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Doing Social Research

Some Personal Reflections

BABU P GEORGE, PhD

Associate Professor of Business

Alaska Pacific University

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Proverbs 14:15 The simple believes every

word, but the prudent considers well his

steps.

Isaiah 1:18 God said: Come let us reason

together.

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The Foundations

What do researchers strive for? TRUTH? No!

Models that explain phenomena? Yes Scientific realism Vs Scientific instrumentalism

Science Vs Pseudoscience

The central property of science is falsifiability You can never prove anything with science

If a scientific claim can stand tests of refutation, it is likely to be true

What is a scientific explanation? a scientific explanation succeeds by subsuming a phenomenon under

a general law

Why do researchers do what they do? What are your personal motivations?

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Analysis, Induction, Deduction

Analysis is the process of decomposing complex

phenomena into simpler constituent components Reductionism refers to an extremist form of analysis

In the final analysis, you can explain everything, including

human behavior, in the language of physics and chemistry!

Induction refers to weaving together the whole

picture (general principle) from its parts.

Deduction refers to explaining a particularphenomenon as a realization of a general principle

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Empirical Verification

The predictions implied by hypotheses should

be in agreement with observations

Observations are NOT limited to observations by

Multiple observers and multiple observations

fortify the value of observations

It is difficult (if not impossible) to find inter-

subjectively agreeable observations in human

sciences

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Duhem-Quine thesis

It is impossible to test a theory in isolation

Interaction with the nomological network If a particular test doesnt support a theory, dont

immediately discard the theory

Look for compounding factors that would solve theissue!

The danger is that you might be able to resist rejecting atheory despite compelling counter observations, just byadding ad-hoc excuse hypotheses

Occams razor warns against this tendency

Kuhns Dominant Design

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How do you Know what you Know?

Can we possibly know a thing as it is?

No. We know in human way.

Not yet; we know in Indian way/female way/introvert

way/young way/ ./ I know in my unique way

You dont know a rose until you become a rose; fromthen you will cease to know a rose as others see it.

Me and my Father are One: Atman Brahman oneness!

This is also the root of differences between Subjectivist-

Qualitative and Objectivist-Quantitative researchers

Now, are you a subjectivist or an objectivist?

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The Scientific Method

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Research Problems and Hypotheses

Research problems are opportunities for

grasping the world better Why are some satisfied customers not repeat

Hypotheses are competing alternative

solutions trying to address the research

problem Might be, they are variety seekers.

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Instrument Development

Construct

Validity and Reliability

Test-retest reliability, inter-subjective reliability

ace, convergent, scr m nant, an nomo og cavalidity

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Multi-Stage Mixed Designs

Qualitative first stage followed by quantitative

secon stage stu es ave t e greatest mpact Identify the phenomenon via qualitative study

Quantify and universalize the findings via

quantitative study

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Qualitative Methods are NOT

Stepchildren!

Case studies

Critical incident technique Projective technique

Content analysis

Exegesis

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Nuances with PhD Research Move away from the single supervisor centered solar system

Faculty-Scholar research committees

Leverage social media for rich interaction

Be flexible with the topic, research problems, methods,.andeverything! Make surprises, be prepared for surprises!

Observations and literature reviews offer the first opportunities forwr ng researc papers Why not begin writing blogs?

Networking with other research scholars and academicians ingeneral is vital

Attend conferences!

Prepare active CVs: Google Scholar Profile, academia.edu, LinkedIn,etc

Dont ever plan for systematic progress Knowledge rarely reveals herself linearly!

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Nuances with PhD Research Copyrights are 20th century things

The best way to protect your knowledge is to makepublic imprints of it Publish work-in-progress papers online

SSRN, Scribd, etc

The politics of research Close-minded supervisors

Sensitive research topics

Issues with college / university administrators

Ethical issues Human subjects

Synergizing teaching, research, and service

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QUESTIONS???