The Methodological Application of Modern Historical Science to Qualitative Research

Since the middle of the twentieth century criticism towards quantitative research tools in social sciences has gradually led to attempts to find a new methodology, called 'qualitative research'. At the same time, qualitative research has called for a reconsideration of the usefulness of many of the beneficial tools and methodologies that were discarded during the move to research based on the employment of quantitative research tools. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the essential elements of the qualitative research approach, and then argue for the possibility of introducing the old-established methodology of historical science into qualitative research, in order to raise the accuracy of the qualitative data.

A Critical Review of Opinion Polls relating to Iranian Voting Intentions: Problems of Research Methodology as applied to Complex Societies

After the 10th Iranian Presidential election on June 12, 2009, several public opinion polls taken in Iran attracted the attention of policy-makers and journalists around the world because of the political crisis that followed. In this paper I first review critically the polls conducted by the WPO (WorldPublicOpinion.org), PIPA (Program on International Policy Attitudes) at the University of Maryland. I also review an essay by Steven Kull, which is based on the aforementioned poll results and which in my opinion leads to false conclusions concerning Iran’s political prospects. I also discuss “An Analysis of Multiple Polls of the Iranian Public,” published by WPO-PIPA on February 3 2010. The present paper arrives at the overall conclusion that it is impossible to obtain an accurate image of political opinions in societies as complicated as that of Iran by concentrating on only one technique of research and analysis, especially when the political and social situation in the society concerned is in a state of constant flux.

「低組織化」システムのグローバリゼーション -- イラン・アパレル産業を事例として

イランのアパレル産業は，就労者数10人未満の中小・零細企業が圧倒的多数を占め，産業全体の零細性がきわだっている。従来企業同士の連携が希薄で，とりわけ生産から流通へ至る垂直的な関係がほとんど発展しないという傾向をもち続けてきた。こうした「低組織化」された状態のアパレル製造企業群は，2000年代以降政府の貿易政策の転換によって大量の輸入製品流入に直面した。一時はあたかもイランのアパレル市場が中国製品に席巻され「壊滅」したかのような報道もなされたが，実態は異なっていた。じつは，これまでアパレル生産に従事していた独立の零細資本の一部が，生産と流通の分野の垣根を跳び越え，みずからがバイヤーに転身して，めざましい発展を遂げる中国の「専業市場」から大量のアパレル製品をイラン市場に持ち込んでいる。リスク分散のため多角化する傾向の強いイランの零細資本は，参入・撤退の自由度が高い「市場」型の生産・流通スタイルを好むが，このニーズに中国の専業市場が応えるかたちで，先進国主導型のものとは異なるタイプのグローバリゼーションが進行している。