Lecture 2 The Methodological Foundations of EAP

1. Lecture 2The Methodological Foundations of EAP PEDU 7206

2. Methodology: How to obtain objective truths and facts? Epistemology: What kind of knowledge has been obtained? Ontology: From what do we obtain the knowledge? Roadmap for the Explication of Theoretical Foundation of EAP

3. Methodological Priority: • Epistemology: • Empiricist- • Positivism • Interpretive- • Hermeneutic • Tradition • Critical • Social • Sciences • Ontology: • Objectivism • Idealism • Constructivism • Realism • Methodology: • Quantitative • Qualitative

4. Epistemological Priority: • Epistemology: • Empiricist- • Positivism • Interpretive- • Hermeneutic • Tradition • Critical • Social • Sciences • Ontology: • Objectivism • Idealism • Constructivism • Realism • Methodology: • Quantitative • Qualitative

5. Ontological Priority: • Epistemology: • Empiricist- • Positivism • Interpretive- • Hermeneutic • Tradition • Critical • Social • Sciences • Ontology: • Objectivism • Idealism • Constructivism • Realism • Methodology: • Quantitative • Qualitative

6. What is research? “A studious inquiry or examination; esp: critical and exhaustive investigation or experimentation having for its aim the discovery of new facts and their correct interpretation, the revision of accepted conclusions, theories, or laws in the light of newly discovered facts, or applications of such new or revised conclusions, theories, or laws.” (Webster Dictionary) Research is act of “the acquisition of reliable knowledge concerning many aspects of the world…and self conscious use of …method.” (Negal, 1961, p.1) From Research Methods to Methodology: Mapping the Pathway of Social Research

7. What is Research ? Knower (The Self) Known (The World) Ontological Foundation Self conscious use of method Methodological Foundation Knowing Epistemological Foundation Knowledge (Reliable & Valid)

8. What is methodology? “Methodology was an analytical approach which examined concrete studies to make explicit the procedures that were used, the underlying assumptions that were made, and the modes of explanation that we offered. It thus involved a codification of ongoing research procedures. Actual research was the material from which methodology is built, without being identical with it.” (Lazrsfield, 1972, p. xi) From Research Methods to Methodology: Mapping the Pathway of Social Research

9. Research methods courses offered in the Faculty of Education Curriculum structure in 1995-96 EDM6001 Sampling Design & Survey Research EDM6002 Educational Research Design (Experimental Design) EDM6003 Comparative-Historical Method in Educational Research EDM6004 Ethnographic Analysis in Educational Research EDM6005 Statistical Analysis in Educational Research EDM6006 Advanced Statistical Analysis in Educational Research From Research Methods to Methodology: Mapping the Pathway of Social Research

10. Research methods courses offered … Curriculum structure in 2014-15 PEDU 6003 Comparative-Historical Method in Educational Research PEDU 6004 Ethnographic Study in Educational Research PEDU 6401 Quantitative methods in educational research PEDU 6402 Qualitative methods in educational research PEDU 6403 Quantitative data management & analysis in educational research PEDU 6404 Quantitative analysis in classroom and school settings PEDU 6405 Multi-dimensional & multi-causal analysis in educational research PEDU 6406 Action research in education From Research Methods to Methodology: Mapping the Pathway of Social Research

11. Three samples of synthesis in methodology in social sciences Charles C. Ragin (1994/2011) Constructing of Social Research Robert R. Alford (1996) The Craft of Inquiry: Theories, Methods &Evidence Jurgen Habermas (1971/1968) Knowledge and Human Interest From Research Methods to Methodology: Mapping the Pathway of Social Research

12. Ragin (1994/2011)

13. Alford (1996

14. Jurgen Habermas (1971/1968) Knowledge and Human Interest “There are three categories of processes of inquiry for which a specific connection between logical-methodological rules and knowledge-constitutive interests can be demonstrated. …The approach for empirical-analytical sciences incorporates a technical cognitive interest; that of the historical-hermeneutic sciences incorporates a practical one; and the approach of critically oriented sciences incorporates the emancipatory cognitive interest.” (P. 308) From Research Methods to Methodology: Mapping the Pathway of Social Research

15. Scientific Revolution in 17th century Enlightenment in 18-19th century Auguste Comte’s thesis of physics of society Vienna-Circle movement of unity of scientific method in the early 20th century and the emergence of the movement of methodological monism of logical/empirical positivism Carl G. Hempel’s assault on the inadequacy of historical scientific researches and their methodical approach in 1942s The rebuttals against Hempel’s assault from scholars of the hermeneutic traditions and the initiation of the cultural and/or linguist turn in social science The emergence of the Critical Theory and the reinstatement of the Marxian thesis of critique of ideology Historical Development of Methodological Discourse in Social Sciences

16. (I)The Methodology of Analytical-Empirical Approach

17. In 1942, Carl Hempel, Professor of Princeton University, published an article in Journal of Philosophy entitle “The Function of General Law in History”. The primary objective of the article is to reinstate the Vienna-Circle’s advocation of “the methodological unity of empirical science.” (Hempel, 1965/1942, P. 243) Carl G. Hempel’s General-Law Explanatory Model

19. Taking history (as well as other social sciences) as an empirical science, Hempel began his article with an outright criticism on the historians by underlining that they have focused their research efforts on “the description of particular events of the past” rather than on “the search for general laws which might govern those events” and “it is certainly unacceptable”. (Hempel, 1965, P. 231) Hempel then explicate in details his explanatory model by general law. Carl G. Hempel’s General-Law Explanatory Model

20. Deductive-nomological model: The ideal-typical model of explanation in empirical sciences (including both natural and social sciences) is what he characterizes as deductive-nomological model. The model is made up of three parts. Carl G. Hempel’s General-Law Explanatory Model

21. Deductive-nomological model: … The model is made up of three parts. The specific events (E) to be explained, in Hempel’s terms, the explanandum The possible antecedent condition (C) which brings about the occurrence of that specific events In order to logically deduce a causal relation between E and C, a general law covering the occurrences of both E and C is needed. And by general law it means a statement of universal causal-conditions that has been empirically or logical confirmed. More specifically, causal conditions may be further differentiated into three types: Carl G. Hempel’s General-Law Explanatory Model

22. Deductive-Nomological Explanatory Model C1,C2,…Ck Statements if antecedent conditions L1,L2,,...Lr General Laws Explanans Logical deduction • E Description of the empirical phenomenon to be explained Explanandum

23. Deductive-nomological model: … The model is made up of three parts…. ….More specifically, causal conditions may be further differentiated into three types:… Sufficient conditions: It refers to the kinds of conditionality between the C and E, in which the C can exhaustively but not universally explain the truth of the E. Necessary conditions: It refers to the kinds of conditionality between the E and C, in which the C can universally but not exhaustively explain the truth of the E. Sufficient and necessary conditions: It refers to the kinds of conditionality between the E and C, in which the C can both exhaustively and universally explain the truth of the E. Carl G. Hempel’s General-Law Explanatory Model

24. The compromised model: Statistical-Probabilistic explanation: The statistical-probabilistic model is the type of explanation commonly use in quantitative researches in social sciences. It is also made up of three parts similar to those in nomological-deductive explanation. There are two differences in probabilistic explanation. ….. Carl G. Hempel’s General-Law Explanatory Model

25. The compromised model: Statistical-Probabilistic explanation: The statistical-probabilistic model …. One is that the explanatory premises is not in the form of law-like / nomological statement of the sufficient and necessary conditions of the truth of the explanandum but only a probabilistic statement specifying the likelihood of the causal relationship between the explanans and explanandum. The second difference is that in the conclusion, the specific explanandum under study cannot be exhaustive explained by the explanans but can only be explained in probabilistic terms. Carl G. Hempel’s General-Law Explanatory Model

26. Statistical-Probabilistic Explanatory Model C1,C2,…Ck Statements if antecedent conditions L1,L2,,...Lr Statistical Laws Explanans Logical deduction • E Description of the empirical phenomenon to be explained Explanandum

27. Transplanting the Deductive-nomological explanatory model from the natural science, researchers in social sciences began to constitute their “Language of social research” (Lazarsfeld, et al., 1955, see also 1972). As a result, the methodology of quantitative research (at least in America) has been founded. Apart from the deductive-nomological explanatory model, two of the other principles of this methodological foundation are the analytical approach and empiricism. The Constitution of the Analytical-Empirical Approach

28. ….two other methodological foundation are the analytical approach and empiricism. … Analytical approach: By analytical approach, it refers the way social researchers approach their objects under study, i.e. the social world or social reality, by decomposing the objects into elements or properties and then try to establish causal relations among them. … The Constitution of the Analytical-Empirical Approach

29. Analytical approach: … In Paul Lazarsfeld own words, “No science deals with its objects of study in their concreteness. It selects certain of their properties and attempts to establish relations among them. The finding of such laws is the ultimate goal of all scientific inquiries. But in social sciences the singling out of relevant properties is in itself a major problem. No standard terminology has yet been developed for this task. The properties are sometimes called aspects or attributes, and often the “variable” is borrowed from mathematics as most general category.” (Lazarsfeld, 1955, P. 15) The Constitution of the Analytical-Empirical Approach

30. Empiricism: It refers to the way social research approach their evidences to be accepted in verifying the propositions or more specifically hypotheses. That is, only observations verified by sensory experience can be accepted as evidences. Furthermore, quantitative social researchers would demand those sensory-observations should be repeatable, recordable, and quantifiable into a mathematical “variables”. The Constitution of the Analytical-Empirical Approach

31. Experimental design: Based on these three principles, viz. deductive- nomological explanatory model, analytical approach, and empiricism; quantitative social researchers could only design their studies, which is to verify causals relation among variables, by observing and recording the outcomes of their experimental design. The most typical design of a true experiment can be represented as follows (Campbell and Stanley, 1963, Pp. 13-22) Methodological Designs in Social Inquiries

32. Experimental design: R O1 X O2 R O3 O4 Connotations: R=Random assignment of subjects O=Observation X=Treatment (effects under study) Methodological Designs in Social Inquiries

33. Social-survey design: However, by the very nature of the social world, it is basically infeasible or even unethical to conduct experiments on human subjects. As a result, most of the social researchers can only conduct their observation in naturalistic environment of the social world. That is by means of social survey. As a result, one of the three primary design tools, i.e. treatment manipulation, has to be abandoned. What is left are the design-tools of one-short observation and random sampling. Methodological Designs in Social Inquiries

34. Given the principles and operations of the methodology of quantitative researches, they reveal that the causal relations between variables, which quantitative researches are supposed to have verified, are, in fact, implicated under at least the following three assumptions (Hirschi and Selvin, 1996) The Underlying Assumptions of Research Designs in Social Inquiries

35. …implicated under at least the following three assumptions (Hirschi and Selvin, 1996) Assuming covariance as causation: In most of the social experiments and most notably social surveys, the observations between the cause-variable and the effect-variable could only be in association formats. That is the two sets of variables vary concurrently. It could not reveal the real causal interactions between the two set of social properties simply by observations. As a result two other working assumption are needed. The Underlying Assumptions of Research Designs in Social Inquiries

36. …implicated under …three assumptions…. Assuming or manipulating the temporal orderings between the variables: One of the logical conditions of a causation is that the cause must precede the effect. And simple statistical covariance can never substantiate the temporal orderings between two sets of variables. As a result, temporal orderings could only be built in by experimental design, that is, to have the designed treatment carried out right between the pretest and post-test. However, as for one-short social survey, the temporal orderings among various variables could only be assumed. … The Underlying Assumptions of Research Designs in Social Inquiries

37. …implicated under …three assumptions … Assuming or manipulating the temporal orderings between the variables: …. For examples, in most educational surveys, it is assumed that parents’ education, socio-economic status, students’ genders are precedent to students’ educational achievement. The Underlying Assumptions of Research Designs in Social Inquiries

38. …implicated under …three assumptions … The assumptions of ceteris paribus: It refers to the assumption that all other possible factors in the causal relation are being equal or unchanged. The only design-tools available for social researchers deal with this assumption is randomization. In experimental design, it is the random assignments of subjects into treatment and non-treatment group. As for social survey, researchers could only fall back on to random sampling. The Underlying Assumptions of Research Designs in Social Inquiries

39. (II)The Methodology of Historical-Hermeneutic Approach

40. Willhelm Dilthey’s conception of the human sciences: “We owe to Dilthey …that the natural sciences and the human sciences are characterized by two scientificity, two methodologies, two epistemologies.” (Ricoeur, 1991/1973, p. 275) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

41. Wilhelm Dilthey’s Introduction to the Human Sciences (1923) (1833-1911)

42. Willhelm Dilthey’s conception of the human sciences: … Dilthey in his classical work Introduction to the Human Sciences (1991/1883) underlines that “The sum of intellectual facts which fall under the notion of science is usually divided into two groups, one marked by the name ‘natural science’; for the other, oddly enough, there is no generally accepted designation. I subscribe to the thinkers who call this other half of the intellectual world the ‘human sciences’ (Geisteswissenschaften or translated as ‘the sciences of the mind’)” (Dilthey, 1991, p. 78) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

43. Willhelm Dilthey’s conception of the human sciences: … “The motivation behind the habit of seeing these sciences as a unity in contrast with those of nature derives from the depth and fullness of human self-consciousness. … (A) man finds in this self-consciousness a sovereignty of will, a responsibility for actions, a capacity for subordinating everything to thought and for resisting any foreign element in the citadel of freedom in his person: by these things he distinguishes himself from all of nature. He finds himself with respect to nature an imperium in imperio.” (Dilthey, 1991, p.79) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

44. Clifford Geertz's conception of culture and its interpretation Geertz in his classical work The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (1973) underlines that “The concept of culture I espouse … is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun. I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experimental science in search of law but an interpretative one in research of meaning.” (Geertz, 1994/1973, P. 214) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

45. Clifford Geertz's conception of culture and its interpretation (1973) (1926-2006)

46. Clifford Geertz's conception of culture and its interpretation “Culture is most effectively treated …purely as a symbolic system …by isolating its elements, specifying the internal relationship among those elements, and then characterizing the whole system in some general way  according to the core symbols around which it is organized, the underlying structures of which it is a surface expression, or the ideological principles upon which it is based.” (Geertz, 1994/1973, p. 222) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

47. Max Weber’s conception of sociology and social research Max Weber’s oft-quoted definition of the subject matter of sociology and that of social sciences in general stipulates that "Sociology is a science concerning itself with interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and consequence. We shall speak of 'action' insofar as the acting individual attaches a subjective meaning to his behavior. …Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course." (Weber, 1978, p. 4) The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

48. (1864-1920)

49. Max Weber’s conception of sociology and social research …. This definition has generated three methodological aproia for students of sociology and social sciences to tackle with for generations to come. First, it has stipulated that in studying human actions the major concerns is to provide “interpretive understanding” of the “subjective meanings” underlying each and every “actions”. This has constituted the basic research question for qualitative research in social sciences. The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research

50. Max Weber’s conception of … Second, the definition has also stipulate another aporia to students in social sciences. That is, given human actions are endowed with subjective meanings, how can two actions be oriented into a mutually acceptable social action? Furthermore, one can continue to ask how society and culture be possible in maintaining these varieties of social actions in stable and continuous manner through time and across considerable spatial distance? The Essentials of the Methodology of Qualitative Research