Objectivity, systematicity and reliability in implementing observation method in social sciences

This article discusses the issues concerning the relation between observation and the scientific principles of objectivity, systematicity and reliability. Issues of theoretical orientation, validity, generality, and precision will be the subject of attention on another occasion. The disintegration of observation as a research procedure through a radical separation of its participant and non-participant form is highlighted. This happens under the influence of exaggerated division between the quantitative and qualitative methods and their actual but also exaggerated epistemological differences. The exaggeration is associated with the dominance of empiricism in sociology. This empiricism is the result of interests of wider social groups and narrower interests within the scientific community. The necessity of methodological examination and research implementation of observation conceived as an integrated procedure is argued by its subversive character, its objectivity and social changes that require its use. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179035: Izazovi nove drustvene integracije u Srbiji: koncepti i akteri]