Report R4.8 Social Shaping of Research Results Seminar Leader: Wiebe E. Bijker, Faculty of Arts and Culture, Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands w.bijker[at]tss.unimaas.nl The seminar explored how researchers are influenced by social factors. These factors seem to influence every step of the research process from selecting research problems to drawing conclusions and obtaining results. To direct the discussions in the seminar, the seminar leader gathered the queries of the participants that spanned across various aspects of doing research and reframed them as mentioned below: 1. Apart from the literature review, is it necessary for a researcher to interact with the selected environment before framing the research questions? 2. Is training on research methods and methodology important? Is this training a limiting factor for the creativity and openness of a researcher? 3. How relevant is the positivist framework in research? 4. Is research different from its application? 5. What are the effective ways to do research on impact assessment? 6. What influences the dissemination of research results? 1. Sometimes, the research findings could turn out to be irrelevant to the practical context. In such cases a number of questions might be raised about various aspects of the study. There could be questions regarding the validity of the data used for the research, the appropriateness of the research methodology or the framework adopted. Irrelevance however, might be due to a number of factors. This can happen for example, when highly dynamic phenomena are studied. A preliminary empirical investigation can enhance the researcher’s clarity of understanding regarding the phenomenon under investigation. This clarity can help in making crucial research choices. 2. While adopting the research method, there could be a tendency to choose one of the methods that have been taught as a part of the researcher’s training. The seminar leader opined that the purpose of research training is to enable a researcher to critically reflect on the methods that have been used earlier. This should not become a constraint for adopting other methods that might not have been a part of the training. 3. Researchers often adopt a positivist approach while interacting with people who are not directly involved in the research process such as policy makers, journalists, and so forth. This emphasis on positivism is evident also in many undergraduate-level courses offered in the academia. However at the frontiers of their domains the positivist stance is not always sustained. When interacting with their peers, researchers typically adopt other perspectives. For example, they recognise that research questions, results and so forth are influenced by society and that it involves various social processes. This seems to be equally true of the natural and social sciences. 4. Traditionally, basic research has been considered as a distinct activity that is followed by applied research, which in turn is followed by development of practical applications. There is a view that the gap between these stages may be gradually narrowing down and the sequence may not always be the same. Researchers in fact are opting for research questions that are more likely to generate public interest or more inclined towards practical application. This is how the different stakeholders of research shape the research process. As a consequence of this shaping, researchers are more often in a continuous tension between their original ideas and the limitations arising from being a part of an institutional structure. 5. The seminar then focused on research conducted on “impact assessment.” The seminar leader cited the example of the impact assessment study he carried out on the work of the Health Council in the Netherlands. Through this example, he illustrated that very often there is disagreement about what constitutes successful and unsuccessful outcomes. The choice of one type of success excludes another type of success. It is thus necessary to focus on the processes adopted to reach certain goals, rather than on the measurement of the impact. 6. Disseminating results in a transparent manner helps further the research in any area. Clear description of the methodology and publishing the empirical data used can enable a thorough peer review and enhance the body of knowledge. Sometimes, research results are not favorable to the sponsors of the research projects and hence researchers are constrained from disclosing the same. These are yet other instances where the research process is socially shaped. Reported by CD Kuruvilla, with inputs from C. Shambu Prasad, Jacob D. Vakkayil, and Madhavi Latha Nandi (March 13, 2007). Copyleft Xavier Institute of Management, Xavier Square, Bhubaneswar 751013, India Research World (ISSN 0974-2379) http://www1.ximb.ac.in/RW.nsf/pages/Home |
