The Relevance of Deweyan Inquiry to Teaching Social Science Research Methods

1
The Relevance of Deweyan Inquiry to Teaching
Social Science Research Methods

• Shane J. Ralston, Ph.D.
• Penn State University-Hazleton
• Penn State University-World Campus

2
Organization of the Paper

• Teaching Social Science Research Methods
• Why Deweyan Inquiry is Relevant
• Deweys Empiricism, Not Scientism
• Some Pedagogical Suggestions
• Conclusion

3
Teaching Social Science Research Methods

• Focus on explanatory and predictive research
• Kinds of questions, conceptual frameworks,
  methods/techniques, statistical approaches
• Pattern of Social Scientific Inquiry
• Problem Definition
• Hypothesis Construction
• Research Design
• Measurement
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis
• Generalization

4
Why Deweyan Inquiry is Relevant

• Not specific to formal empirical research, but
  generally applicable to political/administrative
  practice (Poli Sci MA or MPA program)
• Deweys How We Think (1910/1933)
• Deweys Logic The Theory of Inquiry (1938)
• A Felt Difficulty or Indeterminate Situation
• Locating and Defining the Problem
• A Suggested Solution
• Refining the Suggestion
• Testing the Suggestion

5
Deweyan Inquiry vs. Social
Scientific Inquiry

• Felt Difficulty
• Problem Location and Definition
• Suggestion of a Possible Solution
• Refine the Suggestion
• Test Suggestion

• Problem Definition
• Hypothesis Definition
• Research Design
• Measurement
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis
• Generalization

6
Deweys Empiricism, Not Scientism

• Dewey, Philosophys Future in Our Scientific
  Age
• What is needed is not the carrying over of
  procedures that have approved themselves in
  physical science, but new methods as adapted to
  human issues and problems, as methods already in
  scientific use have shown themselves to be in
  physical subject-matter
• Dewey, Logic
• The difference between physical and social
  inquiry does not reside in the presence or
  absence of an end-in-view i.e., an intermediary
  goal, formulated in terms of possible
  consequences. It consists in the respective
  subject-matters of the purposes. The difference
  makes a great practical difference in the conduct
  of inquiry a difference in the kinds of
  operations to be performed in instituting the
  subject-matters that in their respective
  interactions will resolve a situation

7
Some Pedagogical Suggestions

• Felt Difficulty and Doubt
• The Notebook Method
• Conceptual Framework
• Theories as tools
• Better way to distinguish conceptual/operational
  definitions
• Add exploratory, descriptive and understanding
  research
• Fact-Value Continuum

8
Conclusion

• Familiar student objection What difference does
  social science research make for political
  practice?
• Flyvbjergs distinction between phronetic and
  epistemic inquirer
• Building a pragmatic bridge across the
  research/practice divide