SWP22RES RESEARCH FOR SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE A

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SWP22RES RESEARCH FOR SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE A

• MARTIN RYAN
• LECTURE TWO - Quantitative and Qualitative
  Approaches to Research

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HYPOTHETICO - DEDUCTIVE / QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
REPORT(KELLEHEAR, 1993)

• 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
• 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
• 3. METHODS
• 4. RESULTS
• 5. DISCUSSION

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HYPOTHETICO - DEDUCTIVE / QUANTITATIVE
RATIONALE FOR RESEARCH
1. READ FIRST - LITERATURE REVIEW2. HAVE AN
IDEA - THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
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• 3. GO OUT IN THE WORLD TO TEST IT. HOW IS THIS
  TO BE DONE? - METHODS4. WHAT WAS FOUND OUT?
  - RESULTS

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• 5. WERE YOU RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE? -
  DISCUSSION

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The hypothetico-deductive design is
called that because it tests hypotheses
(hypothetico-) and it does this by testing a
general theory in the form of a hypothesis
(prediction for testing) on a particular sample
of cases.A hypothesis can be defined as a
theory-based prediction of the expected results
of research or an educated guess

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• It moves therefore, from the general (theory) to
  the particular (deductive) sample of a study.
• Deductive reasoning is forming a theory,
  making a deduction from the theory and testing
  this deduction or hypothesis against reality.

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PHASES OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT (CHERRY,
2000)

• 1) SELECTING A MANAGEABLE RESEARCH PROJECT
• 2) CONDUCTING THE LITERATURE REVIEW
• 3) FORMULATING THE HYPOTHESIS OR A TESTABLE
  RESEARCH QUESTION

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• 4) SELECTING A RESEARCH METHOD
• 5) CHOOSING THE POPULATION OR A SAMPLE
• 6) CHOOSING SCALES OR MEASURES TO TEST YOUR
  HYPOTHESIS

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• 7) DATA GATHERING
• 8) ANALYZING THE DATA
• 9) DRAWING CONCLUSIONS FROM THE ANALYSIS
• (From CHERRY, A. (2000) A RESEARCH PRIMER FOR THE
  HELPING PROFESSIONS METHODS, STATISTICS AND
  WRITING, BROOKS/COLE, BELMONT, CA.)

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• But not everyone thinks that this is the way to
  do social research. Some think that
• - this approach imposes a set of meanings on
  social phenomena (fine, if wanting to
  generalise from sample, but if primarily
  looking at meaning and experience this may
  not be appropriate)
• - excludes from study ideas which are not part
  of original theoretical framework

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- very much has an outsider's view of social
phenomena (etic) rather than emic (in-group
or insiders meanings) (Kellehear, 1993)
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ETHNOGRAPHIC-INDUCTIVE / QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
REPORT

• 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
• 2. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
• 3. ETHNOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION
• 4. DISCUSSION

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ETHNOGRAPHIC-INDUCTIVE / QUALITATIVE RATIONALE
FOR RESEARCH

• 1. READ FIRST - LITERATURE REVIEW
• 2. EXPERIENCE, PARTICIPATE, OBSERVE, LISTEN,
  RECORD - ETHNOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION

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• 3. DESCRIBE THE THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS OF
  WHAT YOU SAW / HEARD - DISCUSSION
• 4. EXPLAIN WHERE YOU WERE AND HOW YOU WENT
  ABOUT THE JOB OF UNDERSTANDING - BACKGROUND
  TO THE STUDY

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Qualitative Research Approach

• The Ethnographic-Inductive Design (Naturalistic,
  interpretive approach)
• - attempts to understand the common sense
  meanings and experiences of the participants of
  a social system
• - adopts an -emic viewpoint (insider view)
• - researcher moves from a particular case (the
  research study) to the general social theory
  which is inductive thought (from the specific
  to the general)

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PHASES OF A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT (CHERRY,
2000)

• 1) IDENTIFYING YOUR AREA OF INVESTIGATION
• 2) SELECTING A QUALITATIVE SAMPLE
• 3) COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA

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• 4) ANALYZING QUALITATIVE DATA
• 5) WRITING ABOUT THEORY THAT EMERGES FROM THE
  DATA