Research methodology in economics : problems and issues

The purpose of science is to study the field of factual knowledge Science is defined not by its subject matter but by its method. Economics as a social science employs the familiar methods of science to derive laws of general nature. But while physical sciences deal with objects, such as atoms, social sciences like economics Seal with human beings, singly or in groups

In general, the basic tool of physical sciences is a labe story experiment but such experiments are not por ile in social sciences since human beings, unille inardimate objects, cannot react to events in a uniform manner that is unfailingly predictable. It is also generally believed that social sciences are basically different from physical scimes because the question of values enters the former but not the later. This book examines the issue of what is "scene" in the study of economics and how it differs from the core sciences in doing so analyses the different kinds of methods used in economics, the strengths and pitfails of each of them, and raises wome very relevant questions about the nature of method in economics and its evolution

Research Methodology in economics has both inductive and deductive dimensions Parely dechactive research begin with a developed thectical system In a sense deductive researchers hope to find data to match a theory Inductive researchers hope to find a theory that explains the data Punely inductive search begins with collection of data, empirical observation of measurements of some kind. It is on this basis that theoretical categories are built and relationships discovered Both these approaches the deductive and the inductive, have evolved gready over the years, an also the application of economics in various fluids

Research Methodology as a subject is taught at the graduate and post-graduate levels of economics in many Universities of India. This book would serve the needs of students in these courses.

The primary of objective of this book is to provide an elementary but comprehensive introduction to the methodological problems faced by students of economics in general. Methodological issues in economics are not cut and dried. There are disputes over basic issues. The disputes and difference have to be understood by students before they undertake any project or thesis or write their dissertations. Therefore, it would serve the needs of those who aspire to write theses and dissertations, and who are often at a loss about the methodology to employ in doing so.

Finally, it would be a relevant and valid contribution to economics studies in general.