University of the Philippines Open University

Faculty of Management and Development Studies

Master of Management Program

Student: Mary Grace M. Austria September 23, 2020

PM299.2: Research Methods in Public Management Faculty-in-Charge: Josefina Tayag, DPA

Assignment No. 4

Read and React on:

Mills, C. (1959). The Promise. The Sociological Imagination (p. Chapter 1). New York: Oxford
University Press.
Segovia, L. (n.d.). Social Research for the Development of People: An Alternative Paradigm
(UP Main Library 00036351) [Manila Studies Program Occasional Paper #2, University
of the Philippines Manila]. MSP Turnover Program.

Guide Questions:
 Do you agree that we need a wider sociological context to write our papers and researches?
 What are Segovia's criticisms of the current way we do research and her suggestions for
improvement? Do you agree with such?

Reaction

The chapter “The Promise” of C. Wright Mills’ book The Sociological Imagination and the
Lorna Segovia’s paper entitled Social Research for the Development of People: An Alternative
Paradigm both tackles the issues in the social research being done and the necessity for the
paradigm shift of the researchers.

The society is composed of the people who varies as to social standing, religion, gender,
educational attainment, profession or occupations, culture, traditions, and other differences
which make the study of the human behavior in the society more complex. People feels trapped
with their lives because they failed to see their lives beyond their private orbits and see their
power as limited to cause change in the historical circumstances in their society. People failed
to see that their troubles intersect with the troubles of others and the bigger issue in the societal
context and failed to see that issues that society faces were effects of the actions of the people
within that society or other society in the whole world. C. Wright Mills has differentiated the
private troubles of a person and social problems or public issues and points out that some of the
private troubles that affects many other people are caused by large-scale sociological causes or
public issues.

Therefore, I agree to what C. Wright Mills pointed out that the life of these people and
the history of the society cannot be explained without understanding both. C. Wright Mills
encouraged the researchers to determined how the social environment of these people are
connected to the wider sociological context. In order to do that, we, researchers must have a

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sociological imagination or the capability to see how the unique historical circumstances of a
particular society affect people and also see how people affect history at the same time. The
first fruit of sociological imagination is that people will be able to gauge their fate and know their
chances in life by becoming aware of other individuals that are also in their circumstances.
People must understand that what happens to themselves as part of the intersections of people
(biography) and society (history) to make a wiser decision and go outside the trap they thought
they were. The promise of the sociological imagination is that people will be able to grasp the
history and biography and the relations between these two in the society.

On the other hand, Lorna Segovia criticize how the view of the research as a conjoint
activity of the learning process has become a less concern than the view of the research as a
profitable enterprise. Segovia indicated the uses and misuses of the research findings when
these are treated as commodity or selling it to make profit. One of the criticisms that Segovia
has observed in the current social research is that there is a fragmenting of research activities
wherein several components of research is being performed by somebody with special training
on that aspect. To ensure the taught objectivity, quantifiability, replicability of the scientific
method of research, social researchers borrowed methodologies from the working models of
physical science for which some of us are so enamored without recognizing that these methods
have not been similarly useful to establish causal laws in human behavior. Human behavior
cannot be reduced to simplistic “stimulus-response” sequence because humans cannot be
prevented from making unpredicted responses.

To resolve these negative observations on the current practice of social research,

Segovia suggests searching for an alternative paradigm called a people-oriented paradigm.
Segovia’s presented alternative paradigm is inspired by Kuhnian paradigm and Paolo Friere’s
practice of education among the marginal population that is disempowered. This is sometimes
called participatory research wherein instead of trained individuals outside the group, people
that are affected by the social issue are the one to decide in every step of the research process.
However, unlike with the conventional research wherein the methodologies are given,
methodologies in people-oriented research will be dictated by the experience of the learner-
researcher which Segovia described the characteristics of the methodologies that must be
performed in this alternative paradigm.

Segovia further points out that every recommendation to solve the social issue should
not be taken as an absolute solution to all social issues because “there are no objective
remedies applicable at all time in all circumstances” because social issues deals with humans
so remedies shall be “human”. Social solutions should be dynamic and an evolving process
which change when new ideas or new resolutions for other problems concerns or affect them.
Social remedy as part of the research activity wherein the learner-researcher is part of the
subject people in the community, these people also continue to participate in the implementation
of the solutions. Discovering the solution after the participative research process liberates the
social research from mere knowing the problem into participating in the process of resolving
such social problem.

I agree with what Segovia has proposed as an alternative paradigm of social research.
This alternative paradigm brings the people from being a problem into being the solution to the
problem which I think is also the most effective method of research since they are the ones who
really experience the social issues that the research would like to address to.

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