The I in Science: Training to Utilize Subjectivity in Research

by Judith R. Brown

This unique book is designed to help meet the needs of a new generation of social science researchers. Ever since Descartes and Bacon, objectivity and the scientific method has been the goal of physical science, and later social science. But the boundary between science and philosophy has not always been clearly delineated. The pendulum is now swinging in support of many famous thinkers who have had a more holistic approach, such as Aristotle, Pascal, Newton Bertrand Russell and Wittgenstein, to mention a few. Subjectivity, that is to say the human dimension, the I, is making a come-back in the realm of research. There is, in fact, no such thing as impersonal science. In a research project, the researchers themselves are involved, and quite obviously use their personal bias and interest in choosing an area of study, a unit of analysis, a conceptual framework, the type of research questions and the methods of collecting and analysing data. These simple facts in themselves are, according to the author of this book, enough to discredit the claims of objectivity in scientific investigations. Dr. Brown provides a refreshing approach to the process of research, in which the scientist, as a whole person, is restored to its core. A course called The Role of Self in Qualitative Research, offered to doctoral students at the Institute for Educational Research at the University of Oslo in 1992 formed the nucleus for the writing of this book. Although there is a great deal of literature written on the subject of qualitative research methodology, which in fact stresses the self-awareness of the researcher this is the first book on how to teach self- awareness. It describes components of a participatory, experiential, step-by-step approach, in which the students' subjectivity is the subject matter, and the author details a comprehensive, concept-based methodology for training researchers how to utilize their subjectivity in a constructive way. The result is that content and process are integrated. Follow-up data of the course participants from their own research fields is cited, demonstrating the rich variety of applications of their training. Dr. Judith R. Brown has international experience as a trainer and consultant in the fields of education, applied psychology, medicine, law, defense and industry. Her pedagogy is based on the Gestalt therapy of Fritz Perls and the confluent education of her husband, Professor Emeritus George I. Brown, with whom she conducted a four-year exploratory research project upon which much of The I in Science is based.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1996