ASSIGNMENT 01
Study the following assignment questions and select the MOST CORRECT answer.
Chapter 1
1. How researchers see social reality is rooted in basic ontological perceptions. For example,
interpretivism states that -----.
a) there is an external reality that can be studied objectively and free of values. The ability to know
things as they really are is possible if specific, controlled methods are employed because pursuing
these methods will place a necessary check on subjectivity and restrain personal judgement and
emotions.
b) social reality should be viewed and interpreted by the individual according to their ideological
position. The “knower” and “known” are interdependent and the social sciences are essentially
subjective. Reality is seen as multi-layered and complex; and any single phenomenon will have
multiple interpretations.
c) knowledge and its provisional truths are best understood through a complex interplay between
objective and subjective (or interpretivist) ways of knowing. As such, knowledge is viewed and
experienced as truly multifaceted and ever-changing. This represents a middle path that synthesises
the benefits offered by the single-approach methods associated with the positivist and constructivist
paradigms.
d) knowledge, reality and our existence as human beings evoke questions about who we are, what
we know and how we experience the world around us
2. Which one of the following does NOT apply to epistemological frameworks?
a) Positivists purport that the methods and procedures of the natural sciences are entirely
appropriate to the social sciences. This is informed by the ontological position of objectivism: that
reality is out there to be studied, captured and understood. Research therefore needs to be
conducted from a detached, neutral, value-free and non-interactive position. Researchers therefore
only need to follow a systematic, prescribed series of steps to gather and analyse data.
b) Post-positivists argue that reality can never really be fully understood, only approximated, and
therefore relies on multiple methods to capture as much of reality as possible. As with positivism, it
places an emphasis on the discovery and verification of theories, but holds the notion that a variety
of variables cannot always be controlled, and that positivist research is often difficult and impractical
for many forms of social science research.
c) Constructivists see reality as the result of a series of constructive processes and hold that only a
narrative truth exists. As such, reality can only be known by those who experience it personally.
Constructivists have a “humanistic and social justice commitment to study the social world from the
perspective of the interacting individual” (Denzin, 2017, p. 10).
d) Axiology is the science of human values that enables us to identify the internal valuing systems
that influence our perceptions, decisions, and actions to clearly understand why we do what we do.
, 3. Based on their own worldviews, the researchers initially adopt a particular stance towards "the
nature of knowledge", in other words: ------ or ------ , that will implicitly guide their approach to the
research, methodology and, in turn, their choice of data collection methods and techniques for
analysis.
a) objectivism or interpretivism.
b) positivism or constructivism.
c) quantitative or qualitative knowledge.
d) experimental or grounded theory.
Chapter 2
4. Which one of the following does NOT encompass the decolonisation of research and science?
a) The decolonisation of research is defined by Chilisa (2012, p. 14) as a process of conducting
research in such a way that the worldviews of those who have suffered a long history of oppression
and marginalisation are enabled, using their frames of reference.
b) Decolonising research methodologies challenges Eurocentric research methods that undermine
the experiences of marginalised population groups and their local knowledge.
c) Smith (1999), Chilisa (2012, p. 17) and Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2018, p. 32) argue that the decolonisation
process in research is about deconstruction and reconstruction.
d) The only relevant and valid approach to psychological research is via the Eurocentric worldview.
5. Select the MOST CORRECT answer. The promotion of indigenous knowledges faces several
challenges, namely that -----
a) indigenous knowledges reside in older generations and are being eroded by the impact of
urbanisation and globalisation, whereby younger generations are not learning from their elders.
b) the lack of codification in indigenous oral traditions currently limits these as being inferior to
Western scientific knowledge.
c) the loss and devaluation of these indigenous knowledges have resulted in an inundation of
Western values and culture through mass media, such as television and the internet, capturing the
minds of the youth in such a way that they look on their own cultures, rituals and traditions as
inferior, old-fashioned or even barbaric.
d) All of the above options are correct.
6. A framework for conducting indigenised research (as depicted in Figure 2.1 of the textbook) is
founded on four core pillars. The pillar of "researching back" involves -----
a) locating research within an Africanism knowledge space and paradigm.
b) transformation, correction, and redress.
Study the following assignment questions and select the MOST CORRECT answer.
Chapter 1
1. How researchers see social reality is rooted in basic ontological perceptions. For example,
interpretivism states that -----.
a) there is an external reality that can be studied objectively and free of values. The ability to know
things as they really are is possible if specific, controlled methods are employed because pursuing
these methods will place a necessary check on subjectivity and restrain personal judgement and
emotions.
b) social reality should be viewed and interpreted by the individual according to their ideological
position. The “knower” and “known” are interdependent and the social sciences are essentially
subjective. Reality is seen as multi-layered and complex; and any single phenomenon will have
multiple interpretations.
c) knowledge and its provisional truths are best understood through a complex interplay between
objective and subjective (or interpretivist) ways of knowing. As such, knowledge is viewed and
experienced as truly multifaceted and ever-changing. This represents a middle path that synthesises
the benefits offered by the single-approach methods associated with the positivist and constructivist
paradigms.
d) knowledge, reality and our existence as human beings evoke questions about who we are, what
we know and how we experience the world around us
2. Which one of the following does NOT apply to epistemological frameworks?
a) Positivists purport that the methods and procedures of the natural sciences are entirely
appropriate to the social sciences. This is informed by the ontological position of objectivism: that
reality is out there to be studied, captured and understood. Research therefore needs to be
conducted from a detached, neutral, value-free and non-interactive position. Researchers therefore
only need to follow a systematic, prescribed series of steps to gather and analyse data.
b) Post-positivists argue that reality can never really be fully understood, only approximated, and
therefore relies on multiple methods to capture as much of reality as possible. As with positivism, it
places an emphasis on the discovery and verification of theories, but holds the notion that a variety
of variables cannot always be controlled, and that positivist research is often difficult and impractical
for many forms of social science research.
c) Constructivists see reality as the result of a series of constructive processes and hold that only a
narrative truth exists. As such, reality can only be known by those who experience it personally.
Constructivists have a “humanistic and social justice commitment to study the social world from the
perspective of the interacting individual” (Denzin, 2017, p. 10).
d) Axiology is the science of human values that enables us to identify the internal valuing systems
that influence our perceptions, decisions, and actions to clearly understand why we do what we do.
, 3. Based on their own worldviews, the researchers initially adopt a particular stance towards "the
nature of knowledge", in other words: ------ or ------ , that will implicitly guide their approach to the
research, methodology and, in turn, their choice of data collection methods and techniques for
analysis.
a) objectivism or interpretivism.
b) positivism or constructivism.
c) quantitative or qualitative knowledge.
d) experimental or grounded theory.
Chapter 2
4. Which one of the following does NOT encompass the decolonisation of research and science?
a) The decolonisation of research is defined by Chilisa (2012, p. 14) as a process of conducting
research in such a way that the worldviews of those who have suffered a long history of oppression
and marginalisation are enabled, using their frames of reference.
b) Decolonising research methodologies challenges Eurocentric research methods that undermine
the experiences of marginalised population groups and their local knowledge.
c) Smith (1999), Chilisa (2012, p. 17) and Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2018, p. 32) argue that the decolonisation
process in research is about deconstruction and reconstruction.
d) The only relevant and valid approach to psychological research is via the Eurocentric worldview.
5. Select the MOST CORRECT answer. The promotion of indigenous knowledges faces several
challenges, namely that -----
a) indigenous knowledges reside in older generations and are being eroded by the impact of
urbanisation and globalisation, whereby younger generations are not learning from their elders.
b) the lack of codification in indigenous oral traditions currently limits these as being inferior to
Western scientific knowledge.
c) the loss and devaluation of these indigenous knowledges have resulted in an inundation of
Western values and culture through mass media, such as television and the internet, capturing the
minds of the youth in such a way that they look on their own cultures, rituals and traditions as
inferior, old-fashioned or even barbaric.
d) All of the above options are correct.
6. A framework for conducting indigenised research (as depicted in Figure 2.1 of the textbook) is
founded on four core pillars. The pillar of "researching back" involves -----
a) locating research within an Africanism knowledge space and paradigm.
b) transformation, correction, and redress.
