Chapter 1 - from Philosophy to methodology
Philosophy
Philosophy and methodology
A statement of personal philosophy
Philosophical methods
Types of Methodology
Social Science
Philosophy
Why Have a Philosophy?
Elias (1982) notes that "philosophers of every age have offered explanation of freedom and determinism, individual and societal rights, good and evil, and truth and falsehood"
Personal philosophies are used all the time by individuals as we interpret information and experience to make every decision, from the tiniest mundane act - perhaps unconsciously adhering to the philosophy that switching on a kettle will cause the water to boil based on the knowledge that it worked yesterday and the day before, perhaps linked to an understanding of electrical circuitry and thermal physics, to the biggest lifestyle choices involving personal goals, family, career and how to spend our time on the planet, or perhaps beyond. If theory is generalised experience, then philosophy may perhaps be thought of as personalised theory.
Philosophy and methodology
According to Spirkin (1983) "A methodology is a system of principles and general ways of organising and structuring theoretical and practical activity, and also the theory of this system."
At the philosophical level then, methodology provides a general system of assumptions and a guideline of human activity, and therefore may affect everything that a researcher does. It would thus be appropriate to make a researcher's personal philosophy explicit before justifying the methodology employed in a particular project.
A statement of personal philosophy
I believe that matter exists, that it is the primary condition and that ideas are abstracted patterns which arise out of an objective material reality rather than vice versa.
That the world is infinitely complex and variable, but generalised patterns may be detected in common with other observers, which provide useful tools to understanding nature.
That better theories can give rise to qualitatively improved science and technique, replacing previously accepted theories, but that an absolute truth can never be claimed indefinitely.
That philosophies, theories, ideas, systems, models, tools, metaphors and diagrams provide an indispensable means of thinking about reality but only through approximation and a reduced representation of natural things and processes which should not be confused with the thing itself.
That human nature is a mixture of genetic predisposition formed over hundreds of thousands of years evolution as socially functioning primates, combined with the cultural knowledge and environment which has been built up by successive generations in the recent period known as civilisation.
Philosophical methods
The main techniques for discovery of new knowledge and theory amount to differing combinations of empiricism and reason. One major formulation to which can be attributed many advances is known as the "scientific method" and consists of formulating a hypothesis, then devising and performing a reproducible experiment which either 'proves' or disproves the hypothesis. This was very useful during the early days of mankind's exploration of the natural laws and materials. It gave rise to the possibility of advanced technology, which in turn allowed more accurate and revealing experimentation and so on in rapidly advancing cycles of development and discovery.
Types of Methodology
There are several different ways to classify broad methodologies. One of the most popular is to divide into substantive and formal types of methodology. The substantive attempts to structure scientific knowledge and theory whilst the formalised analyses language, explanation and description. In another classification, methods are divided into philosophical, general scientific, and special scientific methods. One more classification relies on different methods of qualitative and quantitative study of reality. Social science research in particular has demanded new formulations of methodology, from the dialectical materialism of Marx and Engels through the simplistic application of formal logic by statistical social science, to the theory of social darwinism and pseudo science of eugenics.
(500 words)
Social Science
Modern social science research methodologies tend to be regarded as belonging to two traditions. Positivism (closely allied to Naturalism and originated by August Compte, the father of Sociology who also coined the word "altruism" in his Catechisme Positiviste ) maintains that the natural world and social world are roughly identical and governed by similar principles, thus the application of the scientific method to social science is valid, whereas Anti-positivism claims that there is something so significantly different about the complexities of human lives and interactions that the methods built up by scientists for investigating the natural world are insufficient and therefore inapplicable. In practice the distinction tends to be more of a spectrum than a dichotomy, with methodologies such as Action Research, with which this review is primarily concerned, borrowing some theory and methods from both camps.
This author would argue that some anti-positivists have tended to wrongly reject scientific method for its materialism rather than by critiquing the limitations of formal logic, and so ended up in the mire of interpretism / idealism rather than embracing a more appropriate way of thinking about processes known as dialectical logic combined with a materialist view of social history. The reasons why despite their limitations, positivism and idealism continue to hold sway, lie in political events of the twentieth century which are well beyond the scope of this review.
Philosophy
Philosophy and methodology
A statement of personal philosophy
Philosophical methods
Types of Methodology
Social Science
Philosophy
Why Have a Philosophy?
Elias (1982) notes that "philosophers of every age have offered explanation of freedom and determinism, individual and societal rights, good and evil, and truth and falsehood"
Personal philosophies are used all the time by individuals as we interpret information and experience to make every decision, from the tiniest mundane act - perhaps unconsciously adhering to the philosophy that switching on a kettle will cause the water to boil based on the knowledge that it worked yesterday and the day before, perhaps linked to an understanding of electrical circuitry and thermal physics, to the biggest lifestyle choices involving personal goals, family, career and how to spend our time on the planet, or perhaps beyond. If theory is generalised experience, then philosophy may perhaps be thought of as personalised theory.
Philosophy and methodology
According to Spirkin (1983) "A methodology is a system of principles and general ways of organising and structuring theoretical and practical activity, and also the theory of this system."
At the philosophical level then, methodology provides a general system of assumptions and a guideline of human activity, and therefore may affect everything that a researcher does. It would thus be appropriate to make a researcher's personal philosophy explicit before justifying the methodology employed in a particular project.
A statement of personal philosophy
I believe that matter exists, that it is the primary condition and that ideas are abstracted patterns which arise out of an objective material reality rather than vice versa.
That the world is infinitely complex and variable, but generalised patterns may be detected in common with other observers, which provide useful tools to understanding nature.
That better theories can give rise to qualitatively improved science and technique, replacing previously accepted theories, but that an absolute truth can never be claimed indefinitely.
That philosophies, theories, ideas, systems, models, tools, metaphors and diagrams provide an indispensable means of thinking about reality but only through approximation and a reduced representation of natural things and processes which should not be confused with the thing itself.
That human nature is a mixture of genetic predisposition formed over hundreds of thousands of years evolution as socially functioning primates, combined with the cultural knowledge and environment which has been built up by successive generations in the recent period known as civilisation.
Philosophical methods
The main techniques for discovery of new knowledge and theory amount to differing combinations of empiricism and reason. One major formulation to which can be attributed many advances is known as the "scientific method" and consists of formulating a hypothesis, then devising and performing a reproducible experiment which either 'proves' or disproves the hypothesis. This was very useful during the early days of mankind's exploration of the natural laws and materials. It gave rise to the possibility of advanced technology, which in turn allowed more accurate and revealing experimentation and so on in rapidly advancing cycles of development and discovery.
Types of Methodology
There are several different ways to classify broad methodologies. One of the most popular is to divide into substantive and formal types of methodology. The substantive attempts to structure scientific knowledge and theory whilst the formalised analyses language, explanation and description. In another classification, methods are divided into philosophical, general scientific, and special scientific methods. One more classification relies on different methods of qualitative and quantitative study of reality. Social science research in particular has demanded new formulations of methodology, from the dialectical materialism of Marx and Engels through the simplistic application of formal logic by statistical social science, to the theory of social darwinism and pseudo science of eugenics.
(500 words)
Social Science
Modern social science research methodologies tend to be regarded as belonging to two traditions. Positivism (closely allied to Naturalism and originated by August Compte, the father of Sociology who also coined the word "altruism" in his Catechisme Positiviste ) maintains that the natural world and social world are roughly identical and governed by similar principles, thus the application of the scientific method to social science is valid, whereas Anti-positivism claims that there is something so significantly different about the complexities of human lives and interactions that the methods built up by scientists for investigating the natural world are insufficient and therefore inapplicable. In practice the distinction tends to be more of a spectrum than a dichotomy, with methodologies such as Action Research, with which this review is primarily concerned, borrowing some theory and methods from both camps.
This author would argue that some anti-positivists have tended to wrongly reject scientific method for its materialism rather than by critiquing the limitations of formal logic, and so ended up in the mire of interpretism / idealism rather than embracing a more appropriate way of thinking about processes known as dialectical logic combined with a materialist view of social history. The reasons why despite their limitations, positivism and idealism continue to hold sway, lie in political events of the twentieth century which are well beyond the scope of this review.