Methodological Approaches to Social Science: Integrating Divergent Concepts and Theories (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1978)
by Ian I. Mitroff and Ralph H. Kilmann
From the Book Jacket
After centuries in which the quest for certainty, precision, consensus, and analytical rigor has dominated scientific methodology, challenging new styles of inquiry are now emerging in the social sciences. These new styles emphasize, for example, producing multiple explanations of any phenomenon, generating information that affects the human condition rather than precise solutions to insignificant problems, and studying the uniqueness of particular individuals. What are the essential features of these emerging methodological approaches? How do the new approaches differ form each other and from the conventional way of thinking about and practicing science? Are these new styles of inquiry less "truthful" or less "valid" than the traditional style? What are the primary uses and limitations of the new approaches? Which methodological style should social scientists adopt to best serve their overall investigative purposes? Can the new and traditional approaches be unified, or must there be increasing tension and divergence among them, ultimately resulting in the disintegration or stagnation of the social sciences?
This new book considers these questions in depth. Ian Mitroff and Ralph Kilmann examine the traditional analytical scientific approach to knowledge and then contrast it to three emerging approaches: the conceptual theorist, the conceptual humanist, and the particular humanist. They offer detailed accounts of what it is like to think in accordance with and to practice each style of inquiry, and they demonstrate that each style is governed by a different logic, ideology, and methodology.
The authors then outline a systems model of science—one that interrelates the various phases of the inquiry process—and describe how the four methodological styles fit into this model. They show that each style is attuned to a different phase of the inquiry process and that each offers a valid and useful entry point to scientific methodology.
In addition, the authors illustrate the actual interdependence and interaction of the four approaches in solving complex scientific problems. They argue, in light of this analysis, that methodological unification of the social sciences can only take place by recognizing the legitimate, interrelated functions of the four styles of inquiry rather than by insisting on the dominance of any single style.
To Order METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES
Table of Contents
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The Crisis of Scientific Belief
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How Scientists Classify Scientists
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The Analytical Scientist
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The Conceptual Theorist
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The Conceptual Humanist
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The Particular Humanist
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Systemic Knowledge: An Integrated Science
Preface
The Authors
References
Index
Book Reviews
AWARDED FOUR STARS BY AMAZON.COM
Typing Social Scientists
Reviewer: M. A. Cooperstein, Willow Grove, PA (March 12, 2005)
Mitroff and Kilmann offer an eye-opening and elegant means of typing scientific thinkers. This has import in that it clarifies the fact that there are a variety of types of scientists, indicating that there are alternate forms of science, rather than one.
They clearly present their concepts which I found exciting and a new way of conceiving others (and myself) within science.
I recommend this as both a good book to cognitively reorient those whose views of science have become stultified and as a means of providing new scientists with a respect for types other than those adhering to the fundamental hypotheticodeductive methodology of prominence.