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Hi All!<br>
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After re-reading my post of 7-7-08, I must say that Patrick’s critique of it is based on a misstatement of what it is about.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It suggests a three step way of conducting an authentic interpretive social science study.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The three steps are 1) fact gathering; 2) interpreting the reasons for the actions under study; and, 3) appraising, or evaluating, the gradient of rationality manifested in 1 and 2.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>About this,<br>
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<FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Patrick wrote:</FONT></FONT></SPAN></U></TT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><TT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3>Bill asks</FONT> "<FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3>[</FONT></SPAN></TT>Suppose a graduate student or professional social scientist sets out to do an interpretive study of</FONT><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">] </FONT></FONT><TT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif "><FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">why </FONT><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">George Bush (GB), acting as Commander-in-Chief, ordered</FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT size=3> </FONT> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></TT></FONT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><TT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">the preemptive strike on Iraq, which has since resulted in the<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></TT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><TT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">prolonged Iraq War" but the subsequent elaboration doesn't actually<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></TT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><TT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">answer that question! Instead, it answers the parallel question "was<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></TT></div>
<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><TT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">it rational for GB to have ordered the preemptive strike on Iraq?"<br>
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<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><TT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black"><FONT face="Arial, Helvet ica, sans-serif" size=3><br>
Actually, the message says nothing about answers, because its about methods.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>My next sentence is:</FONT><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> </FONT> <FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3>"</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></TT>How would this study be structured?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is, how would one plan to both approach the study, and later present it, say, for publication?"<br>
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Once the facts are established, and the reasons for Bush’s order have been interpreted therefrom, the next step is evaluation.<br>
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Bill Wrote:</FONT></FONT></U></div>
<div class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3>"So, for a Polanyian social science, one must ask how well GB’s behavior, and his reasons therefore, measure up to the level of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">human</I> rationality.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To me this means I have to ask whether a rational person, or more exactly, a rational president, would have acted as GB did under the circumstances.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I would make this determination so as to more reasonably classify GB’s conduct along a gradient of20rationality, and measure its fit into the category of human behavior.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>…<br>
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Whether my study of GB would come to a similar conclusion or not, [about Bush’s rationality] would depend on the facts and reasons that I settle on in the first two steps.<br>
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So, this is what I would advise grad students to consider as a proper interpretive social science method.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is, establish the relevant facts, interpret these for the meanings that the actors understood for themselves, and check=2 0for meanings of which they may not be aware, or may not state.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Then appraise the mix for its degree of rationality under the circumstances."<br>
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Also, check out my earlier post on IT Governance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Its another model of how to do a complete interpretive social science study.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(No answers, just a model method.)<br>
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<U>Social Science in Current History.</U><br>
In my opinion,
social science methodology is in a transitionary period.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The old mechanistic, causal model, based in 19<SUP>th</SUP> Century physics, is on the wane.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That model dominated social science for most of the 20<SUP>th</SUP> Century.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One of its pillars comes from the distinction David Hume made, over 200 years ago, between the "is" and the "ought."<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This has also come to be known as the "fact/value" distinction.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> <br>
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In social science, this distinction shows up as that between "explanation" and "evaluation." Patrick seems to be a proponent of that view, in the excellent company of Max Weber, among others.<br>
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One of Polanyi’s most significant contributions to the understanding of social science methodology is his demonstration of the delusional character of that distinction in both the natural and the social sciences.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The notion that explanation is "value neutral" is an instance of social scientists misunderstanding what they actually do in social science.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> <br>
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Personally, I think it’s a bad idea to perpetuate this=2
0self-delusion by teaching it to grad students.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>No social science explanation is possible, much less complete, without numerous evaluations at every step in the process. Might as well do it openly.<br>
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So, what does anybody think about that?</FONT></div>
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Bill Kelleher</FONT></div>
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