METHODOLOGICAL PREDICAMENTS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND THE ATTAINMENT OF MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGS) IN NIGERIA

Abstract

techniques, it is interesting to note how little attention has been focused on general and specific problems of methodology in social sciences. Social science is invested in controversies over the appropriate methodological stance. It cannot escape the ideological perspectives of particular interests or groups nor can social sciences be universalistic and free from bias? Should analysis be limited to the solution of empirical problems or should social scientists seek to develop generalized encompassing theories? Should social sciences study subjective meaning or objective behavior? Which are more potent in social life, ideal or real forces? These problems are perennial. Science is often described as a cumulative enterprise and knowledge may have accumulated, as a consequence of the efforts of social scientists, yet there is no emergent consensus on first methodological premise. The seemingly eternal quality of the methodological disputes in social sciences is a consequence of the sources of the issues: what appear to be resolvable philosophical issues actually reflect inescapable tensions in the character of social life itself. The objective of this study is to assess and evaluate the problems of research methodology in social science towards achieving (MDGs). This paper explores these methodological dilemmas in social sciences and its effect on Millennium Development Goals. (MDGs)