Methods for empathetic interviewing in social Sciences
16 Outubro 2021, 11:00 • João Guerra
The scientific method must satisfy four key characteristics:
Logical: Scientific inferences must be based on logical principles of reasoning: organized searching for realistic solutions to a problem
Confirmable: Inferences derived must match with identifiable and provable observed evidence.
Repeatable: Other scientists should be able independently to replicate or repeat a similar methodological approach and obtain similar, if not identical, results.
Scrutinizable: The procedures used and the inferences derived must be acceptable to critical scrutiny (peer review) by other scientists and knowledgeable people.
Scope for novelty and unexpectedness.
Action research assumes that complex social phenomena are best understood by intervening or disturbing those engaged phenomena and observing the effects of those actions. Here the researcher is usually an observer or an advisor or an organisational member embedded within a particular set of social relationships seeking a common or cooperative response to a real dilemma facing the social group being studied. The researcher’s choice of actions must be based on theory, which should explain why and how such actions may cause the sought after change. The researcher observes the results of actions, modifying them as necessary, while simultaneously learning from the action and generating new theoretical insights about the target problem, the dynamics of the social group, or the effects of interventions.