Social Science

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Through generalisation, one gains the advantage of being able to see the whole picture and being able to carry out comparisons with ease whilst a focus on individual cases allows complexity and detailed analysis. The conduct of social science relates more to measurement and the academic use of knowledge. In contrast, the use of social science is based more on the policy making implications of social science research. By ignoring the whole picture and only focusing on individual cases, the conduct of social science research can be negatively affected. However, in the case of using research in the social sciences, it is more useful to consider individual cases rather than generalise. This is beneficial for policy making since it is important to identify and understand the causes of things before a detailed plan can be created.

A focus on individual cases can lead to poor conduct of social science research. The study of the Soviet Union provides a good example for this. In general, social scientists failed to predict the fall of the Soviet system, this was a consequence of a variety of factors. Arguably, the specialisation of social scientists has led to a failure to see the “big picture” . There is an emphasis on specialisation among academics as it is important for them to publish in specific journals and progress their careers by focusing on one discipline only. The downside to specialisation is that there is a lack of communication between the social scientists focusing on different areas of the Soviet system. This meant that all the individual knowledge related to the different aspects of the Soviet Union (such as foreign trade, demographics, agriculture and different statistics related to the economy) was not brought togethe...

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...in predicting great events such as the fall of the Soviet Union. It is a consequence of academics being too engaged in their own discipline to take notice of others and thus failing to see the entire picture. Collective thinking amongst social scientists also leads to the failure in making a correct prediction. However, specificity is valuable in policy making as solutions to a problem can only be found when its root cause is identified. Generalisation in the case of measuring poverty may give a clear overall view but it will not provide a full explanation for why certain individuals live in poverty. As the “complexity of measurement mirrors the complexity of definition” , it is tempting to resort to simplified approaches to poverty. However, this will not solve the problem of poverty since effective policies can only be implemented if the root cause is identified.

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