Situating Social Sciences in the Philosophical Debate on Research Methodology with a Focus on Public Administration
| Author | Lavanya Suresh |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150112 |
| Date | 01 January 2015 |
| Published date | 01 January 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
SITUATING SOCIAL SCIENCES IN
THE
PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATE ON RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
WITH
A FOCUS ON PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
LAVANYA
SURESH
This article contextualises and locates social sciences
in
the
wider debate
of
research methodology. It goes on to narrow
down its focus
to
the discipline
of
Public Administration by
tracing its evolution and reaches the conclusion that a Kuhnian
historiography
of
a scientific discipline has characterised the
growth
of
theory
in
this discipline since its inception.
INTRODUCTION
THE
METHODOLOGY behind social science research work invariably
depends on
the
philosophical orientation one subscribes
to.
There are
two
philosophical schools
of
thought dealt with here,
the
scientific school that
is
geared towards "generalisability beyond spatio· temporal context" (Mukherji
2000: 14) and the Hermeneutics approach which involves empathic
interpretation
of
reality, both have their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Scientific Method
The scientific school
of
thought gained
from
the contributions
of
Karl
Popper, Thomas Kuhn and Imre Lakatos. Following
are
the summarised
versions
of
the philosophies and what each thought
of
others work.
Popper's Falsification
The central aspect
of
Popper's theory is that he sees science
as
a set
of
distinct unconnected theories (DiCicco and Levy
1999)
that may
be
overturned at anytime. This he terms
as
"fallibilism". (Walker 2010:438)
The strength
of
a theory lies
in
its resilience
to
withstand falsification rather
that
in
verifiability (Mukherji 2000).
His
concern was not with paradigm
shift
as
in
Kuhn but on identifying anomalies
so
as
to
falsify existing
theory.
Hence refutation
is
the mark
of
progress, wherein, dominant and competing
theories are pitted against each other leading
to
the development
of
science.
The two vital principals
of
enquiry are thus "avoiding narrow specialisation"
and maintaining a "highly critical approach." (Walker 2010:439).
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