Foundations of social research
Introduction to theories of knowledge and foundations of social
research
8 August 2013
Opening seminar of the lecture series “Foundations of social research”
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
& SOCIAL WORK
Lina Markauskaite
CoCo research centre
Outline
1.
The nature of inquiry
Ontology, epistemology, axiology, etc.
2.
Disciplined inquiry
understanding methodological choices
3.
From methodology to method
understanding instruments
4.
Putting science back into the society
disciplines, societies & policies
From ideal paradigms to skilful improvisation
From science, technology, & evolution to intuition, craft, & creativity
Note: improvisation based on Ingold, 2000
Key messages
1. The notion of knowledge that underpins modern research is more
creative than the traditional positivist vs. interpretativist debate
suggests:
-
Modern interpretative thought is more than a plain subjectivism
-
Modern scientific method is more than a simple “quantification & computation”
2. Not to turn away from the fundamental tensions between sciences,
practices & policies, but to search for meaningful explanations:
-
To look deeper into the ideas that emerged at the intersection of modern
philosophy, psychology, science & technology
-
To seek skilful meshing of different research methodologies, methods,
techniques and tools
3
Nature of inquiry
Approaches in social inquiry
This section is based on Cohen et al, 2002;
Neuman, 2006; Denzin & Lincoln, 2005
How do we know?
Experience – common sense knowing
1.
-
Hunches
Reasoning – logic
2.
-
Deductive – formal logic
-
Inductive – from observation to generalisation
Research – empirical science
3.
-
Systematic, controlled, inductive-deductive
-
Empirical
-
Theoretical
-
Public, critical, self-reflective and self-correcting
Francis Bacon
1561-1626
Rene Descartes
1596-1650
Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006
How do we know social reality?
Objectivist view
› Social phenomenon is
similar to natural
phenomenon
› Logic of science
discovering existing laws of
human behaviour
Origins
› Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
› Emile Durheim (1858-1917)
› Experiments, quasiexperiments, survey
research, etc
Based on Cohen et al, 2002, Neuman, 2006
Objectivist: Logic of scientific method
Main steps:
1. Experience: hunches & hypothesis
2. Conceptualisation & quantification
3. Design of experiment
4. Systematic & controlled manipulation
5. Discovery of cause-effect relationships
6. (Dis)proof of hypothesis
Main research principle - logic & experiment
Based on Cohen et al, 2002
Against scientific method
Classroom episode
Coding
Teacher: Wilson, we will have to put
you away, if you don’t change your
ways, and do your homework. Is
that all you’ve done?
[7: Teacher criticises]
Student: Strawberries, strawberries…
[9: Pupil irritation]
(Laughter)
[4: Teacher asks question]
[10: Silence or confusion]
Why did students react in such ‘odd’ way?
Context. The teacher used to say: “Pupils’ work is like strawberries – good as
far as it goes, but it doesn’t last nearly long enough”.
Dealmont 1976, cited in Cohen et al, 2002, 21
How do we know social reality?
Subjectivist view
› Social phenomenon is
different from inanimate
natural phenomenon
› Research logic accounts for
subjectivity & individuality
Origins
› Max Weber (1864-1920)
› Willem Dilthey (1833-1911)
› Phenomenology,
ethnomethodology,
symbolic interactionism
Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman 2006
Subjectivist principles of inquiry
Key emphasises:
›
Knowledge & knowing is situated
›
Individuals as constructors
›
Process of negotiation is constructed
›
Multiple components interact
Main research principle – structuring, analysing, & interpreting situations &
events
Based on Cohen et al, 2002
Approaches & underlying assumptions
1.
Ontology
2.
Epistemology
3.
Axiology
4.
Human nature
5.
Methodology
Objectivist
Logic & rigor
Subjectivist
Research
Logic & rigor
Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006
What is social reality?
Objectivist
Realism
› External to individuals
Subjectivist
ONTOLOGY
Nominalism
› Product of individual
consciousness
Based on Cohen et al, 2002
What is knowledge?
Objectivist
Positivism
Subjectivist
EPISTEMOLOGY
Anti-positivism
› Objective
› Subjective
› Discovered
› Personally experienced
› Subject-object relationship
› Subject-subject relationship
Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006
How do we act?
Objectivist
Determinism
› Respond to environment
› Action – a mechanic
product of environment
Subjectivist
HUMAN NATURE
Voluntarism
› Create our environment
› Action – a “free will”
Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006
What is valued, right & moral?
Objectivist
External
Subjectivist
AXIOLOGY
› “Value free” science
› Knowledge is instrumental
Internal
› Relativistic inquiry
› Knowledge is
transcendental, practical
Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006
How do we research?
Objectivist
Nomothetic
Subjectivist
METHODOLOGY
› Discovering universal laws
in behaviour
› Quantification
› Deductive reasoning
Ideographic
› Understanding of social
forms created by people
› Interpretation
› Inductive reasoning
Based on Cohen et al, 2002; Neuman, 2006
Some layers of social inquiry
› What kind of conclusions will we
be able to draw?
ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES
Statistical
Interpretative
DATA
Numerical
Qualitative
INSTRUMENTATION
Integration
Segregation
METHODOLOGY
Nomothetic
› What kind of evidence do we
collect?
› What things do we choose to notice?
› How do we know & research?
Ideographic
EPISTEMOLOGY
Positivism
Realism
› Where do we focus?
Anti-positivist
ONTOLOGY
Nominalism
› What kinds of questions do we ask?
› How do we see things?
How do we choose methodology?
Research Focus & Question
Methodology
Causal relationships
What is the relationship between A
and B?
Experiment
Meaning
What is the meaning of this
experience?
Phenomenology
Patterns, descriptions
What is the culture of this group of
people?
Ethnography
Single phenomenon
What are characteristics of the
phenomenon?
Case study
Partly based on Richards & Morse, 2007
What kinds of data do we collect?
Methodology
Likely data sources/types
Experiment (causal
relationship)
Tests, behavioural measurement, etc.
Phenomenology
(meaning)
In-depth conversations,
phenomenological literature, etc.
Ethnography (patterns,
descriptions)
Observations, field notes, interviews,
focus groups, documents, artefacts,
etc.
Case study
(phenomenon)
Interviews, observations, focus
groups, documents, evidences, etc.
Partly based on Richards & Morse, 2007
How do we choose analytic techniques?
Methodology
Analysis techniques
Experiment
(causal relationship)
Statistical: comparison, correlation,
etc.
Phenomenology
(meaning)
Themeing, reflective writing, etc.
Ethnography
(patterns, descriptions)
Sorting, identifying topics and
patterns, thick description, etc.
Case study
(phenomenon)
Structural, interpretational, reflective
analysis, etc.
Partly based on Richards & Morse, 2007
Research question and methodology
Will the use of laptops affect
students’ writing skills?
How does this school use laptops
in their daily practices?
› A question about causation: may be › A question about meanings,
‘before’ and ‘after’ or comparison
experiences and practices
› A general question – about a whole › A question about a particular place
population
and particular phenomenon
› Points to a quantitative study
perhaps with a quasi-experimental
research design
› Points to a qualitative study,
perhaps an ethnographic case
study
But this is not so black and white
“Descartes error”
Positivist
Interpretativist
(Interaction analysis, Phenomenology)
Post-positivism
Critical
Participatory
(Discourse analysis)
(Action research)
Critical realism
(Design based research)
Complexity
Feminism
(Discourse analysis)
New materialism
Post-modernism
Performative
(Arts-based inquiry)
Ecological perspectives
26
“Assemblage” science
New Materiality: Assemblage theory
› Gilles Deluge
› Realist
› Assemblages vs. totalities
› Social reality as emergent
Emergent ontology
› Properties
› Capacities
› Tendencies
Epistemology
› Population thinking
› Intensive thinking
› Topological thinking
Simon McIntyre, in progress
27
“Performative” science
Material ecology
Ontology
› Materialist
› Phenomenological
› Psychology of perception
Epistemology
› Performative: centrality of “raw”
perception, skill, body and action
› [Anthropology] is not a study of at all,
but a study with. Anthropologists work
and study with people. Immersed with
them in an environment of joint
activity, they learn to see things (or
hear them, or touch them) <…> it
educates our perception of the world,
and opens our eyes and minds to
other possibilities of being.” (Ingold,
2010, 238)
It is NOT an eclectic constellation of
different ontologies, epistemologies
and methodologies
NEXT
28
Example from my research
How do concepts become “actionable”?
Model view
Culture
(Formal concepts)
Module view
(Functional concepts)
Context
C
C
Modality view
Experience
C
(Situated concepts)
C
Markauskaite & Goodyear (in progress) “Epistemic fluency and professional action”. Springer
Based on Greeno, 2012; Barsalou, 2009
29
How do concepts become “actionable”?
How do pre-service teachers learn conceptual knowledge?
S2: You could have a jigsaw kind of thing happening. (…) Where
you take, so if you’ve got groups, you’ve got everyone in their
individual groups and then you switch it around so that you
share it with the other people that were not in your group.
[Formal]
(….)
S2: It could get messy, I know, I know, but just as theoretical – it
sounds like it could work, but I don’t know in practice.
[Functional]
(….)
S2: Yeah, but kids, I don’t think there’s gonna be that much
discussion, I just think that’s gonna be more “show me your
thing” and then ((shows writing gesture)) copy, copy, copy ((all
laugh)). You know how it is.
[Functional]
[Situated]
(….)
S3: But maybe … [4 seconds] (…) ‘cause I remember with –
when we did jigsaw – like the kids ‘d actually test, like we were
tested like when we did it in a tutorial, we were tested on it, so it
wasn’t just procrastination. They must have actually done
something.
[Situated]
[Functional]
30
Ontological and epistemological foundations
Grounded cognition & manifold view of human conceptual understanding
Ontology: realist, dynamic
Axiology: internal-external
Epistemology: manifold
Human nature: grounded
Immanuel Kant
1724-1804
David Hume
1711-1776
Methodology: interpretative
Stephen Toulmin
1922-2009
Thomas S. Kuhn
1922-1996
It is NOT an eclectic constellation
Atkinson & Shriffin
Lawrence Barsalou
31
Theory & methodology
Theory
› a system of interconnected ideas
that condenses and organizes
knowledge and presents a
systematic view about a
phenomenon: concepts,
definitions, propositions,
relationships, etc
E.g., feminist theory, complexity
theory, conflict theory, consensus
theory
Kinds of theories
› Grand theories – broad narratives,
ontological and epistemological
postulates that define a field of
inquiry.
› Empirical theories – empirically
testable theories
› Critical theories – knowledge via
interpretation or self-reflection
Based on Cohen et al, 2002, Neuman 2006 32
Nature of inquiry
Method, instruments & data
Research methods
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it”
From Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet” [Polonius’ comment on Hamlet’s behaviour]
Methodology - theoretical,
political and philosophical
approaches to systematic
inquiry
“Know why”
Method – systematic
procedures that underpin
knowledge production
cycle, particularly data
gathering and analysis
“Know how”
Power of instruments: Seeing invisible
› Data is only a very
tiny representation
of the “actual
thing”
› Instruments are
not equal
› Choice of
instruments & data
is a big choice
› Determines, what
is included and
what is lost forever
Images from Dimper, eResearch Australasia, 2007
Power of instruments: Large picture
Structured
Power of instruments: In depth picture
Change over time
› Same data can
have multiple
meanings
› Analytical tools &
techniques are key
for getting results
Space
Individuals
Images from Hopkin 2002, 90-94
Evolution of scientific & social methods
Scientific research
Social research
1. Empirical: Aristotle
1. Descriptive: qual & quan.
2. Logical-theoretical: Newton,
Kepler
2. Theory-oriented: interpretative
& experimental
3. Computational: modelling
3. Constructivist-critical: action,
design-based, cybernetics
4. Exploratory: data-driven
4. ?“Social” data mining,
performative
Cutting-edge discoveries emerge at the edges of disciplinary domains from
the synthesis of theories, experiments and computation using large
integrated datasets
Based on Szalay, 2007
Data mining in “a nutshell”
Data mining is the process of discovering hidden
messages, patterns and knowledge within large
amounts of data and of making predictions for
outcomes or behaviours
What could be mined:
 Administrative records
 Digital learning traces


Texts & numbers
Lots of data
It is different from canonical statistical thinking
Data mining vs. statistics in “a nutshell”
An example:
› Peter is a PhD student who will do his fieldwork in a remote area. What
kind of support might help him to succeed?
Possible statistical question:

Which kinds of support are related
to the success of PhD students in
remote areas?
Possible data mining question:

What kinds of support were
successful (and not) for PhD students
similar to Peter?
Peter
Rural
area
PhD students in
rural areas
Learning
history
Thesis Rural
aims school
Etc
Background
Statistics vs. data mining
Statistics
Data mining
Data samples*
Purposeful, structured,
ideally experimental
Realistic, opportunity,
messy
Approach
Confirmatory
Exploratory
Inquiry process*
Starts from theory/
hypothesis
Starts from data
Theory
Informs hypothesis
Informs mining process
Assumptions about
population*
Homogenity
Variation
Generalizability
Commonality
Idiosyncratic behaviour
Target
Inform theory
Inform action
Nature of inquiry
Putting social research back into the
society
Key qualities of “good research”
1. Technically good
2. Show something new
3. Meaningful
Not all counts as research
Judgements include:
Research
Education
How well was it done?
What was achieved?
Based on Yates, 2004
“Awful reputation” of educational research
Failures:
›
Rigour & coherence
›
Commensurability of findings
›
Society expectations
›
Ideological bias
Research
How well was it done?
Policy
What does matter?
Education
›
Knowledge for decision-making
›
Practical benefit for teachers
What was achieved?
Based on Whitty, 2006
Research: Commensurability & Epistemological
awareness
Disciplinary roots:
› Anthropology
› Ethology
› Linguistic
› Psycholog(ies)
› Sociology(ies)
› History
› Policy studies
› Genetics
› Artificial intelligence
› Etc…
Education is field of study,
rather than a discipline
Advantages:
› Different research questions
› Multiplicity of perspectives
› Multiplicity of methodologies
Challenges:
› Different findings
› Commensurability?
› Epistemological awareness
Education: Imperatives & inquiry approaches
Pastoral
Political
Cultural
heritage
Skilling
Functions
of
schooling
Individual
expression
Regulative
Human
capital
Based on Freebody, 2003
Purpose of research: Pasteur's quadrant
Theory-oriented
research: cognition,
brain, etc
Everyday curiosity
Design based
research
Action research,
evaluation studies
Image from: http://publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/is-there-archaeology-in-pasteurs.html
Research as “method” and Research as “craft”
Findings
Findings
Analysis
Analysis
Analysis
Data
Findings
Data
Design
Hypothesis
Analysis
Design
Findings
Data
Analysis
Data
Hypothesis
Design
Hypothesis
Findings
Analysis
Hypothesis
Improvisation based on Patton (2011) Developmental evaluation 51
How do we know?
1. Experience – common sense knowing
-
Hunches
2. Reasoning – logic
-
Deductive – formal logic
-
Inductive – from observation to generalisation
3. Research – empirical science
-
Systematic, controlled, inductive-deductive
-
Theoretical
-
Empirical
-
Public, critical, self-reflective and self-correcting
4. Craft – knowledge, intelligent perception,
skill & improvisation
Francis Bacon
1561-1626
Rene Descartes
1596-1650
Improvisation based on Ingold (2000)
Main sources
›
Barsalou, L. W. (2009). Situating Concepts. In P. Robbins & M. Aydede
(Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition (pp. 236-263).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
›
Hey, T., Tansley, S., & Tolle, K. (Eds.). (2009). The fourth paradigm: Dataintensive scientific discovery. Remond: Microsoft Research.
›
Byrne, D. S. (1998). Complexity theory and the social sciences: an
introduction. London: Routledge.
›
Hopkins, D. (2002). A teacher's guide to classroom research (3rd ed.).
Buckingham: Open University Press.
›
Carter, B., & New, C. (Eds.). (2004). Making realism work: realist social
theory and empirical research. London: Routledge.
›
Ingold, T. (2000). The perception of the environment: essays on livelihood,
dwelling and skill. London: Routledge.
›
Chalmers, A. F. (1999). What is this thing called science? (3rd ed.). St
Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press.
›
Ingold, T. (2011). Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and
Description. Oxon, OX: Routledge.
›
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in
education (6th ed.). London: Routledge.
›
Knorr-Cetina, K. (1999). Epistemic cultures: how the sciences make
knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
›
Connell, R. (2007). Southern theory: the global dynamics of knowledge
in the social sciences. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.
›
Latour, B., & Woolgar, S. (1979). Laboratory life: The social construction of
scientific facts. Beverly Hills: Sage.
›
De Landa, M. (2006). A new philosophy of society: assemblage theory
and social complexity. London: Continuum.
›
Markauskaite, L., Freebody, P., & Irwin, J. (Eds.). (2010). Methodological
choice and design: scholarship, policy and practice in social and
educational research. Dordrecht: Springer.
›
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative
research (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
›
Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social research methods: qualitative and
quantitative approaches (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
›
Dimper, R. (2007). High performance computing for synchrotron
radiation research. Paper presented at the eResearch Australasia
conference, Brisbane, 26-29 June 2007.
›
Patton, M. Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation applying complexity
concepts to enhance innovation and use. New York: Guilford Press.
›
›
Fenwick, T., Edwards, R., & Sawchhuk, P. (2011). Emerging
approaches to educational research: Tracing the sociomaterial. London:
Routledge.
Richards, L., & Morse, J. M. (2011). Readme first: Users guide to
qualitative methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
›
Szalay, A. (2007). Science in an exponential world. Paper presented at the
eResearch Australasia conference, Brisbane, 26-29 June 2007.
›
Freebody, P. (2003). Qualitative research in education: interaction and
practice. London: SAGE Publications.
›
Whitty, G. (2006). Education(al) research and education policy making: Is
conflict inevitable? British Educational Research Journal, 32(2), 159-176.
›
Greeno, J. G. (2012). Concepts in Activities and Discourses. Mind,
Culture, and Activity, 19(3), 310-313.
›
Yates, L. (2004). What does good education research look like? situating a
field and its practices. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
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