LESSON 2

DOING
RESEARCH IN
THE SOCIAL

Pre-Lesson Assessment Activities

Distinguish common sense way of knowing from from

scientific way of knowing by differentiating
superstitious beliefs from science (e.g., astrology and
horoscope from astronomy).
Write your answers on the board by making two
columns: one for scientific research and one for
common sense.
After the activity, discuss why you believe in
superstitions, and explain how you got to know these
(for example, by jumping during New Years eve, one
will grow taller).
Then discuss how superstitions can be explained
scientifically.

Science and Common

Sense

People often do inquiries to answer specific

questions like, Are poor people really lazy? or,
Are Chinese-Filipinos better in Math than
average Filipinos?
We often experience predicting the future like,
Will it rain tomorrow? To answer these
questions, many people turn to common sense
or the prevailing opinion among the people.
Common sense is prone to overgeneralization,
inaccurate observation, and illogical reasoning.

Yet, common sense is considered to be bedrock of

science. Science starts with common sense, but
goes beyond common sense.
However, to be scientific one need not only observe
meticulously and without prejudice.
Philosophers of science point out that in order to
observe scientifically one has to learn the culture of
science (Chalmers 1997, p. 27).
One must learn how to observe and what to observe.
A microbiologist looking at the lens of a microscope
sees differently from a student who has not yet
learned the proper use of a microscope.
An anthropologist has a distinct explanation of certain
rituals of a community different from the participants
explanation.

This is where common sense and science diverge. In

most cases, the scientific method debunks commons
sense. In science, there is more to seeing than
meets the eyes.
For instance, before the birth of medicine and the
invention of germ theory, many people believed in
spiritual causes of diseases.
Today, thanks to scientific advancement, we know
that infectious diseases are caused by specific
microorganisms.
Another famous example is the claim of the medieval
theologians that the center of the solar system is the
earth, which is known as the geocentric of Ptolemic
theory (named after the famous Alexandiran
astronomer Claudius Ptolemy (c. AD 90 c. 168).

Later, Galileo Galilei and other astronomers

showed the falsity of this theory by
substituting it with the heliocentric theory.
People found it difficult to accept the
Copernican revolution because the
Ptolemaic theory overwhelming supports
the common sense observation that the
earth is fixed and the sun goes around it.
To understand it, one has to have the
scientific concept of inertia.

This trend applies equally to the social sciences. For

instance, it was generally believed that women are
incapable of higher education because of their weak
intellectual and physical nature.
Today, however, such claim is considered as
discriminatory against women.
It was also believed for a long time that poverty is a result
of divine predestination of which the poor must resign
themselves.
Many religious reformers cited the words of Christ, The
poor you shall always have with you.
Today, social scientists have established that poverty is a
structural problem arising from economic inequality.
It was also believed that homosexuality is an abnormality,
but in 1973, the American Psychiatric Associations
Board of Trustees removed homosexuality from its official

The Emancipatory Potential of

the Social Sciences

Based on the preceding section, by using scientific

method, the social sciences can contribute greatly to
the elimination of prejudices against certain groups of
people such as racism, sexism, and cultural
ethnocentrism.
It can also enable people to become open minded and
welcoming of other beliefs and practices no matter
how foreign or alien.
They can also helps people to better understand other
peoples way of life.
By studying events scientifically, people may come to
realize that society can be controlled to certain degree.

This provides greater freedom for people in

planning their future.
It is transformative insofar as it allows the social
scientists to imagine an alternative way of life or
direction for the future.
In this sense, social sciences like the natural
sciences are revolutionary.
They challenge the common sense beliefs and
refuse to follow unexamined traditions and claims
based on authority (Bhaskar 2002).

The Open System of the Social

Sciences

But what constitutes the scientific method? What makes

the study of society, politics, and culture scientific is that
social scientists employ the method of science.
Scientific method, however, does not mean the rigid
application of the methods of physical sciences such as
physics and chemistry.
Unlike the natural sciences, social sciences are
confronted with an open system that applies to
society, politics, culture, and the world.
Opens systems, unlike the close systems of the natural
world such as laboratory or aquarium, cannot be totally
controlled (Bhaskar 1979).

The variables that affect the system of

society are enormous compared with the
aquarium model. Added to this difficulty
is the importance of meanings and
values that inform human actions.
The diversity of culture and social
structures that define human meanings
make it challenging for social scientists
study culture, society, and politics.