The Crisis of Social Research in Contemporary Society

Abstract

In this essay, I argue that social research, especially in developing countries, is in a deep crisis of low social support, poor quality, academic inattention, and commercialization. Particularly in Africa, research is a low-regarded social activity. Government and nongovernment organizations do not have R&D departments and budgets for adapting technologies such as modifying spare parts and/or producing knowledge to inform policies and practices. Governments do not have a research structure and consolidated state budget. Thus, they depend on foreign consultancy services to bridge the knowledge gap or import the spare parts instead of locally producing them. All that is said about research in developing countries is mere rhetoric and uncommitted. In the universities, in addition to the scantiness of courses, a research course is taught by untrained instructors. Anyone in the discipline teaches a research course within the discipline. The traditional social researcher does not exist in contemporary higher education. The traditional researcher is accepted into a community of researchers in the same discipline. Research activity also took the form of examining and re-examining, experimenting and re-experimenting, and repeating his/her efforts until conclusive results are obtained. At present, social research takes the form of collecting and disseminating information (or misinformation) that is not well-tested and examined. The main researchers are consultants (national or international) mainly attracted by money and selected by criteria and people that are incongruent with the purpose of research. In Ethiopia, most books are produced by politicians, theologians and businessmen (and women) teaching society, teachers and professors. I will focus on critiquing social research in light of its contribution to social development.