Abstract
It would seem obvious that an exposition of the methodology of sociological research should begin with an unambiguous answer to the question: “what is sociology?” The subject matter of our science, the range of topics of interest to it, etc., having been characterized, it would be time to go on to the methods of inquiry applied in it.
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References
Jan Szczepafiski aptly writes: “The definition of a science does not by itself, settle anything, for a given discipline does not find itself in a ready-made, closed and unalterable form, capable of being expressed in a precise definition, but is constantly changing system of views, theories, hypotheses and propositions, problems and questions, to which scientists seek the answers, not infrequently overthrowing what not long previously were still regarded as immutable achievements”. J. Szczepatiski, Elementame pojjcia sociologic ( Elementary Concepts of Sociology ), Warszawa 1967, p. 8.
Interesting data on the subject of the real mechanisms through which the problems of sociological investigations arise have been described retrospectively by the authors of some of the better-known sociological works and published in the book: Ph. E. Hammong (ed.), Sociologists at Work, New York 1963.
Cf. Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, Oxford 1943.
Adorno et al., The Authoritarian Personality,New York 1950.
S. Stouffer (ed.), Studies in Social Psychology in World War II; Vol. I, II: The American Soldier, Vol. III: Experiments in Mass Communication, Vol. IV: Measurement and Prediction, Princeton 1949.
The reader will find very interesting remarks on this subject in: G. Myrdal, The American Dilemma,Appendix I.
Cf. Chapter VIII, “Prediction of Events and Practical Applications of Research Results”.
Cf. K. Ajdukiewicz, Logika pragmatyczna (Pragmatic Logic), Warszawa 1965, ch. 6, (English edition-1974).
S. Lipset, M. Trow, and J. Coleman, Union Democracy, Glencoe 1956.
Cf. J. Gedymin, Problemy, zalozenia, rozstrzygnigcia (Problems, Assumptions, Solutions ), Poznan 1964.
Cf. H. Mehlberg, “O niesprawdzalnych zaloieniach nauki” (On Unverifiable Assumptions of Science), in T. Pawlowski (ed.), Logiczna teoria nauki ( The Logical Theory of Science ), Warszawa 1966.
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© 1977 PWN—Polish Scientific Publishers—Warszawa
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Nowak, S. (1977). The Formulation of the Research Problem and the Choice of the Right Methods. In: Methodology of Sociological Research. Synthese Library, vol 82. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1117-4_1
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