Niektóre zagadnienia metodologii zadań socjologicznych

Abstract

Three basic spheres of analysis have been distinguished in the present article. The first one is concerned with the distinction between the research methods, understood as systematically applied ways of conduct or ways of analysing the reality and research techniques, understood as a set of tools, procedures, means and skills used in empirical studies. The second sphere is concerned with the application of three ways in striving to recognize the reality. One of them leads to sensory cognizance. Referring to the views of empiricists and sensualists as well as to G. Simmel's sociological conceptions, the author shows how different the world of social and interpersonal relations, their development and structure, appears to be depending on its perception through different sensory channels (especially if one compares a person born blind or deaf-mute with a person with unimpaired sight, hearing and speaking abilities). Another way leads to intellectual cognizance. Referring to the arguments of the representatives of rationalism, the author shows the cansequences of such one-sided standpoint, and points out to the views of Marxist epistemology in that respect. Finally, there is the way of informative cognizance, which allows to settle the epistemological dispute about the sources and ways of recognizing the reality. The third sphere concerns the terminological disputes. It has been stressed that terminological considerations are scarce, despite their importance in discovering the relations between the analysed segments of the reality as well as in discovering what exists objectively. Finally, the author indicates the properties every scientific term should be characterized by and the norms of conduct which should be applied in formulating new terms.