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A 15 page discussion of the role of values in psychological research. Details the philosophical debate which has surrounded this question since the seventeenth century, particularly the rationalist/empiricist debate. Distinguishes between the qualitative approach and the quantitative approach and between inductive and deductive reasoning. Bibliography lists 14 sources.
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15 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AM2_PPpsyRes.rtf
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integrated approaches. These approaches are that of qualitative and quantitative investigation. In the place of statistical findings revealed with quantitative research, qualitative research illuminates and provides understanding (Hoepfl,
1997). Quantitative research reveals "causal determination, prediction and generalization and generalization of findings" (Hoepfl, 1997). Qualitative research allows extrapolation to similar situations (Hoepfl, 1997). Qualitative research allows
for a complexity and dynamic quality which is awkward using the hard and fast rules of quantitative evaluation (Hoepfl, 1997). These
areas of investigation are most often regarded as the empiricist verses the rational approaches to research, approaches in turn which are characterized by deductive and the inductive reasoning. Psychologists
have debated for years, however, as to whether either type of psychological research can be value free. While some psychologist contend that research can be designed and conducted in
such a manner that ones values, or the values of the subject, do not interfere with the findings; others contend that such research is an impossibility, that individual values are
an inherent influence on research. In order to understand this debate it is necessary to analyze the epistemological framework of psychology, i.e. the primary assumptions about the origins and
nature of psychology which affect the conduct of the research, the methodology and designs chosen, and the conclusions reached. This task, in turn, necessitates a consideration of the philosophical
underpinnings and assumptions of quantitative and qualitative research. The question of how values affect psychological research are at the center of the rationalism
verses empiricism debate. This debate dominated much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and revolved around the views of a diversity of philosophers. The first camp of these
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