Читать книгу Second Language Research Methods - Herbert W. Seliger - Страница 5

One might say that knowing how to look at research problems and how to carry out research is related to the state of mind of the researcher. The state of mind of the researcher reflects, to some extent, the world in which he or she lives. What researchers believe, what they accept as forms of knowledge, is often a reflection of their social and cultural context. While we would like to think that research is objective and always seeks to show the ‘truth’ or the ‘facts’ about some phenomenon which is being investigated, we are not always conscious of the influences around us.

We are living in what we think is a period of scientific objectivity. However, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Galileo, Copernicus, and Einstein all felt this way about their own times and accepted as scientific facts things which later generations would disprove or criticize.

This chapter will be concerned with establishing some ways of thinking about research in general and about second language research in particular, by discussing the following questions:

– How is research similar to and different from naturally occurring cognitive processes involved in learning?

– What are the differences between conclusions reached on the basis of ‘common sense’ and intuition on the one hand, and scientific procedures on the other?

– And, finally, when we have reached our conclusions, how do we know if they are reliable? That is, how do we know when we really know something?