1. The meaning of methodology
How do researchers conduct research

2. Where is science in social science?
Research methodology makes social science scientific
Social researches choose from alternative approaches to science
Each approach has its own set of philosophical assumptions and principles and its own stance on how to do research
It is rarely declared yet play an important role

3. Until 1800s philosophers and religious scholars engaged in armchair speculation about human behaviour.
They contended that rigorous, systematic observation of the social world combine with careful, logical thinking will provide new and valuable knowledge about human relation.
In modern times science is accepted way to gain knowledge
So some social researchers accepted the natural sciences approach.

4. However, there are certain difficulties: scientific method is a loose set of abstract, vague principle and provide little guidance— so much so to do scientific research one has to use several methods; human being is different from object of study in natural science (rock, plants, chemical etc.), human has awareness, motives and reasons.
Thus researchers used techniques deviated from philosopher’s ideal model of good science.

5. These approaches begun in 1960s
They are ideal types and simplified model of more complex arguments.
In practice, few agree with all parts of approaches, often they mix elements from each, yet it represent fundamental differences in outlook about social science research.
The approaches are different ways of looking at the world—ways to observe, measure, and understand social reality.

6. The three approaches: positivism, interpretive social science, and critical social science.
Positivism is the oldest and commonly / widely use whilst critical social science and less seen in scholarly journal because it criticizes the other approaches and tries to move beyond them.

7. assumption and ideas of the approaches were organised such as below to simplify the discussion.
Why should one conduct social scientific research?
What is the fundamental nature of social reality?
What is the basic nature of human beings?
What is the relationship between science and common sense?

8. 5. What constitutes an explanation or theory of social reality. 6
5. What constitutes an explanation or theory of social reality? 6. How does one determine whether an explanation is true or false? 7. What does good evidence or factual information look like? 8. Where do sociopolitical values enter into science?

9. Positivism
Many varieties that go by names: logical empiricism, accepted/conventional view, postpositivism, naturalism, behaviourism.
Begin by 19th century by Comte— Frenchmen who founded sociology and later modified by John Stuart Mill.
Positivist researcher prefer quantitative data, often use experiments, surveys, and statistics.

10. They seek rigorous, exact measures and test hypothesis
Used by administrators, criminologist, market researchers, policy analysts and planners.
Critics: reduce people to numbers and that its concern with abstract laws or formulas are not relevant to the actual life of real people.
Positivism says: science must conform. Social science as an organised method for combining deductive logic with precise empirical observation of individual behaviour in order to discover and confirm a set of probabilistic causal laws that can be used to predict general paterns of human activity.

11. Positivist on reason for research: to discover and document universal laws of human behaviour and learn about how the world works so that people can control or predict events—knowledge can be used as a tool to satisfy human wants and to control the physical and social environment.
Eg. Positivist use theory of how we learn to identify key factors of an educational system (class size, student body habits, teacher education etc) that predict increased student learning.

12. Positivist conduct study to verify causal law then builds knowledge that used by the official to change school environment that will improve student learning.
Engaged in never-ending quest for knowledge—the more you learn, new complexities are discovered and there still more to learn.
Early version of positivism maintain that human can never know everything because only God possesses such knowledge. However, human have a duty to discover as much as they can.

13. Positivism on nature of social reality— essentialist view—reality is real; it exist out there and waiting to be discovered.
Human perception and intellect may be flawed but reality exist and it is not random; it is patterned and has order (not chaotic). Thus possible to make prediction and logic.
Social reality is stable, and laws discovered today will hold in the future. We can study many parts of reality one at a time and add to get a picture of the whole.

14. Positivist on nature of human being— human are assumed to be self-interested, pleasure seeking, rational individuals.
People act on the basis of external causes and same causes have same effect on everyone. Thus we can learn about people by observing their behaviour.
This external reality is more important than internal (subjective reality).
Human behaviour do not just happen because of what the person wants. Rather like robots/puppets who always respond the same.

15. Laws permit accurate prediction but not specific behaviour of a specific person in each situaton.
Eg. Under condition x,y,z, there is a 95% probability that one-half of the people engage in specific behaviour

16. Positivism on role of common sense — clear separation between science and nonscience.
Scientific knowledge is better and will replace inferior ways of gaining knowledge (magic, religion, astrology, personal experience, and tradition).
The “truth” can be produced by special norms, scientific attitude and technique whereas common sense does so only rarely and inconsistently

17. Positivism on what constitutes an explanation/theory of social reality—law govern the social life—social life can be explained by discovering causal law. Y is caused by X because Y and X are specific instances of a causal law
Positivist connect causal laws and the specific facts observed about social life with deductive logic, and can be explained in symbolic system such as postulates and theorem (natural sc. and soc. sc. alike).

18. Laws of human behaviour should be universally valid, holding in all historical eras and in all cultures.
Eg. The rise in crime rate in Toronto in 1990s refer to factors (eg. Rising divorce rate, declining commitment to traditional moral values) that can be found anywhere at any time: in Buenos Aires in 1890s, Chicago in 1940s, or in Singapore in 2010s.

19. Positivism on whether an explanation is true or false—truth can be recognised and distinguish by applying reason.
Human condition will improved through the use of reason and the pursuit of truth.
Knowledge accumulates over time and it plays role to sort out true from false explanation.
Positivism considered explanation must: have no logical contradiction; consistent with observed facts; can be replicate

20. Positivism on good evidence look like— positivism is dualist
Positivism on good evidence look like— positivism is dualist. Observable facts are distinct from ideas, values or theories.
Observation using sense organ (eyesight, smell) or gadget (telescope, microscope).
If people disagree with facts it must be due to improper use of measurement instrument or sloppy observation.
Knowledge of observable reality using senses is superior to other knowledge (intuition, emotion feelings), and it allows to separate true from false ideas about social life.

21. Good evidence for causal law involve: piling up supporting facts; looking for evidence that contradict the causal law.
Eg. To test the claim that all swans are white, 1,000/10,000 are white could not totally confirm a causal law or pattern. Must locate one black swan to refute the claim—one piece of negative evidence. If you cannot find it the best you can say is “thus far I have not been able to locate any, so the claim might be right”

22. Positivism on sociopolitical values— positivism argue for value-free science (objective).
Objective refer to: the observers agree on what they see; science is not based on values, opinions, attitudes, or beliefs.
Science is free from personal, political or religious values.
Scientific community has an elaborate system of checks and balance to guard against value bias

23. Interpretive social science (ISS)
Can be traced to German sociologist Max Weber ( ) and German philosopher Wilhem Dilthey ( ).
Dilthey argue that there are two types of science: Naturwissenschaft and Geistewissenschaft. The former based on abstract explanation and the later based on empathetic understanding of the everyday lived experience of people in specific historical settings.

24. must learn the personal reasons/motives that shape a person’s internal feelings and guide decisions to act in particular ways.
ISS related to hermeneutics, a theory of meaning (literally means making the obscure plain); found in humanities (philosophy, linguistics, religious studies, literary criticism)—emphasizes detail reading of text (conversation, written words or picture)

25. A reseacher ‘read’ to discover meaning embedded within text, tries to absorb or get inside the view point it presents as a whole, and then develop a deep understanding of how its parts relate to the whole.
In other words true meaning is not simple or obvious on the surface, can be reached only through detailed study of the text, contemplating its many messages and seeking connection among its parts.

26. Several varieties of ISS: hermeneutics, constructionism, ethnomethodology, cognitive, idealist, phenomenological, subjectivist and qualitative sociology.
ISS researchers often use participant observation and field work or analyse transcript of conversation or study videotapes looking for subtle nonverbal communication.

27. Positivism use instrumental orientation, ISS adopts practical orientation—which concern with how ordinary people manage their practical affairs in everyday life or how they get things done.
ISS on reason for research—to develop understanding of social life and discover how people construct meaning in natural settings. Eg. Summarizing the goal of 10 year study of Willie, a repair shop owner in a rural area ISS researcher, Harper (1987) said “the goal of the research was to share Willie’s perspective”.

28. ISS researcher study meaningful social action, not just external behaviour but the action to which people attach subject meaning. Eg. Eye blinking (due to dryness of the eye or a social action).
Nonhuman lack culture and reasoning to plan out things and attach purpose to their behaviour. Thus to study human must consider social actor’s reasons and social contact of action.

29. Human action has little intrinsic meaning
Human action has little intrinsic meaning. To interpret the action must acquire meaning among people who share a meaning system.
Eg. Raising one finger in a situation with other people can express social meaning (direction, expression of friendship, a vulgar sign) depend on cultural meaning system the social actors share.

30. ISS on nature of social reality—social reality is not waiting to be discovered instead what people perceived it to be. It is fluid and fragile. People construct it by interacting with others in ongoing processes of communication and negotiation.

31. For ISS social reality is based on people’s definition of it and it is constantly shifting. Eg. my social reality is to kiss my mum and give her gifts and confide in her. I learned from culture and experience. But it is not fix. If the situation change the social reality would be shattered. Eg. If she became demented and no longer recognised me.
Positivist says everyone shares the same meaning system and all experience the world the same way.

32. ISS say people may or may not experience social/physical reality in the same way. Eg. Several people seen, heard and touch the same physical object, yet come away with different meaning or interpretation of it.
ISS approach sees social reality as consisting of people who construct meaning and create interpretations through their daily social interaction.

33. ISS on the nature of human beings— people engaged in process of creating flexible system of meaning through social interaction. They use the meanings to interpret their social world and make sense of their lives.
Human behaviour may be pattern and regular but not due to preexisting law waiting to be discovered (positivism), rather it is created out of evolving meaning system that people generate as they socially interact.

34. ISS researchers want to discover what actions mean to the people who engage in them. People have their own reasons for their actions and researchers need to learn the reasons people use.
ISS on the role of common sense— positivist sees common sense is inferior; ISS say ordinary people use common sense to guide them in daily living. Thus important to understand common sense because it contains the meaning that people use when they engage in routine social interaction.

35. To ISS ordinary people could not function in daily life if they base their action on science alone. Eg. To boil an egg people use unsystematic experience, habits and guesswork. A strict application of natural science require one to know the laws of physic that determine heating the water and chemical laws that govern the changes in egg’s internal composition.

36. Common sense and positivist’s law are alternative ways to interpret the world; neither is inferior or superior, each important in its own domain; each created in a different way for different purpose.
People do not know that common sense is true but they must assume that it is true in order to get anything accomplished.

37. ISS on an explanation/theory of social reality—differ from positivist who says that social theory should be similar to natural science with deductive axioms, theorem, and interconnected causal law. Rather it describes and interprets how people conduct their daily lives. It contains concepts and limited generalisation and does not differ from the experience and inner reality of the people being studied.

38. ISS approach is ideographic (a symbolic representation or thick description of something) and inductive.
Interpretive theory resembles a map that outlines a social world or a tourist guidebook describes local custom and informal norms.

39. Eg. A report on professional gamblers tells the reader about careers and daily concern of such people—locations and activities observed, strategies used to gamble, how professional gamblers speak, how they view others, their fears and ambition.
Researcher will give few generalization, and organizing concept but bulk of it detailed description of gambling world.

40. ISS on whether an explanation is true or false—positivists deduce from theory, collect data and analyse facts in ways other scientist can replicate. An explanation is considered true when it stand up to replication.
For ISS a theory/explanation is true if it makes sense to those being studied and if it allows others to understand deeply of those being studied.

41. An interpretive researcher’s description of another person’s meaning system is a secondary account. Like a traveler telling about a foreign land, the researcher is not a native.
Secondary account never equals to primary account(those being studied).
Thus one way to test truthfulness of an interpretive study of professional gambling is to have professional gamblers read it and verify its accuracy.

42. ISS on good evidence/factual information look like—in positivism good evidence is observable, precise, and independent of values.
ISS see the unique features of specific context and meaning as essential to understand social meaning—social action cannot be isolated from the context in which it occurs.

43. Interpretive researchers say social situation full of ambiguity, impossible to discover straightforward objective facts.
Most behaviours/statements have several meaning and can be interpret in multiple ways. Pople constantly making sense by reassessing clues in the situation and assigning meaning untill they know what’s gong on.

44. Eg. I see a women holding her hand out palm forward
Eg. I see a women holding her hand out palm forward. I do not know the meaning without knowing the social situation: warding off potential mugger, drying her nail polish, hailing a taxi, admiring a new ring, telling oncoming traffic to stop for her, or requesting five bagels at a deli counter.

45. ISS on place for values—positivist calls for eliminating values and operating within apolitical environment.
ISS by contrast argue that researcher should reflect on, reexamine, and analyse personal point of view and feelings as part of process of studying others; need to empathize (at least temporarily) with and share in the social and political commitments or values of those he studies

46. Interpretive approach is the foundation of social research technique that are sensitive to context, that use various methods to get inside the ways others see the world and more concerned with achieving an empathic understanding than with testing laws of human behaviour.

47. Critical social science (CSS)
Version of this approach: class analysis, dialectical materialism and structuralism.
Disagree with positivism and ISS on some point.
Practice by Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud
Criticized positivist as being narrow, antidemocratic and nonhumanist;

48. Books by Jurgen Habermas—Knowledge and Human Interest (1971) and Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) used CSS approach.
criticized ISS--too subjective and relativist, amoral and passive because ISS is so concerned with subjective reality, does not take strong value position or actively help people to see false illusion around them so that they can improve their lives.

49. CSS on reason for research—is to change the world.
Conduct research to critique and transform social relations by revealing the underlying sources of social relations and empowering people especially less powerful people.
They uncover myths, reveal hidden truth and help people to change the world for themselves.
CSS researcher is action oriented and seek dramatic improvements.

50. On the other hand positivist researcher tries to solve problems as they are defined by government without rocking the boat.
CSS researcher create problem by intentionally raising and identifying more problems than the government/ruling elites are able to accommodate much less to solve.
They ask embarrassing questions, expose hypocrisy, and investigate conditions in order to encourage dramatic grass-roots action

51. Eg. CSS researcher conducts a study to discrimination in rental housing. White landlord refuse to rent to minority tenants. He would not just publish the report and wait for the government to act. He gives the report to newspaper and meet with grass-roots organisations to discuss the result of the study. He work with activists to mobilise the political action in the name of social justice. When the people picket, or organise march on city hall demanding action he predicts the landlord will be forced to rent to minorities.
The goal of research is to empower.

52. CSS on nature of social reality—like positivism adopt a realist position (social reality is out there to be discovered). But differ from positivism in that it is historical realism in which reality is seen as constantly shaped by social, political, cultural and similar factors.
CSS assumed that social reality always changes and the change is rooted in the tensions, conflicts, or contradiction of social relations/institutions.

53. CSS focused on changed and conflict, especially paradoxes or inner conflicts. This paradoxes reveal the true nature of social reality. Biological analogy to illustrate paradox is death and birth. It appear to be opposite yet death begin with birth. We begin to die the day we are born. Our bodies begin to decay as we live. There is inner-tension between living and aging on all the time. In order to live our bodies must age or move toward death.

54. CSS noted social change and conflict are not always apparent
CSS noted social change and conflict are not always apparent. The social world is full of illusion, myth, and distortion. This illusion allow some group in society to hold power and exploit others.
CSS approach argue that social reality has multiple layers. Behind the observable surface reality lie deep structures or unobservable mechanism.
Such structure can be uncovered with effort: intense and directed questioning, a good theory about where to look, a clear value position, and a historical orientation.

55. CSS agree with ISS that social reality is changing and subject to socially created meaning. Disagree with ISS emphasize on micro-level interpersonal interactions and its acceptance of any meaning system.
CSS says although subjective meaning is important, there are real, objective relations that shape social relations
CSS researcher question social situations and place them in a larger macro-level historical context.

56. Eg. ISS researcher study the interaction male boss and female secretary—provides a colourful account of their rules of behaviour, interpretive mechanisms, and system of meaning.
By contrast CSS researcher begins with point of view (eg. feminist) and notes issues ignored by ISS: why are bosses male and secretaries female? Why do the roles of boss and secretary have unequal power? Why are such roles created in lare organisations throughout our societies? How did the unequal power come about historically? Why can the boss make off-colour jokes that humiliate the secretary? etc.

57. CSS on nature of human beings— positivism views social forces have power over and operate on people. CSS reject this idea as reification—giving the creation of your own activity a separate alien existence. That is separating yourself from what you have created until you no longer recognise it as part of you. Once you no longer see your contribution and treat what you have helped create as an outside force, you lose control over your destiny.

58. Eg. Two people meet, fall in love, marry and set up a household
Eg. Two people meet, fall in love, marry and set up a household. After two years the male feels trapped by unseen forces. He fights with his wife over childcare and house chores. The man’s social values say it is wrong for him to change diapers or wash dishes. His agreement to marry and adopt a particular life-style are creation of his socialization and personal decision. Thus, the unseen forces acting on him that make him feel trapped is his own social creation (although he forget this). If he aware of the forces that trap him (societal values, social roles, and his own decision) and take action to change them (modify his life-style) he may be able to find solution and to feel less trapped.

59. CSS researcher says people have a great deal of unrealized potential, creative, changeable and adaptive. However people can also be mislead, mistreated and exploited by others. They trapped in social meanings, obligations and relationship. They fail to see how change is possible and thus lose their independence, freedom and control over their lives.
The potential of people can be realized if they dispel their illusion and join collectively to change society, but delusion, isolation and oppressive condition prevent people from realizing their dreams.

60. Eg. For generations, Americans believed the myth that women were inferior to men, that men inherent right to make major decisions, and women were incapable of professional responsibilities. By 1980s only minority hold such a belief. It is resulted from new consciousness and organised political action to destroy a myth that existed in laws, customs, and official policies and importantly in the everyday belief of most people.

61. CSS on role of common sense—is based on the idea of false consciousness—that people are mistaken act against their own true best interest as defined in objective reality.
ISS says false consciousness is meaningless because it implies that social actor uses a meaning system that is false or out of touch with objective reality. People create and use such system and researchers can only describe such system, not judge their value.

62. CSS says social researcher should studies subjective ideas and common sense because these shape human behaviour. Yet they full of myth and illusion that mask and objective world.
Thus researcher cannot use observation (although very careful because it is not enough and observing an illusion does not dispel it). Researcher must use theory to dig beneath surface relations, to observe periods of crisis and intense conflict, to probe interconnections, to look at the past, and to consider future possibilities.
Uncovering the deeper level of reality is difficult, but it is important because surface reality is full of ideology, myth, distortion and false appearance.

63. CSS on an explanation of social reality— positivism based on the determinism (human behaviour is determined by causal laws that human have little control); ISS based on voluntarism (people have large amount of free will to create social meanings); CSS falls in between (people are constrained by the material conditions, cultural context and historical condition—the world people live in limits their options and shapes their beliefs and behaviour; yet people are not locked into an inevitable set of social structures, relationships or laws. They can develop new understanding s or ways of seeing that enable them to change these structures, relationships or laws.

64. In order to do this they must develop vision of the future and work together for change.
In a nutshell, people do shape their destiny, but not under conditions of their own choosing.

65. CSS on whether an explanation/theory is true or false—positivism test theory by deducing hypothesis, testing hypothesis with replicated observation, and combine results to support laws. ISS support theories by seeing whether the meaning system and rules of behaviour make sense to those being studied. CSS theory seeks to provide people with a resource that will help them understand and change their world.

66. CSS researcher test critical theory by describing conditions generated by underlying structures, then by applying that knowledge to change social relation—the theory teach people about their own experiences, help them understand their historical role and use the theory to improve condition.
CSS puts theory into practice and use the outcome of applications to reformulate theory.

67. Eg. Researcher develop an explanation/ theory for housing discrimination. He tests the theory by using it to try to change condition. If the theory says that underlying economic relations cause discrimination and that landlord refuse to rent to minorities because not profitable, then political actions that make it profitable to rent to minorities should change the landlord’s behaviour. But if the theory says that the underlying racial hatred causes landlords to discriminate, then action based on profit will be unsuccessful. The researcher will then examine race hatred as the basis of landlord behaviour through new studies combined with new political action.

68. CSS on good evidence look like—positivism says there are incontestable neutral facts on which all rational people agree. Social facts are like objects—they existed separate from values or theories. ISS says social worlds is made up of created meaning, with people creating and negotiating meanings. CSS bridge the object- subject gap. It says that the facts of material conditions exist independent of subjective perceptions, but the facts are not theory neutral, instead facts require interpretation from within the framework of values, theory and meaning.

69. Eg. It is a ‘fact’ that the US spend a lot of it’s GNP on health care compared to any advanced countries, and yet it ranks 29th lowest infant death rate. CSS researcher interpret that the US has many people without health care and no system to cover everyone. The fact includes the way the health care is delivered to some through a complex system of for-profit insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals and others who benefit greatly from current arrangement. Some powerful group get rich while weaker getting low quality or no health care. CSS researchers look at the facts and ask who benefits and who loses?

70. Eg. Nafziger on inequality of Africa, criticized “facts” on income inequality because they measured only money income in societies where money is not widely used; criticized “facts” on land distribution and infant mortality rates because this “facts” ignored the number of people living on a farm and ignored one group (South African Whites) that has lower infant mortality. Instead Nafziger looked for wide variety of facts (eg. Birth rates, urban-rural gaps, ethnic divisions, international trade, political power) and went behind the surface facts to connect them to one another. He asked: why is Africa the only region in the world to become more impoverished since WW2.

71. His theory helped him identify a number of social groups (gov
His theory helped him identify a number of social groups (gov. leaders) and classes (peasants).
All theories are not equally useful for understanding key facts. Theories based on assumptions about the world is like and on a set of moral-politics values. CSS says some values are better than others. Thus to interpret facts, one must understand history, adopt a set of values, and know where to look for underlying structures.

72. CSS on when do sociopolitical values enter into science—First of all social research is a moral- political activity that requires the researcher to commit to a value position. CSS reject positivist value freedom as myth; reject ISS approach of relativism (everything is relative and nothing is absolute—reality of the genius and reality of the idiot are equally valid and important).
CSS says there is only one or very few correct points of view. Other viewpoints are wrong and misleading. All social research must begins with a value or moral point of view.

73. For CSS being objective is not being value free
For CSS being objective is not being value free. Objectivity means a nondistorted, true picture of reality. To deny that a researcher has a point of view is itself a point of view. Eg. A technician’s point if view—conduct research and ignore the moral questions: satisfy sponsor and follow orders. Such view says that science is a tool anyone can use. It was criticized when Nazi scientists use inhumane experiments and claimed that they are blameless because they just follow orders.

74. Positivism adopt such approach and produces technocratic knowledge—a form of knowledge best suited for use by the people in power to control other people.
CSS reject positivism and ISS as being concerned with studying the world instead of acting on it.
CSS holds that knowledge is power. Social science knowledge can be used to control people, hidden in ivory tower for intellectual to play games with, or it can be given to people to help them to take charge of or improve their lives.

75. There are two additional approaches that are less well known: Feminist research and postmodern research.
Feminist: is conducted mostly by women who hold a feminist self-identity and consciously use feminist perspective.
Use multiple research techniques
Attempts to give a voice to women and to correct male-oriented perspective that has predominated in the development of social science.

76. Feminist researcher see positivism as being a male point of view—it is objective, logical, task oriented, and instrumental. It reflect a male emphasis on individual competition, dominating and controlling the environment. In contrast women emphasis accommodation and gradually developing human bonds—social world as a web of interconnected human relations, people link together by feelings of trust and mutual obligation; emphasis the subjective, empathetic, process- oriented, and inclusive sides of social life.

77. Nonfeminist research is blamed as sexist: ignore gender as fundamental social division, focuses on men’s problems, overgeneralise from the experience of men to all people, use men as point of reference, and assumes traditional gender roles. Eg. Traditional researcher will say a family has a problem if the adult men in it cannot find stable work, but it is not considered an equal family problem if the a women in it cannot find a stable work.

78. Feminist researchers are not objective; they interact and collaborate with the people they study; fuse their personal and professional life: eg. They attempt to comprehend interviewee’s sharing their own feelings and experiences. These process may create personal relationship between researcher and interviewee that might mature overtime.

79. Postmodern research—is part of larger movement of the contemporary world (including art, music, literature, and cultural criticism).
Began in humanities, has roots in the philosophies of existentialism, nihilism, and anarchism and in the ideas Heidegger, Nietsche, Sartre, and Wittgenstein
Reject modernism which refers to basic assumptions, beliefs, and values that arose in the Enlightenment era.

80. Modernism relies on logical reasoning; optimistic about the future and believe in progress; confidence in technology and science; embrace humanist values (judging ideas based on the effect on human welfare).
Modernism holds that there are standards of beauty, truth, and morality which most people can agree.
Postmodernism research sees no separation between arts and social science.

81. It seeks to deconstruct/tear apart surface appearance to reveal the internal hidden structure (like CSS)
Distrust abstract explanation and holds that research can never do more than describe, with all descriptions equally valid—a researcher’s description is neither superior nor inferior to anyone else and only describe the researcher’s experiences.
Going beyond ISS and CSS it attempts to dismantle social science

82. Reject possibilities of a science of the social world, distrust all systematic empirical observation, and doubt that knowledge is generalizable or accumulates over time
They see knowledge taking numerous forms and unique to particular people or specific locales
Reject truth as a goal because it is the epitome of modernity. Truth makes reference to order, rules and values; depends on logic, rationality and reason (all of which the postmodernists question)

83. Postmodernist object to presenting research results in a detached and neutral way.
Researcher should not hide when someone read the report—he must be present—thus they report the research results is similar to a work of art (theatrical, expressive, or dramatic style of presentation, or in the form of work of fiction, movie or play).
The purpose is to stimulate others, to give pleasure, to evoke response, or to arouse curiosity

84. To postmodernist, knowledge about social life created by researcher may be better communicated by skit or musical piece than by scholarly journal article.
The value lies in telling story that may stimulate experiences within the people who read or encounter it.
Reject use of science to predict and to make policy decisions; oppose positivist science to reinforce power relations and bureaucratic forms of control over people.

85. Conclusion: there are competing approaches to social research based on different philosophical assumption about the purpose of science and the nature of social reality.
Most researchers operate primarily within one approach but many combine elements from others.
You can study the same topic from any of above approaches