The Relevance of Deweyan Inquiry to Teaching Social Science Research

Methods

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

Organization of the Paper

Teaching Social Science Research Methods

Why Deweyan Inquiry is Relevant

Dewey’s Empiricism, Not Scientism

Some Pedagogical Suggestions

Conclusion

Teaching Social Science Research Methods

Focus on explanatory and predictive research

Kinds of questions, conceptual frameworks, methods/techniques, statistical approaches

Pattern of Social Scientific Inquiry1. Problem Definition2. Hypothesis Construction3. Research Design4. Measurement5. Data Collection6. Data Analysis7. Generalization

Why Deweyan Inquiry is Relevant

Not specific to formal empirical research, but generally applicable to political/administrative practice (Poli Sci MA or MPA program)

Dewey’s How We Think (1910/1933)

Dewey’s Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938)

1. A Felt Difficulty or Indeterminate Situation2. Locating and Defining the Problem3. A Suggested Solution4. Refining the Suggestion5. Testing the Suggestion

1) Problem Definition2) Hypothesis Definition3) Research Design4) Measurement 5) Data Collection6) Data Analysis7) Generalization

Deweyan Inquiry vs. Social Scientific Inquiry1) Felt Difficulty2) Problem Location and Definition3) Suggestion of a Possible Solution4) Refine the Suggestion5) Test Suggestion

2. Specifying the problem

3. Suggesting a solution

4. Refining the suggestion

5. Testing the suggestion

1. Indeterminate

situation Settled situation/Warranted assertion

Primary, non-reflective experience

Secondary, reflective experience

Dewey’s Empiricism, Not Scientism

Dewey, “Philosophy’s 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”

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

Conclusion

Familiar student objection: “What difference does social science research make for political practice?”

Flyvbjerg’s distinction between phronetic and epistemic inquirer

Building a pragmatic bridge across the research/practice divide