The Role of Ideology in Naturalistic Research.

Abstract

ABSTRACT All social science serves some agenda: social science research is a value-bound, value-determined, context-situated, and ideologically loaded enterprise. Each researcher makes choices in the following areas, whether tacitly, implicitly, or deliberately: (1) a paradigm choice, either conventional (rationalistic) or emerging (naturalistic); (2) the methodology, or design strategy; (3) a methods choice, either qualitative or quantitative; and (4) a perspectives choice, such as realist, feminist, neo-Marxist, etc. In each of these areas, researchers can opt for either an open or a closed system; for either a pattern or a hypothetico-deductive paradigm. In determining what kinds of knowledge he or she thinks is important, meaningful, powerful, persuasive, and socially acceptable, the researcher is making a political statement. Choice points are illustrated on a figure and a list of references is included. (BJV)

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