Social sciences, social reality and the false division between theory and method: some implications for social research

Abstract

It is important for social sciences such as sociology, economics, criminology, psychology and anthropology, committed as they are to teaching research methods (and dependent on them for the reliable delivery of research data), to rectify basic problems which inhibit the genuine integration and accumulation of knowledge. First, the false distinction between theory and method should be abandoned, in order that authentic, problem-driven research can be installed at the heart of social scientific research. A second deficiency concerns the persistent neglect of issues around the nature of social reality, particularly their absence in (text book) discussions of research methods, and in routine research practices. Remedying these would strengthen data gathering and sampling techniques, the construction of research designs, aims and objectives, as well as the analysis of findings drawn from evidence. There is also a need for more theory-generation in social sciences, but without any neglect of theory-testing, falsification and verification. Modifications of this kind would aid the genuine accumulation of empirical and theoretical knowledge in social sciences. It is naive to assume that this can be achieved via the stock-piling of empirical data sets in terms of similarity of ‘topic’ or ‘substantive area’. Genuine integration and accumulation can only be attained via appropriate research strategies designed to establish deep links between local properties of research data and the global properties of social reality. As such, social policy considerations and decisions would be based on firmer, more robustly integrated analyses of empirical evidence.