MEANING OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Research is a process to discover new knowledge to find answers to a

question. The word research has two parts re (again) and search (find)
which denote that we are taking up an activity to look into an aspect
once again or we want to look for some new information about
something. E.g Front Office Executive has to learn about the
facilities, timings, key features of products and services available at
the hotel if one wants to become a wonderful sales professional other
than being a host. "All progress is born of inquiry.Doubt is often
better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to
invention" is a famous Hudson Maxim in context of which the
significance of research can well be understood.
SCOPE OF SSR
i. Knowledge Building: Generalizations drawn have a certain effect on the established
corpus of knowledge. A general proposition having been established as an outcome
of research may extend the bounds of knowledge existing at a point in time. It may,
if it does not fit a certain body of existing knowledge in the sense of not arguing
well with the expectations that can be legitimately drawn from it, exert pressure on
the scientist to bring about certain amendments or modifications in this body of
knowledge in view of the discordant note struck by this new general proposition.
Contrarily, if the generalization fits the established corpus of knowledge, it lends
added credence to it.
Thus the new statements of generality emanating as research outcomes serve as
scales for verification of the existing system of knowledge is only repeating the
obvious. As has been noted research involves testing to find out whether the
empirical observations presented as general statements are in accord with the
predictions that may be made on the basis of the existing body of knowledge. If
such is not the case, the system needs to be revised or even rejected. An important
aspect of scientific activity is verification of conclusions which have found place in
the established system of knowledge.
ii. Study of Social Problem: Where there is knowledge, ignorance cannot exist. The
best way of removing superstitions, blind beliefs etc. is to transplant true
knowledge in their stead. For example, before the intensive social research came
into crime the social causes of crime were not realized and people thought that
propensity to crime was inherited. But now all this has changed.
The scourge of ignorance is one greatest block to social progress. It breeds
superstitions and blind faith in traditions, it keeps orthodoxy alive. By unraveling
the intricate and complex phenomenon of popular beliefs, social research enables
us to attack vigorously the citadels of orthodoxy of stop its growth. Gradually new
knowledge seeps in popular mind and thus superstitions become diluted and
 ultimately removed. The key to the solution of social problems is their accurate
and unbiased analysis and thereby to understand the causal factors responsible for
them. The analysis of an untrained observer is not dispassionate and precise. Only
a social scientist is competent to undertake this task. Social scientists have
successfully analyzed the problems of regionalism, casteism, linguism,
communalism etc.
iii. Theory making and policy making: The extended, corrected and verified
knowledge may be put to two possible uses:
a. Theoretical. Knowledge thus acquired may be used for constructing theoretic
models. In other words, knowledge may be organized into propositions and these
propositions may then be meaningfully articulated to form a more abstract
conceptual system affording estimations about a class of thing or phenomena
governed by a specified set of conditions. Such use of knowledge is often labeled
as theory-oriented and the activities of a scientist who seeks knowledge for the
sake of building theories of, ‘non-utilitarian’ import are often known as
‘pure’ ‘basic’ or ‘theoretical’ research. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge i.e.
only for the satisfaction of ‘knowing’ is the attitude that underlies scientific
activity of this order.
b. Practical. The researches which seek knowledge will be used mainly for policy
making which can be used to solve various problems confronted by our society.
They may serve some practical ends which are often called ‘applied’ ‘action-
oriented’ or ‘practice-oriented’. We shall be considering this aspect in greater
details when an action oriented research has to be taken up. One should not
consider these two orientations as comprising a perfect dichotomy. There is
nothing as practical as a good theory and that endeavours to solve practical
problems have many a time given birth to theories i.e. practice is quite often
“blessing for the development of theory”. Theory helps us to identify gaps in our
knowledge and seek to bridge them with institutive, impressionistic or extensional
generalizations.
Laws propagate when they are united in a theory. As Karl Jespers said ‘It is only
when using methodologically classified sciences that we know what we know and
what we do not know. This way, theory constitutes a crucially important guide to
designing of fruitful research.’

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH
The role of research in several fields of applied economics, whether related to
business or to the economy as a whole, has greatly increased in modern times. The
increasingly complex nature of business and government has focused attention on
the use of research in solving operational problems. Research, as an aid to
economic policy, has gained added importance, both for government and business.
Research provides the basis for nearly all government policies in our economic
system. For instance, government’s budgets rest in part on an analysis of the needs
and desires of the people and on the availability of revenues to meet these needs.
The cost of needs has to be equated to probable revenues and this is a field where
research is most needed. Through research we can devise alternative policies and
can as well examine the consequences of each of these alternatives.
Decision-making may not be a part of research, but research certainly facilitates
the decisions of the policy maker. Government has also to chalk out programmes
for dealing with all facets of the country’s existence and most of these will be
related directly or indirectly to economic conditions. The plight of cultivators, the
problems of big and small business and industry, working conditions, trade union
activities, the problems of distribution, even the size and nature of defence services
are matters requiring research. Thus, research is considered necessary with regard
to the allocation of nation’s resources. Another area in government, where research
is necessary, is collecting information on the economic and social structure of the
nation. Such information indicates what is happening in the economy and what
changes are taking place. Collecting such statistical information is by no means a
routine task, but it involves a variety of research problems. These day nearly all
governments maintain large staff of research technicians or experts to carry on this
work. Thus, in the context of government, research as a tool to economic policy
has three distinct phases of operation, viz., (i) investigation of economic structure
through continual compilation of facts; (ii) diagnosis of events that are taking place
and the analysis of the forces underlying them; and (iii) the prognosis, i.e., the
prediction of future developments.
Research has its special significance in solving various operational and planning
problems of business and industry. Operations research and market research, along
with motivational research, are considered crucial and their results assist, in more
than one way, in taking business decisions. Market research is the investigation of
the structure and development of a market for the purpose of formulating efficient
policies for purchasing, production and sales. Operations research refers to the
application of mathematical, logical and analytical techniques to the solution of
business problems of cost minimisation or of profit maximisation or what can be
termed as optimisation problems. Motivational research of determining why people
behave as they do is mainly concerned with market characteristics. In other words,
it is concerned with the determination of motivations underlying the consumer
(market) behaviour. All these are of great help to people in business and industry
who are responsible for taking business decisions. Research with regard to demand
and market factors has great utility in business. Given knowledge of future
demand, it is generally not difficult for a firm, or for an industry to adjust its
supply schedule within the limits of its projected capacity. Market analysis has
become an integral tool of business policy these days. Business budgeting, which
ultimately results in a projected profit and loss account, is based mainly on sales
estimates which in turn depends on business research. Once sales forecasting is
done, efficient production and investment programmes can be set up around which
 are grouped the purchasing and financing plans. Research, thus, replaces intuitive
business decisions by more logical and scientific decisions.
Research is equally important for social scientists in studying social relationships
and in seeking answers to various social problems. It provides the intellectual
satisfaction of knowing a few things just for the sake of knowledge and also has
practical utility for the social scientist to know for the sake of being able to do
something better or in a more efficient manner. Research in social sciences is
concerned both with knowledge for its own sake and with knowledge for what it
can contribute to practical concerns. “This double emphasis is perhaps especially
appropriate in the case of social science. On the one hand, its responsibility as a
science is to develop a body of principles that make possible the understanding
and prediction of the whole range of human interactions. On the other hand,
because of its social orientation, it is increasingly being looked to for practical
guidance in solving immediate problems of human relations.”
In addition to what has been stated above, the significance of research can also be
understood keeping in view the following points:
(a) To those students who are to write a master’s or Ph.D. thesis, research may mean
careerism or a way to attain a high position in the social structure;
(b) To professionals in research methodology, research may mean a source of
livelihood;
(c) To philosophers and thinkers, research may mean the outlet for new ideas and
insights;
(d) To literary men and women, research may mean the development of new styles
and creative work;
(e) To analysts and intellectuals, research may mean the generalisations of new
theories.
Thus, research is the fountain of knowledge for the sake of knowledge and an
important source of providing guidelines for solving different business,
governmental and social problems. It is a sort of formal training which enables one
to understand the new developments in one’s field in a better way.