Abstract

FIGUEROA PEREA, Juan Guillermo. Dialogue with My Process of Sociodemographic Research: a Socratic Approach. Estud. demogr. urbanos [online]. 2012, vol.27, n.3, pp.839-852. ISSN 2448-6515.  https://doi.org/10.24201/edu.v27i3.1428.

This text proposes a series of questions in order to promote an exercise of self-criticism among those who engage in research processes, either as graduate students or as part of their everyday work. It is based on the assumption that research is “an orderly, systematic, critical process designed to generate knowledge.” However, this proposal focuses on criticism, understood as a reflection on the assumptions from which we construct our interpretation of everyday life and assuming that by trying to make them explicit, we can identify its limits and scope.

These notes outline a pedagogical proposal within the sphere of methodology that seeks to encourage a dialogue based on the mayeutics of Socrates in order to distance ourselves from the research process and thus be able to circumscribe it in order not to ask too much of it, yet make the best use of it. Mario Bunge suggests that scientific knowledge can be regarded as one of the most honest ones, since it is constantly reviewed and can correct itself by recognizing its limitations.

The aim of this dialogue is to contribute to the pleasure and interest in adventure involved in research, even for those who do not intend to devote themselves to this, yet to exercise it when they develop their thesis project. The aim is not to idealize this knowledge or to assume it as the only valid one but rather to critically explore the horizons enabling one to visit and construct it.

Keywords : research; criticality; knowledge; dialogue.

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