Download INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE & RESEARCH

INTRODUCTION TO
SCIENCE &
RESEARCH
Topics
 The role of Knowledge
 Understanding science & the scientific method
 Thomas Kuhn and the path towards normal
science
 Paradigms in the social science
 Reasoning (deductive and inductive)
 Research and Public Administration
 "Feminism encourages women to leave
their husbands, kill their children,
practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism
and become lesbians."
-- Pat Robertson
 Would you consider the above
statement to have any scientific
merit?
The role of knowledge
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2.
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The French philosopher Auguste Comte has
been considered by many as the father of
sociology and he has been very influential in
the social sciences. Comte identified three
types of knowledge that human beings have
used to explain the natural and social world.
Theological
Metaphysical
Positivist or scientific
Types of knowledge
Theological
Humans explain nature as the wish of a
superior force (s) beyond the control of
human beings
2.
Metaphysical
 Normative view of the world. The focus is not
on what it is, but how it ought to be
3.
Positivist, scientist, objectivist
 Nature follows some laws and patterns that
can be studied, modeled and replicated
objectively using standard procedures
So what type of knowledge is Mr. Pat Robertson
using to analyze feminism?
1.

Goals of Scientific Research
According to Mc Nabb (2002) the goals are
 To describe some event, thing or
phenomenon
 To predict future behavior or events
based on observed changes in existing
conditions
 To provide for greater understanding of
phenomena and how variables are
related
The path towards Normal
science (Thomas Kuhn)
 According to Kuhn science can be
1.
2.
3.
4.
divided into two groups: paradigmatic
or normal and pre-paradigmatic science
What is a paradigm?
What is the process through which a
field acquires a paradigm?
Can any field achieve scientific
recognition if it lacks of a paradigm?
What role does a paradigm play?
What is a paradigm?
 A paradigm is what the members of a scientific
community share and likewise a scientific community
consists of people who share a paradigm
 A paradigm governs in the first instance, not a subject
matter, but a group of practitioners
 A paradigm commits the group of practitioners to a
disciplinary matrix
 Paradigms are formed to share examples that result in
“tacit knowledge” acquired by doing science
What is the process through which a field
acquires a paradigm?
A paradigm or a theory is accepted by the
scientific community when it can be said
to explain the phenomenon of a field
better than its competitors by
 Becoming a better instrument for
discovery
 Becoming a better instrument to solve
puzzles
 Representing better nature or society
Can a field achieve scientific
recognition if it lacks a paradigm?
 There will be “paradigm shifts” or
“paradigm competition” but never a lack
of paradigm (s) unless the field becomes
simply speculative and unscientific. To
reject a paradigm without substitution is
to reject science itself
What role does a paradigm
play?
 It guides research on problems and solutions
 It governs groups of practitioners or
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communities committed to some standards and
methods
It is the common property of a group
Institutionalizes the way knowledge is being
taught and transferred
It provides problems or questions to be studied
It offers a disciplinary matrix
What is a disciplinary
matrix?
A disciplinary matrix is defined by Kuhn as the “common
possession” of the practitioners of a particular discipline.
 Symbolic generalizations: a common language to
communicate among practitioners
Y = α + βX
 Metaphysical paradigms: commitment to particular
models
 Values: Kuhn argues that prediction is perhaps the most
important value shared by a community of scientists.
 Examplars: the concrete problem-solutions the field
deals with.
The route to normal science
PARADIGM
COMPETITION
A PARADIGM EMERGES
AS BETTER THAN
OTHERS
PARADIGM ENTERS IN
CRISIS
NOVEL THEORIES
EMERGE
Paradigms and social science
 Based on Kuhn’s ideas and concept
of paradigm. Can we conclude that
the social sciences are really
scientific?
 What is (are) the paradigm (s) that
governs the social sciences in
general and public administration in
particular?
Paradigms and social research
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Positivism
Social physics
An objective reality exists that can be
measured, analyzed, modeled & replicated
Ideas and theories are confronted with facts
Regularities and patterns are present
Social reality can be analyzed systematically
Social reality can be quantified and measured
systematically
Example: poverty exists and can be
measured
Paradigms and social research
2.
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Interpretivism (ethnographic research)
An objective reality does not exist; instead
reality is socially constructed
The goal is to understand what meaning
people give to reality
Reality is relative depending on how the group
or the person perceives it
Example: poverty is in the eye of the beholder
Paradigms and social research
Constructivism
 Reality is constructed by the actors
 Explores how different stakeholders in
social settings construct their beliefs
 Example: I have less than average
Joe, therefore, I must be poor
3.
Paradigms in public administration
 Public administration started out as part of political
science and focused on the study of government
(ethics, accountability, transparency, bureaucracy,
administrative law, public participation, etc.).
 Public administration went through a paradigm
shift and established itself as its own discipline
borrowing from other fields such as economics,
management science, public policy, etc. (human
resources management, public finance, policy
evaluation, strategic planning, public sector
economics, etc.).
 In sum, public administration has moved from of a
normative (values) to a positivist (facts) approach
Public administration research
Policy output
Manpower modeling methods
Adaptation to scarcity
Productivity measures
Local attitudes and leader
opinion
Effects of federal aid
Licensure effectiveness
Public participation
Policy outcomes
Cooperative management
style
Organizational costs
Job managing effectiveness
Attitudes, beliefs, and values Staff burnout
Cash-management
strategies
School effectiveness
Tax-limitations
Risk-management practice
Research validity & reliability Affirmative actioneffectiveness
Source: McNabb (2002:18)
Social research strategies
Ideas: What we think
THEORY
DEDUCTIVE
REASONING
INDUCTIVE
REASONING
DATA
Reality: What we observe
Deductive and Inductive Logic
 Research that comes from observation with little
prior theory is inductive, whereas logical theory
tends to be more deductive.
 However, the formulation of new research
questions usually contains elements of both since
the real world must motivate our curiosity,
although reformulations of questions may be
more deductively motivated based on work of
others.
Data (facts) analysis
 No matter what research strategy we use
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(deductive or inductive) data analysis is
needed.
Data analysis refers to understanding what the
facts are telling us
Data analysis also refers to being able to
communicate facts
“If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it”
Statistics is a research tool to help us
understand and communicate facts
Most common statistical
techniques in PA research
Univariate
Bivariate correlation
Multiple regression
37
20
25
ANOVA
Path analysis
Bivariate regression
3
3
1
Cross-tabulations
Factor Analysis
Chi square
22
5
4
MANOVA
Nonlinear regression
Other
1
1
3
N= 125
Source: McNabb (2002:19)