: Discovery and justification. It does not matter where your theories and hypotheses come from, it is the method of falsification that makes it scientific.
Margaret Benston
(1989):
Feminist
Critique of Scientific Values!
Critical of the sex roles and
stereotypes of scientists, presumptions of objectivity in methods, and
power imbalances associated with typically masculine science's "impoverishment of reality" to "anti-human ends"
Optional Reading (in d2l):
Bryman, A., Teevan,J.J., & Bell,.E. (2009). Social Science Research
Methods (2nd Canadian Edition). Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
