Unveiling the Sociological Ninety-ten rules for Social Sciences research: Towards better hypothesis formulation in the Social Sciences in the interests of higher quality research and intellectual multi-polarity

The Sociological Ninety ten rules that are proposed in this paper, are based on the fundamental premise
that various branches of social sciences like sociology, anthropology and economics are human-centric
and are therefore inexact, and vary fundamentally from the more precise and exact sciences like
physics, chemistry and mathematics which are characterized by precision and exactitude. A high degree
of precision and certainty may not therefore manifest themselves in various branches of the social
sciences, even if they at times make use of mathematical models or statistical techniques. Therefore, for
every postulated rule in most fields in the social sciences, there are likely to be many different
exceptions. These may be described as cultural variations and cultural exceptions, and exceptions over
time or space. The name ‘Ninety ten’ is only an easy-to-understand and easy-to-use nomenclature. Real
world exceptions to any given observation could be twenty per cent, five per cent, or take on any other
value, but the above nomenclature is chosen for convenience. Variations across or within cultures or
within or in between socio-cultural groups, socio-economic groups, occupational groups or any other
parameter must be assessed based on the principles that we propose. This may be a basis for splitting
up such groups if necessary for further study and evaluation, and the prerogative for this lies with the
researcher. Thus, not only rule-based reasoning but also case-based reasoning must be used for various
fields in the social sciences. Therefore, a fundamental premise of this paper is that exceptions must be
sought actively, as these will lead to better research and hypothesis formulation. Thus, every researcher
must think of rules and exceptions to those rules, and this must become a mindset. If exceptions are
significant, they may warrant an altogether different line of research. This process will also greatly aid in
inductive analysis, nomothetic rule-building and theorization, and play a major role in the ‘Globalization
of science’, particularly social sciences.