The Relationship between Method and Validity in Social Science Research

An endless debate in social science research focuses on whether or not there is a philosophical basis for justifying the application of scientific methods to social inquiry. A review of the philosophies of various scholars in the field indicates that there is no single procedure for arriving at a valid statement in a scientific inquiry. Natural scientists employ a plethora of procedures for validating or rejecting the hypotheses guiding their investigations. There are various theories as to how knowledge can correspond with an observable reality. Theorists with a positivistic attitude minimize the differences between the natural and social sciences and exclude metaphysics from scientific investigation. Interpretive theorists argue that people's life-worlds are quite different from the world of natural science and therefore, should be investigated differently. Validity is determined on the basis of intersubjective understanding and acceptability. Critical theorists have a different orientation. They look beyond the descriptions of structured social relations and emphasize, instead, the use of knowledge. It is concluded that recent attempts to reconcile different approaches to research must be discounted. Instead, students in the social sciences must be provided with. a grounding in the diverse perspectives on the nature of the social world, in order to understand the independence and the interrelatedness of the various modes of inquiry. (KA) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************