R K Hebsur has contributed immensely to strengthen the philosophical and methodological foundations of social science research in India. Despite spending considerable time teaching as a college lecturer, he made an imprint in the fi eld of research methodology. Hebsur worked hard to synthesise different disciplinary perspectives to explain a social phenomenon in its entirety. As a head of the Department of Research Methodology at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, he established a multidisciplinary research tradition. Though he had a short stint in the university system, the generations to come will remember and admire his life and work.