Rationalistic And Naturalistic Inquiry 31c67

Rationalistic and Naturalistic Inquiry

The term “inquiry,” meaning, “search for truth,” appears not infrequently in writings by philosophers but not so often in the work of social science researchers (Teichman and Evans, 1999). Catane (2000:28) cited two types of inquiries in educational and social science research; the rationalistic and naturalistic inquiries. Rationalistic and naturalistic inquiries are based on the sociological paradigms of organizations – the epistemology of positivism and anti-positivism.

Positivism is a term with widely use in social science and philosophy. In general, it can be defined as an approach which applies scientific method of natural science to study human activity using objective enquiry and thereby presupposes the unity of the sciences (Hollis, 1994: 41; Delanty, 2005: 10). Positivism entails the view that scientific knowledge can be positively verifiable and foundation of knowledge is built on the discovery of general laws (Delanty, 2005: 11). Moreover, Marsh and Smith (2001: 529) argue that Positivism is obviously foundationalist, which is the idea believe that there is a real world out there and it is independent from agent’s knowledge of it. Anti-positivism on other hand, emphasizes that social reality is viewed and interpreted by the individual herself according to the ideological positions she possesses. Therefore, knowledge is personally experienced rather than acquired from or imposed from outside (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2013). Antipositivism (also known as interpretivism or negativism) is the belief within social science that the social realm may not be subject to the same methods of investigation as the natural world; the social realm requires a different

epistemology in which academics work beyond empiricism and the scientific method (Macionis and Gerber, 2010:32).

According to Catane (2000:29), Rationalistic inquiries are traditional, longdominant established tradition in a systematic inquiry. In a rationalistic inquiry, each variable or facet of a problem is isolated and then used to explain a phenomenon or draw a conclusion. The context (e.g. the student's family or work background, the personal reasons why a particular student seldom attended the tutorials) in which the variable is embedded is isolated or ignored (Owens, 1982). In a naturalistic enquiry, on the other hand, hold that one cannot understand human behavior without understanding the framework within which the individuals under study interpret their environment and that this, in turn, can best be understood through understanding their thoughts, values, perceptions, and their actions (Catane, 2000:29). Thus, the phenomena under investigation must be studied as a whole and cannot be teased out of context. The aim of the interview, then, is to provide a more comprehensive picture of each aspect of the study (Owens, 1982).

In a research conducted by Kember, Lai, Murphy, Siaw, Wong and Yuen (1990) suggests that in a rationalistic inquiry, each variable or facet of a problem is isolated and then used to explain a phenomenon or draw a conclusion. The context (e.g. the student's family or work background, the personal reasons why a particular student seldom attended the tutorials) in which the variable is embedded is isolated or ignored.

In a naturalistic enquiry, on the other hand, the phenomena under investigation must be studied as a whole and cannot be teased out of context.

As juxtaposed by Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2013), Positivism emphasizes objectivist approach to studying social phenomena gives importance to research methods focusing on quantitative analysis, surveys, experiments and the like while antipositivism which stresses on subjectivist approach to studying social phenomena attaches importance to a range of research techniques focusing on qualitative analysis, e.g. personal interviews, participant observations, of individuals, personal constructs etc. The division between positivism and non-positivism is so deep that the very term "positivism" has taken on a pejorative meaning for non-positivist (Burrell & Morgan 1979).

REFERENCES:

Burrell, Gibson & Morgan, Gareth. (1979). Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life. Heinemann, London: Pearson Education Publishing. Catane, Juliet A. (2000). Conducting Research: A Practical Application. Quezon City: JMC Press. Cohen, Louis, Manion, Lawrence and Keith Morrison. (2013). Research Methods in Education. (7th ed.). New York: Routledge Publishing. Delanty, Gerard. (2005). Concepts in the Social Sciences. (2nd ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Hollis, Martin. (1994). The Philosophy of Social Science: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kember, David, Lai, Tammy, Murphy, David, Siaw, Irene, Wong, Julian and K.S. Yuen. (1990). Naturalistic Evaluation of Distance Learning Courses. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic. Macionis, John J. and Linda M. Gerber. (2010). Sociology. (7th Canadian ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. Marsh, David and Martin J. Smith. (2001). “There is More Than One Way to do Political Science: On Diifferent Ways to Study Policy Networks” Political Studies Owens, Robert G. (1982). “Methodological Rigor in Naturalistic Inquiry: Some Issues and Answers” Educational istration Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 2. Teichman, Jenny, and Katherine C. Evans (1999). Philosophy: A beginner’s guide. London: Blackwell.