Review

Summary

Clarity about research methods is important for all, not just for scientific practitioners. In everyday life, unsatisfactory research can lead to endeavours being pursued on false premises with substantial losses and personal or social harm.

The research community as a whole now depends on government financial support and general social support. As a result, the ultimate value of truth is in danger of evaporating or being subordinated to political necessity and financial imperatives. Maintaining a clear fix on the value and rationale of each of these 7 fundamental research methods may potentially assist in the re-assertion of essential values.

The Table below summarizes the TET findings and restates the core principle and rationale of the method. Click on the row and column headings for more details.

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L' Research Method Core Principle Consensus
& Findings 		Conviction &
Communic'n 		Auspices Mental Operations Rationale
L'7 Contemplative Speculate
insightfully		 Independent
& possible		 Compulsive & illuminative Personal Synthesizing via penetration To alter a current belief system.
L'6 Formal Reason mathematico-logically Relevant
& persuasive		 Impartial
& explicative		 Personal Reasoning via
abstraction		 To ensure
absolute precision.
L'5 Holistic Model systems completely Controlled
& probable		 Compulsive & illuminative Personal Description via observation To facilitate deliberate change.
L'4 Dialectic Address polarization Relevant
& persuasive		 Directive
& asseverative		 Collegial Synthesizing via penetration To unify knowledge & unite inquirers.
L'3 Explanatory
verification 		Test
hypotheses		 Dependent
& plausible		 Supportive & stimulative Collegial Interpreting via controls To establish causal relations.
  Explanatory
falsification 		Test
hypotheses		 Controlled
& probable		 Impartial
& explicative		 Personal Interpreting via controls To establish causal relations.
L'2 Analytic Ratiocinate systematically Independent
& possible		 Supportive & stimulative Collegial Reasoning via
abstraction		 To offer a reasoned base for inquiry.
L'1 Empirical Accumulate facts Dependent
& plausible		 Directive
& asseverative		 Collegial Description via observation To remain fully grounded.

Application of Methods

Settings

Research methods are used repetitively on particular topics within settings (disciplines, institutions) specifically dedicated to inquiry. The setting and topic have significant effects on the choice of method. However, using any method in a single study produces findings not knowledge.
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Academic disciplines can be divided into the foundational disciplines (philosophy, mathematics, systems), the humanities and the sciences.

All substantive disciplines use a number of methods because the subject matter needs scrutiny from different perspectives. How the method-based perspectives are combined to generate knowledge will be examined in relation to the Spiral transformation.

Theme-based Cross-Disciplinary Studies

Studies that focus on a theme from social life—water, waste-disposal, welfare, national security, environmental protection &c—involve multiple disciplines.

Multi-disciplinary teams or specialized institutions are set up to enable any and every method. If there is a need to weld distinct disciplines with divergent loyalties and career paths, then uniformity of method may be needed.

Being inherently socio-physical and change-focused, the holistic method is often requisite.

Reflection

Q: What form of inquiry is used to produce this taxonomy?

A: The method being used is holistic-L'5 because the goal is to model a system completely.
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This inquiry focuses on the psychosocial but does not hesitate to sweep in physical/material realities where these are relevant. This is the reverse of the usual focus on a material-technical system where inclusion of psychosocial phenomena is problematic or deliberately rejected.

Physics, for example, has become aware that the act of measurement, possibly consciousness itself, affects reality or the representation of reality. This seems to be viewed more as a distressing philosophical issue, rather than as a phenomenon amenable to scientific investigation.

Further Thoughts

Originally posted: 28-Aug-2015. Last amended 21-Feb-2022.