Framing inductive risks in social sciences: can participatory action research help the sociologist?

Abstract

This paper explores the methodological implications of inductive risks in the social sciences. I argue that sociologists should be aware of the philosophical concept of hermeneutical injustice, and the way in which it can arise from inductive risk. I will show that participatory action research, a collaborative research type used in the social sciences, can minimise such risks by making diverse and critical perspectives more explicitly known to researchers. Drawing on standpoint epistemology, I will argue that participatory action research addresses hermeneutical injustice as it gives participants opportunities to become more competent in interpreting the greater body of evidence they have access to. I will further argue that participatory action research can also increase the chances that appropriate methodological adjustments are made, minimise risk at the level of interpretation of evidence and unrepresentative sample group selection, and present auxiliary assumptions from participants that will help to achieve research aims.