Cultural Realities of Being by Valsiner Jaan Anandalakshmy S. Chaudhary Nandita

Author:Valsiner, Jaan,Anandalakshmy, S.,Chaudhary, Nandita
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

Research and reality

Research often begins with an assumption whether we qualify it as a ‘hypothesis’ or ‘hunch’. This is constructed in the mind of the researcher, who is simply an ‘academic in social context’; a real person in a real situation, attempting to grapple with the complexities of the human condition under specific circumstances. The connections between a ‘research problem’ formulated for investigation and possible implications of the findings are issues that often plague a committed researcher. Why am I doing this study? What use will it be for others? Does it have any meaning for real life? Will my findings apply to other people in other situations? These are some of the several existential questions researchers are usually faced with. This is so because the researcher is first and foremost a person, a member of the community.

Any training as a researcher is superimposed on the existing uniqueness of a person with a specific predisposition, a social context and history. In traditional research training, objectivity and control are basic to a scientific orientation, and a researcher’s particular subjective reality is not considered while transacting research. These principles have recently been challenged by different approaches to psychological research. The questions have come mostly from adopting multidisciplinary and mixed method approaches derived from grounded theory, cultural psychology, activity theory, dialogical theory, ethnography and similar approaches and disciplines. Some important shifts have taken place in the unexamined faith in the objective stance of an uninvolved researcher with an open mind. Although there is no denying the value for an unbiased and unwavering position in research, dismissing the subjectivity of the scholar, intersubjectivity of the interacting persons and interobjectivity of the social situation is no longer reasonable.

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