CODESRIA Regional Methodological Workshop on Social Sciences in Africa:

Fields and Theories of Qualitative Investigation
2005 Session / North Africa
2-7 May 2005, Rabat, Morocco Call for Proposals

One of the major weaknesses of social science research is its lack of consideration for epistemological and methodological issues. While the complexity of the social dynamic involved here should call for an accurate interrogation of the investigation procedures, we are on the contrary witnessing a serious trivialisation of research protocols, which are reduced to being, in the best cases, and under the appearance of a fake superficial rigor, a mere fetishist evocation of superficial recommendations, in the service of a social form of instrumentalisation, or are simply ignored, in the name of a so-called specific immediacy that excludes African social realities from the universal debates on the validity of science. The result is that in those debates, social sciences are often portrayed as a mix of purely literary discourse without empirical anchorage or as anecdotes hidden under a "scholarly" discourse, which is not only pretentious but also vacuous. In such a context, the knowledge produced loses all its heuristic content to become a mere element justifying, deliberately or otherwise, a relatively adapted economic policy. It is high time we discussed the methodological foundations of our current knowledge, in order to give a new impulse to the African social sciences.

The future of young social science researchers starts with an excellent mastery of research processes; that explains why the CODESRIA Secretariat has proposed to convene young African researchers around epistemological and methodological issues, in order to contribute to the creation of a critical space, that would combine the current empiricism with the logical rigor of the epistemological prerequisites, essential for scientific imagination. Such a perspective demands that the contemporary procedures, tools and the major theoretical trends be subject to critique from an African perspective. The major question would therefore be: how to establish a fertile link between theories and fields while taking into account the state of knowledge and techniques to be mobilized, as well as the evolution of African societies? The usual opposition between quantitative and qualitative methods is due to the fact that scientific practice was burdened with a wrong perception of the validity of research procedures: too much value was given to figures, at the expense of qualitative orientations, considered too fickle, in relation with the assumed exactness and "hardness" of the sovereign quantification. But beyond the academic disputes, we should emphasise the search of appropriate means of exploring the African social dynamic, that often does not find expression in the rigid and too systematic quantitativist approaches.

The 2005 session will explore of the conditions for implementating and validating a qualitative perspective in African contexts. Of course, this concern applies to all social science disciplines. Indeed, they are all confronted with the difficulties of understanding the social reality, and also with the limits of the techniques of data collection and analysis, which, given their "qualitative" nature, are suspected to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour. Hence, the hidden meaning of social life is irremediably inaccessible to them. The following points should therefore be placed at the centre of the discussion:

1.The workshop will initially review the distinction hurriedly established between « quantitative » and « qualitative » research, and tries to raise the issue of measurement in social sciences, through a critical study of this traditional division. The mode of processing data collected depends on both the field constraints and on the paradigmatic options of data interpretation. Such a questioning should finally induce us to consider procedures for "quantification" of the "qualitative" approach. Is the non-metrical and "comprehensive" nature of the qualitative approach, as opposed to the mathematical and explanatory nature of quantification, definitively certified?

2.Against the illusion of immediate knowledge, it is absolutely essential to raise clearly the methodological principles of "object construction", as a hypothetical articulation of a theoretical reconstruction of the social reality. This major operation demands that the researcher status, the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.

3.As a procedure for practical comparison with a set of assumptions, the survey calls for a well thought-out choice of the technical data collection and "fact-finding" instruments. But such a selection is never neutral, because facts always remain as facts. The usual tools of qualitative study, interview, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones, such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to define the modalities of their contribution to research.

The methodological workshop was designed for doctoral students and young African researchers. The countries involved are: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia.

The working languages are English et French.

The session will be conducted by a session director, assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged knowledge of the session theme.

Researchers wishing to join the pedagogical team are invited to send us, as soon as possible, a CV as well as a four-lecture (4) proposal, of three (3) hours each, on one aspect of the session theme.

Beside the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the pedagogical team will also submit to laureates a compilation of texts around the workshop theme The session director is in charge of the organization of the whole session. He will assist in preparing lectures to be given by resource timetable. Each application must include the following:
1. An application letter informing about the applicant's research theme.
2. A research project (with a maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic, relevance of the field, theoretical and methodological framework used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered.
3. A detailed and up-to-date curriculum.
4. Two reference letters:
a - one from the thesis advisor or another supervisor, showing the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approach( es ) used, as well as the results expected ; b - another letter from the head of the department or another lecturer attesting to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate .
5. A letter showing institutional affiliation .
Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research proposal, gender balance and geographical diversity of candidates .
Applications must be submitted by 1 st April 2005 , at the latest. They must be sent to:

Methodological workshop on Social Sciences (To the attention of Mrs Virginie Niang), Training, Grants and Fellowships Department, CODESRIA, P.O. Box: 3304, Dakar, CP 18524 - Senegal Tél: +221-825.98.22/23 - Fax: +221-824.12.89 E-mail: [email protected] CODESRIA Regional Methodological Workshop on Social Sciences in Africa:

Fields and Theories of Qualitative Investigation
2005 Session / North Africa
2-7 May 2005, Rabat, Morocco Call for Proposals One of the major weaknesses of social science research is its lack of consideration for epistemological and methodological issues. While the complexity of the social dynamic involved here should call for an accurate interrogation of the investigation procedures, we are on the contrary witnessing a serious trivialisation of research protocols, which are reduced to being, in the best cases, and under the appearance of a fake superficial rigor, a mere fetishist evocation of superficial recommendations, in the service of a social form of instrumentalisation, or are simply ignored, in the name of a so-called specific immediacy that excludes African social realities from the universal debates on the validity of science. The result is that in those debates, social sciences are often portrayed as a mix of purely literary discourse without empirical anchorage or as anecdotes hidden under a "scholarly" discourse, which is not only pretentious but also vacuous. In such a context, the knowledge produced loses all its heuristic content to become a mere element justifying, deliberately or otherwise, a relatively adapted economic policy. It is high time we discussed the methodological foundations of our current knowledge, in order to give a new impulse to the African social sciences.

The future of young social science researchers starts with an excellent mastery of research processes; that explains why the CODESRIA Secretariat has proposed to convene young African researchers around epistemological and methodological issues, in order to contribute to the creation of a critical space, that would combine the current empiricism with the logical rigor of the epistemological prerequisites, essential for scientific imagination. Such a perspective demands that the contemporary procedures, tools and the major theoretical trends be subject to critique from an African perspective. The major question would therefore be: how to establish a fertile link between theories and fields while taking into account the state of knowledge and techniques to be mobilized, as well as the evolution of African societies? The usual opposition between quantitative and qualitative methods is due to the fact that scientific practice was burdened with a wrong perception of the validity of research procedures: too much value was given to figures, at the expense of qualitative orientations, considered too fickle, in relation with the assumed exactness and "hardness" of the sovereign quantification. But beyond the academic disputes, we should emphasise the search of appropriate means of exploring the African social dynamic, that often does not find expression in the rigid and too systematic quantitativist approaches.

The 2005 session will explore of the conditions for implementating and validating a qualitative perspective in African contexts. Of course, this concern applies to all social science disciplines. Indeed, they are all confronted with the difficulties of understanding the social reality, and also with the limits of the techniques of data collection and analysis, which, given their "qualitative" nature, are suspected to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour. Hence, the hidden meaning of social life is irremediably inaccessible to them. The following points should therefore be placed at the centre of the discussion:

1.The workshop will initially review the distinction hurriedly established between « quantitative » and « qualitative » research, and tries to raise the issue of measurement in social sciences, through a critical study of this traditional division. The mode of processing data collected depends on both the field constraints and on the paradigmatic options of data interpretation. Such a questioning should finally induce us to consider procedures for "quantification" of the "qualitative" approach. Is the non-metrical and "comprehensive" nature of the qualitative approach, as opposed to the mathematical and explanatory nature of quantification, definitively certified?

2.Against the illusion of immediate knowledge, it is absolutely essential to raise clearly the methodological principles of "object construction", as a hypothetical articulation of a theoretical reconstruction of the social reality. This major operation demands that the researcher status, the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.

3.As a procedure for practical comparison with a set of assumptions, the survey calls for a well thought-out choice of the technical data collection and "fact-finding" instruments. But such a selection is never neutral, because facts always remain as facts. The usual tools of qualitative study, interview, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones, such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to define the modalities of their contribution to research.

The methodological workshop was designed for doctoral students and young African researchers. The countries involved are: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia.

The working languages are English et French.

The session will be conducted by a session director, assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged knowledge of the session theme.

Researchers wishing to join the pedagogical team are invited to send us, as soon as possible, a CV as well as a four-lecture (4) proposal, of three (3) hours each, on one aspect of the session theme.

Beside the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the pedagogical team will also submit to laureates a compilation of texts around the workshop theme The session director is in charge of the organization of the whole session. He will assist in preparing lectures to be given by resource timetable. Each application must include the following:
1. An application letter informing about the applicant's research theme.
2. A research project (with a maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic, relevance of the field, theoretical and methodological framework used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered.
3. A detailed and up-to-date curriculum.
4. Two reference letters:
a - one from the thesis advisor or another supervisor, showing the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approach( es ) used, as well as the results expected ; b - another letter from the head of the department or another lecturer attesting to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate .
5. A letter showing institutional affiliation .
Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research proposal, gender balance and geographical diversity of candidates .
Applications must be submitted by 1 st April 2005 , at the latest. They must be sent to:

Methodological workshop on Social Sciences (To the attention of Mrs Virginie Niang), Training, Grants and Fellowships Department, CODESRIA, P.O. Box: 3304, Dakar, CP 18524 - Senegal Tél: +221-825.98.22/23 - Fax: +221-824.12.89 E-mail: [email protected] CODESRIA Regional Methodological Workshop on Social Sciences in Africa:

Fields and Theories of Qualitative Investigation
2005 Session / North Africa
2-7 May 2005, Rabat, Morocco Call for Proposals One of the major weaknesses of social science research is its lack of consideration for epistemological and methodological issues. While the complexity of the social dynamic involved here should call for an accurate interrogation of the investigation procedures, we are on the contrary witnessing a serious trivialisation of research protocols, which are reduced to being, in the best cases, and under the appearance of a fake superficial rigor, a mere fetishist evocation of superficial recommendations, in the service of a social form of instrumentalisation, or are simply ignored, in the name of a so-called specific immediacy that excludes African social realities from the universal debates on the validity of science. The result is that in those debates, social sciences are often portrayed as a mix of purely literary discourse without empirical anchorage or as anecdotes hidden under a "scholarly" discourse, which is not only pretentious but also vacuous. In such a context, the knowledge produced loses all its heuristic content to become a mere element justifying, deliberately or otherwise, a relatively adapted economic policy. It is high time we discussed the methodological foundations of our current knowledge, in order to give a new impulse to the African social sciences.

The future of young social science researchers starts with an excellent mastery of research processes; that explains why the CODESRIA Secretariat has proposed to convene young African researchers around epistemological and methodological issues, in order to contribute to the creation of a critical space, that would combine the current empiricism with the logical rigor of the epistemological prerequisites, essential for scientific imagination. Such a perspective demands that the contemporary procedures, tools and the major theoretical trends be subject to critique from an African perspective.

The major question would therefore be: how to establish a fertile link between theories and fields while taking into account the state of knowledge and techniques to be mobilized, as well as the evolution of African societies? The usual opposition between quantitative and qualitative methods is due to the fact that scientific practice was burdened with a wrong perception of the validity of research procedures: too much value was given to figures, at the expense of qualitative orientations, considered too fickle, in relation with the assumed exactness and "hardness" of the sovereign quantification. But beyond the academic disputes, we should emphasise the search of appropriate means of exploring the African social dynamic, that often does not find expression in the rigid and too systematic quantitativist approaches.

The 2005 session will explore of the conditions for implementating and validating a qualitative perspective in African contexts. Of course, this concern applies to all social science disciplines. Indeed, they are all confronted with the difficulties of understanding the social reality, and also with the limits of the techniques of data collection and analysis, which, given their "qualitative" nature, are suspected to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour. Hence, the hidden meaning of social life is irremediably inaccessible to them. The following points should therefore be placed at the centre of the discussion:

1.The workshop will initially review the distinction hurriedly established between « quantitative » and « qualitative » research, and tries to raise the issue of measurement in social sciences, through a critical study of this traditional division. The mode of processing data collected depends on both the field constraints and on the paradigmatic options of data interpretation. Such a questioning should finally induce us to consider procedures for "quantification" of the "qualitative" approach. Is the non-metrical and "comprehensive" nature of the qualitative approach, as opposed to the mathematical and explanatory nature of quantification, definitively certified?

2.Against the illusion of immediate knowledge, it is absolutely essential to raise clearly the methodological principles of "object construction", as a hypothetical articulation of a theoretical reconstruction of the social reality. This major operation demands that the researcher status, the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.

3.As a procedure for practical comparison with a set of assumptions, the survey calls for a well thought-out choice of the technical data collection and "fact-finding" instruments. But such a selection is never neutral, because facts always remain as facts. The usual tools of qualitative study, interview, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones, such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to define the modalities of their contribution to research.

The methodological workshop was designed for doctoral students and young African researchers. The countries involved are: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia.

The working languages are English et French.

The session will be conducted by a session director, assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged knowledge of the session theme.

Researchers wishing to join the pedagogical team are invited to send us, as soon as possible, a CV as well as a four-lecture (4) proposal, of three (3) hours each, on one aspect of the session theme.

Beside the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the pedagogical team will also submit to laureates a compilation of texts around the workshop theme The session director is in charge of the organization of the whole session. He will assist in preparing lectures to be given by resource timetable. Each application must include the following:
1. An application letter informing about the applicant's research theme.
2. A research project (with a maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic, relevance of the field, theoretical and methodological framework used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered.
3. A detailed and up-to-date curriculum.
4. Two reference letters:
a - one from the thesis advisor or another supervisor, showing the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approach( es ) used, as well as the results expected ; b - another letter from the head of the department or another lecturer attesting to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate .
5. A letter showing institutional affiliation .
Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research proposal, gender balance and geographical diversity of candidates .
Applications must be submitted by 1 st April 2005 , at the latest. They must be sent to:

Methodological workshop on Social Sciences (To the attention of Mrs Virginie Niang), Training, Grants and Fellowships Department, CODESRIA, P.O. Box: 3304, Dakar, CP 18524 - Senegal Tél: +221-825.98.22/23 - Fax: +221-824.12.89 E-mail: [email protected]