Difficulties in Social Research

Methodological and Ethical Issues

Abstract

While social research has long taken root in modern society, many problems and difficult issues in social research remain unresolved. One of such unresolved issues is the conflict between the positivistic approach and the social constructionist approach. Another is the unequal relationship and ethical issues between the researcher and the respondent. While positivists take as real respondents' answers, social constructionists, on the other hand, assert that such answers are but fiction created in the course of an interview. This difference in stance leads to a difference in their research techniques. The researcher-respondent relationship is not only complicated by issues such as ethnicity, class and gender, which are structured in modern society, but is constituted inequitably in the interview process because where the researcher and the respondent place their goals and interests are different. It is an ethical imperative to strive for equity. Various methods are proposed to reduce hierarchical structures. Finally, the researcher has to be reflexive in social research.