Summary

Philosophical bases in Research

Positivism (Empirical
analytic/technical
orientation)

Interpretivist
/hermeneutic approaches

Critical perspective
[Critical Orientation]

Legitimacy with science

(albeit/even though an
idealized picture of science)
and scientific method (in the
sense of a set of general
methodological rules).

Disagrees with the positivist

emphasis on objectivity and has
sought to find a place for the
subjective

The aim of Critical Theory is

emancipation; to detect and
unmask beliefs and practices
that limit human freedom,
justice and democracy and to
engage in action that brings
these about.

Assertions about the world

and hence the validity of
knowledge claims are about
observable measurable
phenomena.

Research takes everyday

experience and ordinary life as its
subject matter and asks how
meaning is constructed and
social interaction is negotiated in
social practices. The task of
research then becomes to work
with, and make sense of, the
world, through the frames and
pre-understandings of the
researched

The task of educational

research and practice is thus
seen as transformative in
relation to both individuals and
the social world.

Drafted by Fuad Fachruddin, bahan kuliah Program Pascasarjana, PBI, FTIK UIN Jakarta, semester ganjil 2011

The social world is not

essentially different from the
natural world

the field of study is the

meaningful actions of individuals
and the social construction of
reality, the social sciences must
be distinct from the natural
sciences, with different methods,
different ways of explaining and
different criteria about what
constitutes valid knowledge.

A continuation of the grand

narrative of the
Enlightenment that only a
society based on science and
its universal values can be
rational and therefore truly
free.

The goal of research becomes that of

providing interpretations of human
actions and social practices within the
context of meaningful, culturally specific
arrangements.

Shapes this position and

technical rationality, the
enactment of positivist
principles in the realm of
practice, which plays a key role

Since social action is the outcome

of knowledgeable and reflexive
actors interacting with other
knowledgeable and reflexive
actors, explanations of social

This interest is emancipatory

and involves the unmasking of
ideologies that maintain the
status quo by restricting access
to the means of gaining
knowledge and hence to the
means of raising consciousness
or awareness about the
oppressive material conditions
and structures that lead to the
failure to fulfil basic social
needs. Empowerment involves
understanding the causes of
powerlessness, recognizing
systemic oppressive forces and
acting collectively to change
the conditions of life.
The critical emancipatory
interest seeks to remove
structurally rooted obstacles
because it is these which give
rise to what Habermas calls
systematically distorted
communication

Drafted by Fuad Fachruddin, bahan kuliah Program Pascasarjana, PBI, FTIK UIN Jakarta, semester ganjil 2011

action must always remain

indeterminate

Drafted by Fuad Fachruddin, bahan kuliah Program Pascasarjana, PBI, FTIK UIN Jakarta, semester ganjil 2011

Framework of representational
realism, a framework that is
presupposed by positivism and
the
practices
of
technical
rationality. first, that reality is
self-vidently available and can
be accessed directly; second,
that science is free of its own
cultural confusions; and third,
that knowledge is produced by
means of immutable methods
(Lemert, 2005a, 2005b).

A conception of knowledge
formation comes as iterative and
spiral rather than as linear and
cumulative as portrayed in
positivist epistemology. Research
therefore involves interpreting
the actions of those who are
themselves interpreters.

The independent existence of

the world is the essence of the
view of objectivity shared by
common sense, science and
technical rationality. Truth is
achieved through applying
appropriate rationally grounded
techniques; hence the notion of
research as a technical process
Truth is a matter of
correspondence between
statements about the world
contained in theories and the
way the world is, its reality.

Since knowledge always involves

interpretation within historical
and cultural contexts, truths are
historical

A conception of knowledge formation

comes as iterative and spiral rather than
as linear and cumulative as portrayed in
positivist epistemology. Research
therefore involves interpreting the
actions of those who are themselves
interpreters. It is an interpretation of
interpretations

Drafted by Fuad Fachruddin, bahan kuliah Program Pascasarjana, PBI, FTIK UIN Jakarta, semester ganjil 2011

For realism, therefore, the

history of science is that of a
cumulative, linear progression
from ignorance to knowledge, a
steady and inexorable
movement away from
incompleteness and error

Since knowledge always involves

interpretation within historical
and cultural contexts, truths are
historical

Knowledge is not a matter of subject

and object becoming identical but of
them entering into a necessary
dialectical relationship

Understanding is not only a

knowledge of objects but also an
awareness that
everything
cannot be methodically known.
Interpretive
or
hermeneutic
understanding is a learning
process
involving
dialogue
between the researchers and
those
being
researched;
a
dialogue that is always ongoing
and incomplete.

Source: Scott, David; Usher, Rober (2011) Researching Education: Data, Methods and Theory in Educational Enquiry.
New York: Continuum International Publishing Group

Drafted by Fuad Fachruddin, bahan kuliah Program Pascasarjana, PBI, FTIK UIN Jakarta, semester ganjil 2011

London,

Drafted by Fuad Fachruddin, bahan kuliah Program Pascasarjana, PBI, FTIK UIN Jakarta, semester ganjil 2011