Research Methods Cannot Be Value Free

Research Methods Cannot Be Value Free
By: Sasekea Harris, Ed.D (Cand), MSc. (Cand), MLIS, BEd

Abstract
Research Methods cannot be totally value free. The researcher is influenced by his spiritual, physical and political environment. Consequently, this plays a major role in every step of the research process - from the innocent selection of an idea as worthy of research - to the mode of publication. The definitions of the two broad types of research: qualitative and quantitative acknowledge values about the possibilities of each methodology. Moreover, the assertion that research methods cannot be totally value is in itself intricately influenced by epistemological values about the concept of research. The foundation of the very notion therefore negates the structure - research as value free. The extent to which values enter research can be reduced but not totally eliminated.

Keywords: Research, Value Free, Research Methods

Introduction
The debate encapsulating research methods as value free is not a novel phenomenon. It is one that has provoked much thought. Also, it makes the tacit suggestion that for research to correctly define the term “scientific research”, research methods should and can be value free. However, experience has consistently proven that research methods cannot be totally value free, as values enter the research process at any stage, regardless of the research method being employed - quantitative or qualitative.

The fact that values enter the research though, does not automatically equates a non scientific or invalid research. In fact, values are of sterling importance in enabling one to make sensible interpretation and analysis of the findings possible. The interpretation and findings must be guided by a context and must fit into a context, that context being the environment / society of the research, which has at its heart, values.

Individuals are not independent units, they do not operate in a vacuum, and they are not undisturbed by society’s principles, customs and values. Unacceptably or acceptably, they are guided subconsciously or consciously by an epistemological, ontological, or axiological assumption. It is a truth universally known that the individual is influenced by society, and at the core of society, are values. Research methods then, when the individual (affected by society’s values) conducting it, cannot be value free. However, the extent to which values enter the research at all stages can be minimized but not totally eliminated.

Towards a Definition of Values
Values are a set of ideas, beliefs and opinions that an individual holds, which normally guides one’s actions. Values according to Bryman (2004, p.21) “reflect the personal beliefs or the feelings of a researcher”. This then arguably suggests that for every action by an individual that there is a visible or invisible guide; that guide being one’s values. Research methods then, being conducted by the individual, as being value free is questionable.

The Genesis of the Concept “Value Free”
Weber (1949) believed that social science should and could be value free. But what is meant by research methods as value free? For this discourse, research methods as value free is conceptualized as research methods being free of values and non-scientific assumptions; values do not envelope methods of research at any point. The extent to which this is valid and possible will be examined throughout this paper.

Morrison (1995, p.267) opines value neutrality is a term used by Weber to indicate the necessary objectivity researchers need when investigating problems in the social sciences. It is important to note that although Weber believed that value neutrality was the aim of research, his view was that no science is fundamentally neutral and its observational language is never independent of the way individuals see phenomena and the questions they ask about them (Morrison 1995, p.347). To a large extent this paper will support this postulation.

Morrison (1995, p.347) further postulates that it is this link between the researcher's theoretical stand and the methods adopted that raises the question as to whether sociology can be value free. He raises an astute question – “is all knowledge a cultural product in that what a society defines as knowledge reflects the values of that society, therefore making value free science the aim but not the achievable goal of sociology?” This suggests that how one comes to know is to an extent determined by values. Also, importantly, this claim highlights the reality that value free is a mere aim and not an achievable goal, which this paper will also reveal.

Additionally, the concept of value free research has its roots in the rise of positivism and the scientific method in the mid nineteenth century. Positivists believed that discovering laws of social development would create a better society. As such, quantitative methods were thought to be more facilitative of a value free science, because “objectivism” according to Neuman (2000, p.70) “displaced locally based studies that were action oriented and largely qualitative”. Moreover, “Positivists see science as special, distinctive part of society that is free of personal, political, or religious values…It involves applying strict rational thinking and systematic observation in a manner that transcends personal prejudices, biases and values” (Neuman 2000, p.69). The extent to which this is a possible human activity in reality is questionable.

He further notes that this thrust toward objectivism fuelled the growth of the concept value free. Additionally, it grew because competition among researchers for a public image of serious professionalism, and the information needs of expanding government and corporate bureaucracies combined to redefine social research (Neuman 2000, p.70).

However, one can argue that the genesis of the concept of research methods as value free, stemming from positivism, tacitly suggests that the very conception of the belief that research methods should and can be value free is guided by a higher epistemological value / belief about the way research methods should be. Therefore, the very thought of research methods as value free is an influence of values.

Research MethodsAccording to the Sociology Commission (2006, p.1) research methods are “the various ways in which data can be gathered, organized, and analyzed, whether it is quantitative or qualitative data and data analysis”. The specific methods used in any type of research depend on the type of research being performed, which suggests that values will guide the selection and adoption of a research method. Values such as the belief that one research method will provide a better fit for a particular research, is evidence of the injection of an epistemological / ontological / axiological value. For example, Stanley and Wise (1983) writing about feminist research opine the starting point is that we need to know how women's oppression occurs and where it occurs in the context of differing everyday life experiences as women. They posit, the absolute importance of "feminist consciousness" which means that women's experiences constitute a different ontology or way of going about making sense of the world. Consequently, methodologically, they argue for the use of ethnomethodology, because, in their view, "doing feminism" in any given situation disturbs the taken-for-granted quality of that situation. To an extent one can agree.

Clearly, feminist epistemological and ontological values, specifically gender values, influence the research methods feminist uses. Research methods then are not value free.

Research Methods – Can Research Methods be Value Free
Gouldner (1962, p.199) contends that this is not possible. He argues that this is a myth as it appeals to reason and ignores experience. He argues the image “is more of a neat intellectual theorem demanded as a sacrifice to reason; it is, also, a felt conception of a role and a set of (more or less) shared sentiments as to how sociologists should live.” One can agree with this postulation for reasons, which will be outlined during this discourse. Moreover, an attempt at this as a way of living in the research community can serve a good. But it is the possibility of the totality of this, which is questionable.

Research methods, qualitative or quantitative go through the research process / stages. At every stage, values almost unavoidably enter, which suggests that research methods cannot be value free. In fact:

There is a growing recognition that it is not feasible to keep the values that a researcher holds totally in check. These can intrude at any or all of a number of points in the process of social research: choice of research area; formulation of research question; choice of method; formulation of research design and data collection techniques; implementation of data collection; analysis of data; interpretation of data; conclusions.
Bryman (2004, p.21)

It is important to note the operative word he uses is “totally”, which is what this paper argues about – research methods cannot be totally value free.

Selection of Topic / Hypothesis
Selection of a topic / hypothesis is one of the first stages of the research process, which according to Babbie (2004, p.108) stems from an idea or interest or theory. One can argue that the selection of a topic is governed by one’s values as to what one thinks is important in one’s particular time and context.
In fact:
Science is a human enterprise, so values inevitably come into play...values can affect every part of the scientific process—from the way the results of an experiment are interpreted to what a scientist chooses to study in the first place. How do you read data that isn’t terribly conclusive? There’s always room for values to color a researcher’s judgment.
(Guinn 2001)
If this is so, one’s interest, one can argue, is laden with values. Accordingly then, research methods cannot be value free as from the onset of the research that is (the selection of a topic / hypothesis) values take position as a player.
A positivist approach implies that a researcher begins with a general cause-effect relationship that he or she logically derives from a possible causal law in general theory. This start it is believed provides the basis for a value free research, as “The researcher remains detached, neutral, and objective as he or she measures aspects of social life, examines evidence, and replicates the research of others” (Neuman 2000, p.70).

However, this raises the question – Where does one get one’s logical derivations? How does one come to assume a general cause-effect relationship? This would have to come from a general observation. But, how does one observe or make sense of observation or link a cause with an effect. Arguably, it comes from society. How one was taught or caught to know what one knows, for example, how one comes to know to link a particular cause with an effect is a product of a way of knowing, a product of a way of thinking. An epistemological value, which is a derivative of society.
In fact:
Kuhn's argument is that knowledge does not exist independently, waiting to be discovered, but it is constructed and created within a framework of assumptions called paradigms by Kuhn. So all knowledge is a product of its social context a product of scientific activity. Science is a method rather than a body of knowledge. As such the whole process can be said to be a value- process from which its products cannot be said to be value free.
(McNeill 1990, p.127-8)

Quantitative research methods then in its strictest sense raises questions on research methods as being value free, as the very selection of the hypothesis / cause effect relationship although seemingly value free is not.

Qualitative methods of research on the other hand, makes explicit the interplay and importance of values from the start. Qualitative research like quantitative research is exposed to the influence of values from the onset of the research. In fact, the very definition of qualitative acknowledges values:

The interpretive researcher, by contrast, argues that researchers should reflect on, reexamine, and analyze personal points of view and feelings as part of the process of studying others…Interpretive research does not try to be value free. Indeed, ISS questions the possibility of achieving it. This is because they see values and meaning infused everywhere in everything…The researcher’s proper role is to be a “passionate participant”, involved with those being studied.
(Neuman 2000, p.75)

Louisy (1993, cited in Crossley and Vulliamy 1997, p.200) in the selection of her topic suggests the influence of philosophical values on the qualitative research method she chose, which lends support to the claim that research methods cannot be value free. She states, “I had compelling philosophical reasons for becoming more involved in local research”. She believed that “a disproportionate share of the studies of islands and island communities has been done from external perceptions” it is time for more involvement from members of the researched community itself”.

As such, she affirms “Research into these developments from an internal perspective was to my mind both timely and necessary” (Louisy 1993, cited in Crossley and Vulliamy 1997, p.205). The latter statement is a clear allusion to the influence of values in the selection of topic.

In a similar vein, one of the presenters / student, when questioned at the Ed.D Study School in Jamaica, July 2006, as to the reason underpinning the selection of her topic “What is Teaching”, first noted that there was no special reason for wanting to do that particular topic. However, when she was further probed, she relayed a childhood experience at school, which led the class and eventually herself to the consensus that her experiences in her Literature class at a Trinidadian High School influenced her topic in a way that she did not consciously know from the outset.

This further cements the notion that values do impinge on the research process and by extension research methods, whether one is aware or unaware. As such, there is difficulty in asserting that research methods are value free.

Choice of Research Method
Babbie (2004, p.108) notes that this is another stage in the research process. This stage, within any research method, also supports the notion that research methods cannot be value free. Louisy (1993, quoted in Crossley and Vulliamy 1997, p.213) in conducting an insider research reveals “I had decided that in order to minimize the incidence of bias that could be attributed to an inside researcher’s familiarity with the setting, I would make limited use of observation so favored by qualitative researchers. My approach could therefore be best classified as “condensed fieldwork”.

Arguably, this suggests that the very selection of a particular method over another is based on an epistemological value. The epistemological value / belief that one research method (for example, quantitative) is better / more appropriate than the other (for example, qualitative). This one can argue is the interference of values in the research process: methods of data collection. Research methods then cannot be value free.
Additionally, re feminist research methods Bowles and Klein (1983) raises the issue of subjectivity versus objectivity, and argues that feminist research cannot be value free as it must be grounded in female culture and experience.
Furthermore, Fonow and Cook (1991) note that each stage of the research process is examined, from the newest knowledge of sampling strategies to insure racial and social diversity in the accounts of women's lives, to mass media packaging and marketing feminist research. This then also raises questions on the possibility of a total value free research method especially as it relates to feminist research.
Population & Sampling
Babbie (2004, p.108) opines that this is another process in any research method adopted. This involves whom one wants to be able to draw conclusions about and who one will observe for that purpose. Debatably, epistemological values can influence the selection of the population, the sample and the sampling method.

Louisy (1993, quoted in Crossley and Vulliamy 1997, p.211) in doing her insider research is an example of this. She reveals “My familiarity with almost all of the possible respondents pointed to one logical choice – judgment sampling”. In this procedure, informants are selected on the basis of the special contribution that the researcher believes they can make to the situation being studied.

This can be invariably linked to almost any research be it quantitative or qualitative, where the researcher selects the population whom he / she believes possesses the knowledge integral to the problem being investigated. In fact, questionnaires are thought to be quantitative tools, and there are persons who hold to the notion that quantitative methods are more likely to be value free.

However, although this is not the contention here, this to an extent belittles the value free notion as one of the guidelines for distributing questionnaire as noted in Babbie (2004, p.246) is to distribute to persons whom the researcher believes are “competent to answer”. This poignantly suggests the injection of values in population / sample selection – selection based on the researcher’s values / beliefs as to the capability of the respondents. Research methods as being value free in totality are therefore questionable.


Data Collection
The collection of data for analysis and interpretation is a process for both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This stage also lends support to the claim that research methods cannot be value free. Louisy’s (1993, quoted in Crossley and Vulliamy 1997, p.213) collection of her data for her research largely reveals her loyalty to a particular philosophical value as opposed to another, which suggests that research methods cannot be value free. In the collection of her data, she decided to use a database, independent of the case-study report, although it could increase the risk of betraying confidentiality.

Additionally, the collection of qualitative data itself, that is, the information given by the respondents and interpretation of the questions is based on their values. The possibility of value free is then questionable.

Data Analysis
This stage in the research process involves the analysis of data and drawing conclusions. According to Stenhouse (1978, p.8) “all description derives its form from falling into place within a perspective whose structural principle is inseparable from the point of view of the observer”. Based on experiences one can lend support to this postulation.

Additionally:

There could of course be some element of bias in the recording and reporting by an insider researcher, but no social activity is completely value-free. Our cultural bias, and the preoccupations of our time and place, King (1973) argues, are extended into our observations as so much prejudice. Thus the insider’s familiarity with the meanings attached to words and acts of the researched community can prevent misunderstandings.

(Louisy 1993, cited in Crossley and Vulliamy 1997, p.201)

This suggests that the belief that familiarity / values can aid understanding of a research context arguably is to a great extent truthful. Additionally, it suggests that values impinging on research methods are not always negative. Moreover, assuming that humans as researchers are able to be value free and analyze independently of their feelings post deep involvement with the subject is assuming a supreme capability about humans, which in itself one could argue presents difficulties.

In fact Stephenson and Greer (1981, p.130) lend support to this notion. They assert, “Beneath their particular expressions in the familiar culture context lurk our devil-friends bias, oversimplification, prior judgment, and the human inability to separate observation from feeling”. The extent to which research methods then can be totally value free is questionable, as the extent to which qualitative research methods in particular facilitates the ability of the researcher to balance an external and objective analysis post deep insight into the subject’s feelings and background is slim.

One could argue that it is the involvement and the closeness that partly enables the researcher to analyze truthfully, to make sense of the subject’s world, and to interpret the findings. The findings cannot be interpreted in a vacuum.

Application
Application is according to Babbie (2004, p.108) the final stage in the research process. This he notes is the reporting of the results and the assessment of their implications. Debatably, even in this stage of the research, values can enter as the researcher can be selective in what he reports to the gatekeeper as well as to the informants / the general public.

There can be a dilemma between the public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy, which will impact on the findings published. This selection is based on the researcher’s values. Also, the very language the researcher uses to present the findings is based on values. The style he uses, his preference towards tables as opposed to graphs to present the findings is based on a value as to which is more appropriate. Therefore, the extent to which research can be value free even in the final stage of the research process raises doubts.

Conclusion
The idea of research methods being value free, the selection of a particular research method (positivist / quantitative) as oppose to another (interpretivist / qualitative) is in itself, the support / influence of a particular value re doing research. This munificently contributes to the conclusive idea that research methods cannot be value free. These methods suggest that both quantitative and qualitative research methods go through the research process: topic selection, choice of research method, population and sampling, data collection, data analysis, and application, which, at every stage reveals the possibility / actuality of the interplay of values. This forcefully suggests then that research methods cannot be value free. However, of the two methods, that is, quantitative and qualitative, which is / can be more / less value free is moot for another discourse.

Research methods cannot be totally value free. Instead, it is value laden, value saturated. Values enter the research methods at almost every stage. This suggests then that what should be aimed at is an attempt to employ rigorous methods to ensure that values do not corrupt the research process but instead enhance them, and by extension enhance the validity of the findings.

Moreover, the discipline centers on humans both as the researched and the researcher. It therefore seems quite inevitable then, that values will enter. It is how much we allow, the purposes for which we allow, and the end to which it is being allowed, that should be questioned instead.

References

Babbie E (2004) Social Research Methods 10th edn California: Thomson & Wadsworth.

Bowles G and Klein RD (eds) (1983) Theories of Women's Studies New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Bryman A (2004) Social Research Methods 2nd edn London: Oxford University Press.

Fonow MM and JA Cook (eds) (1991) Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived Research Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Gouldner AW (1962) ‘Anti-Minotaur: The Myth of a Value-Free Sociology’ Social Problems 9 (3) pp. 199-213.

Guinn M (2001) ‘Value-free Science: Impossibility of Objectivity?’ UAB Magazine 21 (2)

Louisy CP (1993) ‘Tertiary Education in St.Lucia: Implications for Small Island States’, unpublished paper for the PhD course: University of Bristol (quoted in Crossley M and Vulliamy G (1997) Qualitative Educational Research in Developing Countries New York: Garland Publishing.

McNeill (1990) Research Methods London: Routledge Morrison K (1995) Marx Durkheim Weber London: Sage.

Neuman WL (2000) Social Research Methods London: Allyn and Bacon. Sociology Commission (2006) Research Methods:

Sociology Commission (ONLINE – http://www.sociologycommission.org/docs/GLOSSARY.htm. Accessed on: 6th September 2006).

Stanley L and Wise S (1983) Breaking Out: Feminist Consciousness and FeministResearch New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Stenhouse L (1978) ‘Case-study and Case Records: Towards a Contemporary History of Education’ British Educational Research Journal 4 (2) pp. 21-39.

Stephenson JB and Greer LS (1981) ‘Ethnographers in Their Own Cultures Two Appalachian Cases’ Human Organization 40 (2) pp. 123-130.

Weber M (1949) The Methodology of the Social Sciences New York: Free Press.