Social Science in West Africa

The history of social science in West Africa can be traced between the two world wars when
the colonial powers were concerned with the administrative control of their then colonies.
The development of social science in West Africa passed through four stages:
1. The period of Free-Lancers (published studies of African customs);
2. The commissioning of special studies to enable experts or committees carry out
important aspects of colonial administration;
3. The establishment of specialized institutions in metropolitan areas for the study of social
and cultural patterns in the colonies E.g. the international African Institute – 1926;
4. Establishment of social science research of science research institutions within the
colonies themselves to study existing social phenomenon.

In furtherance of the development of this new discipline, many Africans entered the field of
social science thus earning masters and doctorate degrees as movements for the
advancement improvement and promotion of these social sciences gained prominence as a
result of the numerous researches made in this area, knowledge grew and expanded. Also
strategies were designed to organize the knowledge of social science in such a way that it
became teachable and meaningful in schools.

Pre-scientific Inquiry Method

From time in memorial, mankind has developed a variety of methods for seeking patterns
and meanings in explaining the social realities of human predicaments. Each of these
methods of finding truth has made its contribution to man‟s total sum of knowledge.
Every society has some collective understanding of the universe and man‟s relation to it as
explained by tradition. Tradition provides explanation of death and birth, male and female
may be taught as revealed truth from a spiritual being, wisdom, or elders.

Another method is appeal to authority. The villagers who depended on Zoes for truth saw
them as another form of authority. On numerous occasions these people tend to believe the
revelations of the Zoes without any doubt because they are considered experts. Similarly, a
child takes seriously the explanations given by his parents or teachers without questioning
them about the way things happened. Common Sense or Conventional Wisdom is the third
source of knowledge upon which laymen depended for truth. It is a belief that man shares
with most men in his time and place. Much practical behaviors rest on this kind of “truth”
which constitutes the bulk of everyday culture.

Because explanations arrive at by these pre-scientific methods are often invalid due to
ignorance of facts, narrowness of personal experience, self-interest and prejudice against
certain ideas, social scientists have adopted a core objective approach in gathering facts
based on careful observations known as the scientific method., it consists of rules, if
followed that lead to the fact regardless of what we might have believed or hoped our
outcome of any research to be.

The Scientific Method

The scientific method, which is an empirical objective and logical way of gathering data and
arriving at conclusion, can be described as having six steps:
STEP ONE: Defining The Problem.
A researcher does not just begin a research because he or she wishes to conduct a research.
There must be a problem for which an answer must be found. The problem a particular
researcher chooses as the basis for his or her investigation is often related to his or her area
of interest.

STEP TWO: Formulation of Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a statement specifying a particular relationship between two variables. It is
an educated guess that states what we are looking for. The hypothesis set the stage for the
research and gives direction. For example, we might hypothesize that inter-tribal marriages
are more “successful” than tribally homogenous marriages. This hypothesis might be
structured this way: „this incidence of marital satisfaction among inter-tribal marriages is
less frequent and less severe that among tribally homogenous marriages.” Our variables in
this case are tribal background (dependent variable) and marital success (independent
variable).

STEP THREE: Research Design

A research design is simply a set direction for research. It is a blue print that tells the
researcher exactly how the research is to be conducted so as to enable the researcher test
or verify the hypothesis. Some common designs used by social scientist are case study
method, survey method, observation method, etc.

STEP FOUR: Collection of Data

The collecting process requires attentiveness and caution to ensure that all the data are
accurate and valid. For example, if our research design chosen is sample survey, we might
go to the bureau of marriage license and collect the lists of tribally homogenous and inter-
tribally married couples in the last five years. From both list, we might select every number
of couples and proceed to interview them in an attempt to discover the dissatisfaction with
the marriage.

STEP FIVE: Analyzing the Collected Data

When the data have been collected, the researcher must analyze then to determine the
meaning. When analyzing data, questions such as these must be considered:
1. Was the sample adequate?
2. Were the intervening Were the intervening variable sufficiently controlled?
3. How accurate were the observation, recording, tabulation and mathematical
computation?
4. Were the data checked for validity and reliability?
5. What is the result of test the hypothesis?
STEP SIX: Draw Conclusion
Based on the result gathered from analyzing the data, a conclusion is reached. The
conclusion will reflect the hypothesis, and on the basis of conclusion, the hypothesis will
either be rejected or accepted. The researcher might restate the hypothesis in the research
and start all over if the conclusion does not support the hypothesis.