Q. 1 What do you mean by scientific social research?

Discuss its Characteristics and

Significance.

ANS: - Meaning
Research carefully and critically examines the facts or principles to ascertain something.
Scientific social research systematically and critically studies social problems and events
and bring out new facts or theories as well as solutions relating to those problems.
Some Definitions
Young defines social research as ‘the systematic method of discovering the new facts or
verifying the old facts, their sequences, inter-relationships, casual explanations and the
natural laws which govern them.’
According to Redman and Morey, ‘social research is systematized effort to gain new
knowledge’.
Royce A. Singleton and Bruce C. Straits are of the view that ‘scientific social research
consists of the process of formulating and seeking answers to questions about the social
world’
Characteristics
• Verifiable evidence: The facts and evidences can be seen and checked.
• Accuracy: Scientific research aims at accuracy. Hence, it tries to describe things as they
are without any subjectivity.
• Precision: Scientific research is characterized by precision which means that it aims at
giving exact idea or exact number or measurement. It thus avoids vague meaning or
abstract ideas.
• Systematization: Scientific research aims at finding all the relevant data or collecting data
in a systematic and organized way. Such systematic method helps in drawing reliable
conclusion.
• Objectivity: Objectivity stands against subjectivity. Thus it means being free from all
biases and vested interests. In scientific research, objectivity implies that the observer or the
researcher is free from all biases and the observation is unaffected by the observer’s values,
beliefs and preferences to the extent possible and he is able to see and accept facts as they
are, not as he might wish them to be.
• Recording: Another important characteristic of scientific research is recording the
complete details as quickly as possible. It is because there is every possibility that the
observer may forget some of the facts after sometime.
• Controlling conditions: In physical sciences it is possible to control variables. However,
in social science it is not possible for the researcher to control all variables as he wishes.
• Training investigators: For scientific social research, it is important to impart training to
investigators so that they can collect the necessary data for the research.
Sum up
From the above definitions, it can be understood that scientific social research aims at
broadening the horizon of human knowledge about the problems of the society by studying
the problems systematically. Thus, scientific social research emphasizes developing and
adopting scientific methods to study social problems. The scope of scientific social research
includes social life, social action, social behaviour, social relations, social groups and social
structures. Scientific research is thus characterized by objectivity and systematization which
lead to accuracy.