Barriga O. 2004. Artesanía y Técnica en la Enseñanza de la Metodología de la Investigación Social. Cinta moebio 20: 126-131

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Craftsmanship and Technique in the Teaching of Social Science Research Methods

Omar Barriga y Guillermo Henríquez. Departamento de Sociología. Universidad de Concepción (Chile)


Abstract

The teaching of research methods in the social sciences reflects a rather old-fashioned view of the teaching-learning process: the professor hands out knowledge and the students take it in. However, recent approaches in pedagogy have led us to reconceive of this process as one of knowledge construction on the part of the students with support from the professors. The widespread availability of information (primarily libraries and the Internet) have made the transmission of information less relevant and the use of information much more important. This context, along with the simple notion that one learns how to do research by doing it, has led us to question whether or not training in research methods should replace the traditional "technical" approach with a new "artisanal" approach. A new way of teaching that minimizes the learning of the rules of research procedures that generates a technicist view (the "how research is done" approach) and, instead, maximizes the presentation of ways in which research has actually been carried out (the "how research has been done" approach). This presentation of experiences makes training in methods into something more artisanal, more in line with an open attitude towards diverse experiences and pride in a job well done. It is an approach that helps develop the creative and artistic aspects where the quality of a research effort is no longer measured by its technical complexity but rather by the way in which the researcher assumes the responsibility of doing good research.

Key words: Research, Teaching, Methodology, Craftsmanship, Technique

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Cinta de Moebio
Revista de Epistemología de Ciencias Sociales
ISSN 0717-554X