Page 49 - DLIS407_INFORMATION AND LITERATURE SURVEY IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Information and Literature Survey in Social Sciences

Notes There was little agreement among specialists in a particular social science, let alone among all social
scientists. A cynic once said, “Economics is what economists do.” If we replaced “economics” and
“economists” with any of the other social sciences and its practitioners, we would have as good a
definition as possible. Unfortunately, it would not be very helpful to those who do not know what
social scientists do.
One important difference among the individual social scientists did come out of these discussions:
Even when two social scientists are considering the same issue, because their training is different
they focus on different aspects of that problem. Geographers fixate on spaces and spatial relativities,
economists on market incentives, and political scientists on group decision making.
Research in social sciences has certain limitations and problems when compared with research in
physical sciences. They are discussed below:
y Scientist - a part of what is studied: The fact that a social scientist is part of the human society
which he studies given rise to certain limitations.
y Complexity of the subject matter: The subject matter of research in social sciences, viz., human
society and human behaviour is too complex, varied and changing to yield to the scientific
categorization, measurement, analysis and prediction.
y Human problems: A social scientist faces certain human problems, which the natural scientist is
spared. These problems are varied and include refusal of respondents, improper understanding
of questions by them, their loss of memory, their reluctance to furnish certain information, etc.
All these problems cause biases and invalidate the research findings and conclusions.
y Personal values: Subjects and clients, as well as investigators, have personal values that are
apt to become involved in the research process. One should not assume that these are freely
exploitable. The investigator must have respect for the client’s values.
y Anthropomorphization: Another hazard of social science research is the danger of “the
temptation to anthropomorphize about humans”. It results in using observations obtained by
sheer intuition or empathy in conceptualising in anthropomorphic manner.
y Wrong decisions: The quality of research findings depends upon the soundness of decisions
made by the social scientist on such crucial stages of his research process as definition of the
unit of study, operationalisation of concepts, selection of sampling techniques and statistical
techniques. Any mistake in any of these decisions will vitiate the validity of his findings.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
6. A social scientist faces certain…………, which the natural scientist is spared.
7. The quality of research findings depends upon the soundness of …………..made by the social
scientist on such crucial stages of his research process.

6.5 Summary

y The Government of India has recognising the importance of social science research in the
national development and introduced a number of programmes after independence.
y The key disciplines recognized by the council for supporting social science research in the
country are: Economics (including commerce), Education, Management (including Business
Administration), Political Science (including International Relations), Psychology, Public
Administration, and Sociology (including Criminology and Social Work).

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