Social change refers to the transformation of the social set up, from an undesirable condition, to a holistic, sustainable desired condition or set of conditions. Such change would encompass knowledge, attitudes, values, practices and a certain configuration of these in a society.

This implies that the challenge of achieving sustainable social change is enormous (see also Mbennah, 2001). Activism is not good enough. In so far as social change is concerned, the killing-Ahab phenomenon cannot be repeated. Clearly, the need to apply research in the social change agenda is critical. But research has its own processes, disciplines and requirements as well as its own language. Research can be demanding, slow and costly.

Thus, on the one hand research is required, to inform social change strategies, processes and programs and, on the other, there are barriers to overcome with respect to research: Attitudinal, commitment to intellectual approach to life, and ability to prepare research-based pieces for public media.

Research, whether taken as a systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation about hypothetical propositions with presumed relations among observed phenomena (Kerlinger, 1986) or as exploration and discovery in the social world (O’Brien, 1993:1), or as traditionally defined, as a process concerned with the collection and interpretation of data to answer questions about various aspects of society (Bailey, 1987:4), research could be decisive with respect to the effectiveness of the Church and of the Media in promoting or contributing to social change.

RESEARCH & THE CHURCH

Why would the church need to have and use research-based information? First, the church has a calling, with liturgical, missionary and prophetic purposes (see Costas, 1976). The impact of these roles is to be known through evaluation research, and their execution needs to be informed by research as well as appropriate sociological theory. In its prophetic role, which more directly relates to social change, the Church is expected to speak – effectively and relevantly – on the critical social, cultural, economic, and political issues.