Are the methods in social sciences only technical tools – or also moral positions?

In the new paper “Methods and Values Revisited: Responsibility and Methodological Orientations in the Social Sciences”, published in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science (Q1 for Philosophy, History and Philosophy of Science, JCR, SJR), Marija Brajdić Vuković, Ivan Tranfić and Pavel Gregorić explore the ways in which social scientists in Croatia understand their own methods and the responsibility of scientific research.

Building on the idea that it makes a difference which methods we prefer, the authors show that methodological orientations are not neutral. Qualitative and quantitative approaches often include various conceptions about what it means to be a responsible researcher, how objective knowledge is created and what kind of role science has in society.

In the research, three broader orientations were identified among the social scientists:

• socially engaged scientists
• practitioners led by evidence
• pragmatic hybrids.

The results show that methods are not just a way of collecting data, but also a way of understanding responsibility, public role of science, and relation towards social problems.

The authors advocate for the idea of “reflexive awareness” – the kind of reflexive objectivity that does not mean the absence of values, but the awareness of one's own presumptions and the openness towards different forms of knowledge.

The paper is a result of additional creative research within the project “Social responsibility and professional ethics of Croatian researchers - RESETH“, financed by the Croatian Science Foundation.

The paper is available in the Institute's repository: https://idiprints.knjiznica.idi.hr/id/eprint/1300

Link to the paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13194-026-00743-y