Indigenous Social Psychology of Science for a Developing Society: An Empirical Justification

The study begins with the question of whether there should be an indigenous social psychology of science for the developing world. In search of an answer, this study par ticularly explores whether the scientific values of Indian scientists are context bound or universal in nature. Using a psychometric approach, this study explores the nature of scientific values held by Indian scientists. To explore the structure of scientists' values, factor analysis was used. Results reveal replication of a few dimensions conceptualised in previous research in other cultural contexts and point towards the universal nature of research-related values. The results also show the similarities in terms of the nature in which scientific values relate to various research behaviours of scientists. The study further reveals that research-related values of scientists did not vary either with the biographical or the work context (that is, academic and national laboratory). Actually these varied with the various research activities. This provides additional validity of the universal nature of scientists' value system. Thus as far as the epistemological aspects of science are concerned, the need for a separate psychology related to science in develop ing countries does not seem desirable.