Backroom Research

I found Peter Lunt’s article to be very interesting.  Lunt primarily addresses how the Focus Group methodology of research has evolved, from just simply being an adjunct to quantitative research, to actually being a viable method which can stand on its own.  Part of the reason for this shift in perspective is that methodological theory has advanced much since the time period of the 1940s and 50s.  Accordingly, whereas Social Scientists in the 40s and 50s were primarily concerned with using the Focus Group methodology to verify stimuli from a variety of different variables, in the present era (1980s to today) Focus Group methodology is primarily concerned with ascertaining how like minded groups of individuals create meaning for themselves. 

While reading Lunt’s article, I was reminded of how pivotal a role theory plays in determining the data of Focus Group research.  Accordingly, I am lead to believe that theory paradigm allows the researcher a lens within which to interpret data findings in research.  Given this apparent truism, I am reminded of a certain passage in E.H. Carr’s well known book on historical epistemology entitled: What is History?  In questioning the positivist paradigm of history, which lies upon the premise that there are objective historical facts which if ascertained by the historian, can lead him to recognize what actually happened, Carr argues that the facts do not speak for themselves.  In one of his observations of this position Carr states,

“The second observation is that the necessity to establish these basic facts rests not on any quality in the facts themselves, but on an a priori decision of the historian.” (What is History?, p. 11)

Carr later continues,

“It used to be said that the facts speak for themselves.  This is, of course, untrue.  The facts, speak only when the historian calls on them: it is he who decides to which facts to give the door, and in what order or context.” (What is History?, p. 11)

In other words, it is the Historian who interprets the facts through a certain historical perspective shaped by a particular theory.  Similarly, it is the Social Scientist, operating within a particular theoretical perspective, who gives meaning to factual data.