A Methodological Framework for Relational Research in Sociology and Social Work
Pierpaolo Donati
How to make the research methodology corresponding to relational sociology operational? The Author proposes a general framework based on five rules that explain how to do «relational analysis». First: distinguish between descriptive and problematizing observation of the social fact Y to explain and understand, and connect them. Second: define the observed fact as a relational social molecule configured according to the AGIL relational scheme. Third: express the social fact Y as the product of a combination of Xi factors (subjective and objective) and their relations in a black box hypothetically having an AGIL structure. Fourth: investigate the black box as a morphostatic/morphogenetic process that generates the social fact. Fifth: if the research is aimed at social intervention, configure the research design as a relational Observation-Diagnosis-Guiding (ODG) system. Finally, it is explained in what sense relational analysis can be value-free.
Keywords
Relational analysis, methodology, research design, critical realism, research rules.
