Doing Social Research

Contents: 1. Why Social Research? 2. The Matthew Affect. 3. Social Science Research and the Institution. 4. Researcher and the Research. 5. Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and Functions of Research. 6. Nightmare of Values. 7. Taking the First Step as a Researcher. 8. Formulation of the Problem. 9. Designing the Research. 10. Fieldwork: Part I. 11. Fieldwork: Part II. 12. Fieldwork: Part III. 13. Method and Doing Social Research: Conclusion. The present work by exclusively focusing on the practice of conducting research in India is an effort to map various forms of research practices in social sciences by situating it in the general context of various epistemological issues. Without essentialising the methods of research, it primarily argues for the collection of authentic data by treating it as the cornerstone of social research. In the process, the book brings out the stifling effect of the standardised methodologies on the epistemological practices. As a corollary to it, the work identifies three forms of field work which constitute the fundamentals of the research practice; and in the process, it demolishes the myth of much hailed value neutrality-objectivity nexus in sociology in particular.…