Role of Theory in Social Science Research for Development

Question: Write about theRole of Theory in Social Science Research for Development. Answer: My introduction to the world of social science shaped my understanding about the society through a critical perspective. This critical perspective was developed over the course of the study of the subject especially after I learnt to contextualize the individual events taking place in the society within the broader socio-political context. In this regard, understanding the relationship between theory, methodology and research design facilitated my insight about the pathbreaking work of different social scientists (George and Bennett 2015). In the social science research, there are main stages that lead to the collection of data. The first stage is the stage of theory that is followed by methodology that is once again followed by research design. In my understanding, theory is a set of testable propositions that have emerged through empirical data. In social science research, there are mainly two types of methodology-Quantitative and Qualitative. Quantitative methodology is influenced by the epistemology of positivism and emphasizes on objectivity and detachment in the pursuit of research. On the other hand, Qualitative methodology is informed by the interpretivists methodology and emphasizes on subjectivity and understanding the social action of the social actor. Researchers who swear by the positivist philosophy begin their research with a hypothesis about the research problem (Berg 2014). This is followed by the beginning of fieldwork through either the survey method or the structured interview schedule. After the completion of the research the theory used by the researcher may or may not stand true. Therefore, this is known as the deductive approach. On the other hand, interpretivist epistemology involves beginning with a basic research question and then going to the field. After the collection of data and collation of the findings, it can be found that a theory emerges through the fieldwork. This is known as the inductive theory and it is widely known as th e inductive approach. The importance of theory lies in its ability to explain a phenomenon that would otherwise posit as puzzling for the researcher. In other words, theories provide coherence to understand a social event. For example, the deviant attitude of a child and his unmanageable behaviour can be understood through Sorin and Galloways constructions of different kinds of children based on the context. Apart from providing explanations, theories have the potential to provide predictions. In this regard, Durkheims sociological theory of suicide becomes a lens to examine the role of instability and breakdown of the social machinery in contributing to suicide of a person. Similarly, Durkheim linked the rate of suicide with the degree of ones attachment with the community. This brings m to the third aspect of a theory that it comprises two or more variables where one variable is a dependant variable and another one is an independent variable (Wodak and Meyer 2009). One important aspect that I learnt abo ut theories is that it is not necessarily generalisible to a larger demographic region and is limited to a specific socio-political context. Another important aspect of theory that I have realized that in case of research, theory provides direction about the way the research is to be conducted by presenting a framework to begin and pursue the research. References Berg, B.L., 2014. Methods for the social sciences.Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Boston: Pearson Education. George, A.L. and Bennett, A., 2015.Case studies and theory development in the social sciences. mit Press. Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. eds., 2009.Methods for critical discourse analysis. Sage.