Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

The Research Report

The Politics of Social Research

Objectivity and Value Freedom

Conclusion

Writing the Research Report and

the Politics of Social Research

But that’s our business: to arrange ideas in so rational an order that another person

can make sense of them. We have to deal with that problem on two levels. We have to

arrange the ideas in a theory or narrative, to describe causes and conditions that

lead to the effects that we want to explain, and do it in an order that is logically and

empirically correct.... Finally, we want our prose to make the order we have

constructed clear. We don’t want imperfection in our prose to interfere with our

readers’ understanding. These two jobs converge and cannot be separated.

—Howard Becker,Writing for Social Scientists,p. 133

Communicating results and describing in detail how
you conducted a study are critical last steps in the
research process. The form is usually a written re-
port. The norm of communalism emphasizes that
we make public how we conducted research and its
complete findings. This chapter focuses on writing
a research report.
Conducting a study and reporting its results can
create controversy. Doing research can raise con-
tentious ethical issues that largely involve protect-
ing research participants, maintaining integrity
while doing research, and dealing with pressure
from research sponsors. Social research also in-
volves political issues that can be even more con-
tentious. The politics of social research can affect
the possibility of conducting a study and dissemi-
nating findings from it as well as how others may try
to misuse research findings.
This chapter combines two topics: writing a re-
search report and the politics of social research. The
writing requires mastering relatively straight-

forward, noncontroversial rules and skills. The is-

sues in the politics of social research are not

straightforward, however. They include issues such

as the freedom to conduct a study and to prepare the

report without interference from powerful social

groups. There are rules for writing reports and codes

of ethics, but there is no code or rules for research

politics.

Social research may be imperfect, but its ulti-

mate goal is to discover knowledge, expand under-

standing, and seek truth. We want to investigate all

topics and fully share the method and findings of

research with the scientific community and beyond

without barriers. Political controversies develop

when powerful groups or institutions try to block

inquiry, prevent the free flow of new knowledge,

place limits on the search for truth, or misuse and

selectively ignore research findings. The groups or

institutions usually do so to advance their own

nonscientific goals and purposes.