Research is an
essential and powerful tool is leading man towards progress. Without systematic
research there would have been very little progress. John W. Best has rightly
said “The secret of our cultural development has been research, pushing back
the areas of ignorance by discovering new truths, which in turn, lead to better
ways of doing things and better products”.
Scientific
research leads to progress in some field of life. New products, new facts, new
concepts and new ways of doing things are being found due to ever increasing
significant research in the physical, the biological, the social and the
psychological fields. Research today is no longer confined to the science
laboratory. The manufacturers, the agricultural experts and the archeologists
are carrying on research in their respective spheres, besides, the
sociologists, anthropologists, economists and educationists.
C.C. Crawford, “Research is simply a
systematic and refined technique of thinking, employing specialized tools,
instruments and procedures in order to obtain a more adequate solution of a
problem than would be possible under ordinary means.”
Francis Bacon, “Research is a power of
suspending judgement with patience of meditating with pleasures of asserting
with caution, of correcting with readiness of arranging thought with scrupulous
plan.”
SCOPE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
Social research
as a scientific tool to study and analyze social problems has immense value. It
studies them in a purely scientific spirit i.e. with a view to understand their
structure. A social scientist records and collects significant facts and
figures of social problems and this in turn makes possible correct generalizations
about them. The basic scope of social research is to understand sooner or later
but correctly the nature of social events and processes and though this is done
without any motive of particular reforms the conclusions cannot be ruled out.
In brief, following are the scope of social research.
i.
Knowledge
Building: Generalizations drawn have a certain effect on the established
corpus of knowledge. A general proposition having been established as an
outcome of research may extend the bounds of knowledge existing at a point in
time. It may, if it does not fit a certain body of existing knowledge in the
sense of not arguing well with the expectations that can be legitimately drawn
from it, exert pressure on the scientist to bring about certain amendments or
modifications in this body of knowledge in view of the discordant note struck
by this new general proposition. Contrarily, if the generalization fits the
established corpus of knowledge, it lends added credence to it.
Thus
the new statements of generality emanating as research outcomes serve as scales
for verification of the existing system of knowledge is only repeating the
obvious. As has been noted research involves testing to find out whether the
empirical observations presented as general statements are in accord with the
predictions that may be made on the basis of the existing body of knowledge. If
such is not the case, the system needs to be revised or even rejected. An
important aspect of scientific activity is verification of conclusions which
have found place in the established system of knowledge.
ii.
Study of
Social Problem: Where there is knowledge, ignorance cannot exist. The best
way of removing superstitions, blind beliefs etc. is to transplant true
knowledge in their stead. For example, before
the intensive social research came into crime the social causes of crime were
not realized and people thought that propensity to crime was inherited. But now
all this has changed.
The scourge of
ignorance is one greatest block to social progress. It breeds superstitions and
blind faith in traditions, it keeps orthodoxy alive. By unraveling the
intricate and complex phenomenon of popular beliefs, social research enables us
to attack vigorously the citadels of orthodoxy of stop its growth. Gradually
new knowledge seeps in popular mind and thus superstitions become diluted and
ultimately removed. The key to the solution of social problems is their
accurate and unbiased analysis and thereby to understand the causal factors
responsible for them. The analysis of an untrained observer is not
dispassionate and precise. Only a social scientist is competent to undertake
this task. Social scientists have successfully analyzed the problems of
regionalism, casteism, linguism, communalism etc.
iii.
Theory
making and policy making: The extended, corrected and verified knowledge
may be put to two possible uses:
a. Theoretical. Knowledge thus acquired
may be used for constructing theoretic models. In other words, knowledge may be
organized into propositions and these propositions may then be meaningfully
articulated to form a more abstract conceptual system affording estimations
about a class of thing or phenomena governed by a specified set of conditions.
Such use of knowledge is often labeled as theory-oriented and the activities of
a scientist who seeks knowledge for the sake of building theories of, ‘non-utilitarian’
import are often known as ‘pure’ ‘basic’ or ‘theoretical’ research. Knowledge for the sake
of knowledge i.e. only for the satisfaction of ‘knowing’ is the attitude that underlies scientific activity of this
order.
b. Practical. The researches which seek
knowledge will be used mainly for policy making which can be used to solve
various problems confronted by our society. They may serve some practical ends which
are often called ‘applied’
‘action-oriented’
or ‘practice-oriented’.
We shall be considering this aspect in greater details when an action
oriented research has to be taken up. One should not consider these two
orientations as comprising a perfect dichotomy. There is nothing as practical
as a good theory and that endeavours to solve practical problems have many a
time given birth to theories i.e. practice is quite often “blessing for the
development of theory”. Theory helps us to identify gaps in our knowledge and
seek to bridge them with institutive, impressionistic or extensional
generalizations.
Laws
propagate when they are united in a theory. As Karl Jespers said ‘It is only when using methodologically
classified sciences that we know what we know and what we do not know. This
way, theory constitutes a crucially important guide to designing of fruitful
research.’
SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH
“All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is
often better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to
invention” is a famous Hudson Maxim
in context of which the significance of research can well be understood.
Increased amounts of research make progress possible. Research inculcates
scientific and inductive thinking and it promotes the development of logical
habits of thinking and organisation.
The role of
research in several fields of applied economics, whether related to business or
to the economy as a whole, has greatly increased in modern times. The
increasingly complex nature of business and government has focused attention on
the use of research in solving operational problems. Research, as an aid to
economic policy, has gained added importance, both for government and business.
Research
provides the basis for nearly all government policies in our economic system.
For instance, government’s budgets rest in part on an analysis of the needs and
desires of the people and on the availability of revenues to meet these needs.
The cost of needs has to be equated to probable revenues and this is a field
where research is most needed. Through research we can devise alternative
policies and can as well examine the consequences of each of these
alternatives.
Decision-making
may not be a part of research, but research certainly facilitates the decisions
of the policy maker. Government has also to chalk out programmes for dealing
with all facets of the country’s existence and most of these will be related
directly or indirectly to economic conditions. The plight of cultivators, the
problems of big and small business and industry, working conditions, trade
union activities, the problems of distribution, even the size and nature of defence
services are matters requiring research. Thus, research is considered necessary
with regard to the allocation of nation’s resources. Another area in
government, where research is necessary, is collecting information on the
economic and social structure of the nation. Such information indicates what is
happening in the economy and what changes are taking place. Collecting such
statistical information is by no means a routine task, but it involves a
variety of research problems. These day nearly all governments maintain large
staff of research technicians or experts to carry on this work. Thus, in the
context of government, research as a tool to economic policy has three distinct
phases of operation, viz., (i) investigation of economic structure through
continual compilation of facts; (ii) diagnosis of events that are taking place
and the analysis of the forces underlying them; and (iii) the prognosis, i.e.,
the prediction of future developments.
Research has
its special significance in solving various operational and planning problems
of business and industry. Operations research and market research, along
with motivational research, are considered crucial and their results assist, in
more than one way, in taking business decisions. Market research is the
investigation of the structure and development of a market for the purpose of
formulating efficient policies for purchasing, production and sales. Operations
research refers to the application of mathematical, logical and analytical
techniques to the solution of business problems of cost minimisation or of
profit maximisation or what can be termed as optimisation problems.
Motivational research of determining why people behave as they do is mainly
concerned with market characteristics. In other words, it is concerned with the
determination of motivations underlying the consumer (market) behaviour. All
these are of great help to people in business and industry who are responsible
for taking business decisions. Research with regard to demand and market factors
has great utility in business. Given knowledge of future demand, it is
generally not difficult for a firm, or for an industry to adjust its supply
schedule within the limits of its projected capacity. Market analysis has
become an integral tool of business policy these days. Business budgeting,
which ultimately results in a projected profit and loss account, is based
mainly on sales estimates which in turn depends on business research. Once
sales forecasting is done, efficient production and investment programmes can
be set up around which are grouped the purchasing and financing plans.
Research, thus, replaces intuitive business decisions by more logical and
scientific decisions.
Research is
equally important for social scientists in studying social relationships and in
seeking answers to various social problems. It provides the intellectual
satisfaction of knowing a few things just for the sake of knowledge and also
has practical utility for the social scientist to know for the sake of being
able to do something better or in a more efficient manner. Research in social
sciences is concerned both with knowledge for its own sake and with knowledge
for what it can contribute to practical concerns. “This double emphasis is perhaps especially appropriate in the case of
social science. On the one hand, its responsibility as a science is to develop
a body of principles that make possible the understanding and prediction of the
whole range of human interactions. On the other hand, because of its social
orientation, it is increasingly being looked to for practical guidance in
solving immediate problems of human relations.”
In addition to
what has been stated above, the significance of research can also be understood
keeping in view the following points:
(a) To
those students who are to write a master’s or Ph.D. thesis, research may mean careerism
or a way to attain a high position in the social structure;
(b) To
professionals in research methodology, research may mean a source of
livelihood;
(c) To
philosophers and thinkers, research may mean the outlet for new ideas and
insights;
(d) To
literary men and women, research may mean the development of new styles and
creative work;
(e) To
analysts and intellectuals, research may mean the generalisations of new
theories.
Thus, research
is the fountain of knowledge for the sake of knowledge and an important source of
providing guidelines for solving different business, governmental and social
problems. It is a sort of formal training which enables one to understand the
new developments in one’s field in a better way.
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