Research methods epitome in social science

Andrzej Świątecki

This article portrays the process of attainning academic knowledge, as experienced by a university student during the promotion of academic research, as appears for instance, when he is writing his Master's thesis.After presenting the elementary demands posed by a Master's thesis regarding studies in communication, a general division of knowledge is made into several sections, using a dichotomous (dual) approach. In the first section theoretical sciences (elementary) are separated from applied sciences (practical). In the second section, a distinction is made between formal and empirical (experimental) sciences. The latter is divided in turn, into natural and social studies, communication being included in the range of social science. Research methods are also presented in a dual system, delineating them into general and detailed methods. In the first section, the following methods are discussed: induction, deduction and reduction, analysis as well as synthesis, comparison and contrast, generalization as well as conclusion, and a method of analysis and a criticism of written source materials. The following detailed methods are presented in the second section: descriptive, monographic, documnet research, and experimental, and as a model method.

KEYWORDS

science repartition, scientific problem, research methods, academic knowledge, learning study