Research Reports, Subjective

Philosophical Beliefs

The subjective report of research can be intentional. As it was intimated earlier, one’s philosophical orientation typically dictates the way he or she manages personal feelings, opinions, and preferences during research activity. Specifically, a researcher’s basic ontology (philosophy about the nature of reality) and epistemology (philosophy about how reality can be known) guides the manner in which that person selects a research problem, designs and implements the study, analyzes the data, and culminates the project with a research [Page 1461]report. Some philosophical paradigms, such as critical and cultural studies, feminism, and interpretivism, have resolved that research assumptions and inquiries are saturated with the investigator’s history and social experiences. According to this general philosophical belief, subjectivity is tightly bound to the object under investigation and the tie is nearly impossible to loosen. Some researchers believe that a subjective report of research can benefit the investigation because those who have lived through the experiences they study have more authority and credibility to advance knowledge claims about a given topic than those who have simply read or pondered about such experiences. They can provide a deeper interpretation of the subject that would otherwise be missing from a scholar who is detached from the material.

Subjectivity is broadly embraced by a wide range of scholars, but the manner in which they incorporate it into their research varies according to one’s research paradigm (framework of beliefs, values, and methods within which research will take place). Feminist research is perhaps one of the foremost advocates of this approach. Feminist social scientists Donna Haraway and Sandra Harding are most famous for disputing the central position of objectivity. Instead, they asserted that knowledge of the social world is directly shaped by the experiences of those investigating it. Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins later championed the idea that researchers should acknowledge, reflect, and even incorporate their perspectives into all aspects of the research process, including the report of research. Scholars from other research disciplines, like rhetoric, have a very liberal interpretation of subjectivity because so much of their research is based upon their own interpretations and critiques of existing social structures. Moreover, interpretive and postmodern paradigmatic sensibilities assert that subjectivity is reality. According to this paradigm, subjectivity does not need to be eliminated because objectivity does not exist in the social world.

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