Read the following statements – one labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as…
2013
Read the following statements – one labelled as Assertion (A) and the other as Reason (R) :
Assertion (A) : Qualitative research in India has a long way to go to reach international standards.
Reason (R) : Because the funding agencies do not support qualitative research in academic institutions.
Find the correct answer from the codes given below :
Answer: C. (A) is true, but (R) is false. — ConceptAn Assertion–Reason item is settled by two judgements taken in a fixed order. First, each statement is tested for truth on its own evidence,…
- A.
Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
- B.
Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
- C.
(A) is true, but (R) is false.
- D.
Both (A) and (R) are false.
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
An Assertion–Reason item is settled by two judgements taken in a fixed order. First, each statement is tested for truth on its own evidence, independently of the other.
Only when both statements are true does the second judgement arise: whether the reason names the actual cause of the assertion rather than merely another true fact. If the reason is false, the evaluation stops at the first judgement and the explanatory question never arises.
Application
Test the assertion on its own. Reviews of Indian social-science research repeatedly report that qualitative work here still trails international practice in methodological training, transparency of sampling and coding, and rigour of reporting. The claim that qualitative research in India has a long way to go is therefore defensible.
Test the reason on its own. It claims that funding agencies do not support qualitative research in academic institutions. Indian funding bodies in fact do: the ICSSR runs research programmes, doctoral fellowships and institutional grants that routinely finance qualitative and mixed-method social-science studies; the UGC has funded major and minor research projects across the humanities and social sciences; and the ICMR supports qualitative health-systems and behavioural research. A blanket statement of non-support does not hold.
Combine the two judgements. The assertion survives its own test and the reason does not, so the evaluation stops before the explanatory question is reached.
Contrast
A reading in which both statements are true and the reason explains the assertion would require the non-support claim itself to be accurate, which the record of Indian funding agencies contradicts.
A reading in which both statements are true but the reason is unconnected fails at the same first test, because the reason is not true to begin with.
A reading in which both statements are false would require rejecting the well-documented gap in the standards of Indian qualitative research, which the evidence supports.
Cross-check
The weaknesses of Indian qualitative research are usually traced to methodological training, supervision quality, sample documentation and publication practice rather than to an absence of funding schemes. The supported reading is therefore that the assertion is true while the reason is false.