Afro centric methodology and proper research design

Afro-Centric Methodology and
Proper Research Design
By Asar Imhotep
March 30, 2014

Objectives
One of the purposes of a course in research is to
help you learn how to think critically about the
things people tell you.
• Is their research sound?
• Is the conclusion they draw the best one?
• Do they have something to gain from getting
certain results?
This process of critical thinking is a hallmark of
science, but it is also a useful tool in everyday life.

Preliminary Considerations
The Selection of a Research Design

The Three Types of Designs
1.Qualitative Design
2.Quantitative Design
3.Mixed Methods Design

Research Designs as Worldviews,
Strategies and Methods
• Quantitative approach – Postpositivist worldview,
experimental strategy of inquiry, and pre- and post-test
measures of attitudes
• In this scenario, the researcher tests a theory by
specifying narrow hypotheses and the collection of
data to support or refute the hypotheses. An
experimental design is used in which attitudes are
assessed both before and after an experimental
treatment. The data are collected on an instrument
that measures attitudes, and the information is
analyzed using statistical procedures and hypothesis
testing.

• Qualitative approach – Constructivist worldview,
ethnographic design and observation of behavior.
• In this situation, the researcher seeks to establish
the meaning of a phenomenon from the views of
participants. This means identifying a culture-
sharing group and studying how it develops
shared patterns of behavior over time (i.e.,
ethnography). One of the key elements of
collecting data in this way is to observe
participants’ behaviors by engaging in their
activities.

• Qualitative approach – Participatory worldview,
narrative design and open-ended interviewing.
• For this study, the inquirer seeks to examine an
issue related to oppression of individuals. To
study this, stories are collected of individual
oppression using a narrative approach.
Individuals are interviewed at some length to
determine how they have personally experienced
oppression.

• Mixed methods approach – Pragmatic worldview,
collection of both quantitative and qualitative
data seqentially.
• The researcher bases the inquiry on the
assumption that collecting diverse types of data
best provides an understanding of a research
problem. The study begins with a broad survey in
order to generalize results to a population and
then, in a second phase, focuses on qualitative,
open-ended interviews to collect detailed views
from participants.

The Use of Theory
• One component of reviewing the literature is to
determine what theories might be used to
explore the questions in a scholarly study.
• In Quantitative research, researchers often test
theories as an explanation for answers tot their
questions.
• In Qualitative research, the use of theory is much
more varied. The inquirer may generate a theory
as the final outcome of a study and place it at the
end of a project, such as in grounded theory

Definition of a Theory
• Kerlinger (1979: 64)
• A theory is a set of interrelated constructs
(variables), definitions and propositions [or
hypotheses] that presents a systematic view of
phenomena by specifying elations among
variables, with the purpose of explaining natural
phenomena.
• A theory might appear in a research study as an
argument, a discussion, or a rationale, and it
helps to explain (or predict) phenomena that
occur in the world.

Theory as a framework for explaining
phenomena
• A theory helps us understand behavior in a general sense.
In scientific use, a theory is a general, organizing principle.
When we have enough relevant information about
behavior, we can develop an explanatory framework that
puts all of that information into a nice, neat package—that
is, into a theory. In order to develop a theory, we look at
the facts that we believe to be true and try to develop a
coherent framework that links the facts to one another. The
next step is to test the theory to see if it successfully
predicts the results of new research. So we generate
hypotheses, which are educated guesses, about behaviors,
and we test those hypotheses with research. The research
shows us whether our hypotheses are correct; if so, the
theory receives further support.

Theory as a framework for explaining
phenomena
• If enough of our hypotheses support a theory, we
regard it as more useful in understanding why people
act in a certain way; if those hypotheses do not
support the theory, we need to revise or abandon the
theory. When we conduct research, we should have an
open mind about an issue; we might have
preconceived ideas of what to expect, but if we are
wrong, we should be willing to change our beliefs.
Scientists do not revise or abandon theories based on a
single research study, but after enough evidence
accumulates showing that a theory needs revision,
then we work to determine what would constitute a
better model of the behavior in question.

Variation in Theory in Qualitative
Research (Creswell, 2009: 61-3)
• Theory in qualitative research is used as a broad
explanation for behavior and attitudes, and it
may be complete with variables, constructs, and
hypotheses.
• Secondly, researchers increasingly use a
theoretical lens or perspective in qualitative
research, which provides an overall orienting lens
for the study of questions of gender, class, and
race (or other issues of marginalized groups).

• Cont’d, this lens becomes an advocacy
perspective that shapes the types of questions
asked, informs how data are collected and
analyzed, and provides a call for action or
change.

• Qualitative research also indicates how the
researcher positions himself or herself in the
qualitative study (e.g., up front or biased from
personal, cultural, and historical contexts) and
how the final written accounts need to be
written (e.g., without further marginalizing
individuals, by collaborating with
participants).

Some Qualitative Theoretical
Perspectives
• Feminist perspectives
• Racialized discourses
• Critical theory
• Queer theory
• Disability inquiry

A sense of theory as critical and postmodern
perspectives in qualitative inquiry
• As the 20th century draws to a close, traditional social
science has come under increasing scrutiny and attack as
those espousing critical and postmodern perspectives
challenge objectivist assumptions and traditional norms for
the conduct of research. Central to this attack are four
interrelated notions: (a) Research fundamentally involves
issues of power: (b) the research report is not transparent
but rather it is authored by a raced, gendered, classed, and
politically oriented individual: (c) race, class, and gender
are crucial for understanding experience: and (d) historical,
traditional research has silenced members of oppressed
and marginalized groups (Rossman and Rallis, 1998: 66).

Afrocentric method
• The Afrocentric method considers that no
phenomena can be apprehended adequately
without locating it first. A phenom must be
studied and analyzed in relationship to
psychological time and space. It must always
be located. This is the only way to investigate
the complex interrelationships of science and
art, design and execution, creation and
maintenance, generation and tradition, and
other areas bypassed by theory.

Afrocentric method
• The Afrocentric method considers phenomena
to be diverse, dynamic, and in motion and
therefore it is necessary for a person to
accurately note and record the location of
phenomena even in the midst of fluctuations.
This means that the investigator must know
where he or she is standing in the process.

Afrocentric method
• The Afrocentric method is a form of cultural
criticism that examines etymological uses of
words and terms in order to know the source
of an author’s location. This allows us to
intersect ideas with actions and actions with
ideas on the basis of what is pejorative and
ineffective and what is creative and
transformative at the political and economic
levels.

Afrocentric method
• The Afrocentric method seeks to uncover the
masks behind the rhetoric of power, privilege,
and position in order to establish how
principal myths create place. The method
enthrones critical reflection that reveals the
perception of monolithic power as nothing
but the projection of a cadre of adventurers.

Afrocentric method
• The Afrocentric method locates the
imaginative structure of a system of
economics, bureau of politics, policy of
government, expression of cultural form in the
attitude, direction, and language of the
phenom, be it text, institution, personality,
interaction, or event

Pattern Theory
• Pattern theory does not emphasize logical
deductive reasoning. Like causal theory, it
contains an interconnected set of concepts and
relationships, but it does not require causal
statements. Instead, pattern theory uses
metaphor or analogies so that relationship
“makes sense.” Pattern theories are systems of
ideas that inform. The concepts and relations
within them form a mutually reinforcing, closed
system. They specify a sequence of phases or link
parts to a whole (Neuman, 2000: 38).

Pattern Theory
• African myths would be an example of pattern
theory in the ancient world.

Bibliography and Resources
• Bernard C. Beins & Maureen A. McCarthy. (2012). Research Methods and
Statistics. Pearson Higher Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
• Christopher W. Tindale. (2007). Fallacies and Argument Appraisal: Critical
Reasoning and Argumentation. Cambridge University Press. London.
• Hassimi Oumarou Maiga. (2010). Balancing Written History with Oral
Tradition: The Legacy of the Songhoy People. Routledge. New York, NY.
• John E. Philips (Ed). (2005). Writing African History. University of Rochester
Press. Rochester, NY.
• John W. Creswell. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and
Mixed Methods Approaches. SAGE Publishing, Inc. Thousand Oaks, CA.

Bibliography and Resources
• Queeneth MKABELA. "Using the Afrocentric Method in Researching
Indigenous African Culture" in The Qualitative Report, Vol. 10, No.
1, March 2005, pp. 178-189. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from
http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR10-1/mkabela.pdf.
• Molefi Kete Asante “Afrocentricity” :
http://www.asante.net/articles/1/afrocentricity/ (retrieved May 26,
2013)
• Molefi Kete Asante. (1998). The Afrocentric Idea. Temple University
Press. Philadelphia, PA.
• Molefi Kete Asante. (1988). Afrocentricity. Africa World Press, Inc.
Trenton, NJ.

Understanding Research Methods
Course
• FREE class, starting in June 2014
https://www.coursera.org/course/researchme
thods
• Our course enables students to develop their
understanding of research methods, and
confidence in designing a research project,
choosing and executing appropriate methods,
and assessing its intellectual/academic rigour.

Afro centric methodology and proper research design

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Similar to Afro centric methodology and proper research design

Recently uploaded

Afro centric methodology and proper research design