Social Research

1
Social Research

• An introduction

2
What is Social Research?

• Exercise- Defining social research. With a
  partner- discuss what you think social research
  entails.
• Report to the class.

3
Social Research

• Social Research is a process in which people
  combine a set of principles, outlooks, and ideas
  (i.e. methodology) with a collection of specific
  practices, techniques, and strategies (i.e. a
  method of inquiry) to produce knowledge. Neuman
  p.2

4
The Method You Choose- Depends Primarily on the
Question You are Asking

• Determining What You are Asking
• Seeking out sources of Existing Knowledge

5
Why Seek Out Existing Sources?

• If Ive seen far its because I stood on the
  shoulders of giants. Isaac Newton- existing
  knowledge forms the basis of thought.
• It gives you new and better ideas.
• It requires engagement with your field of study.
• You dont need to repeat successful definitive
  studies.

6
Sources of Knowledge

• Tradition
• Authority
• Experience
• Common Sense
• Media Myths
• Science

7
Social Science Methods

• Should they imitate natural sciences?
• Ethos of Modern Social Science
• Self-Reflexivity

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Bourdieus Self-Reflexivity

• Self Reflexivity- requires a self analysis of the
  sociologist as cultural producer and a reflection
  on the sociohistorical conditions of possibility
  of a science of society.
• Differs from other theories in three ways
• 1) The social and intellectual unconscious is
  embedded in analytic tools and operations.
• 2) Collective Enterprise
• 3) Buttresses the epistemological security of
  sociology, rather than undermining it.
• Entails the systematic exploration of the
  unthought categories of though which delimit the
  thinkable and predetermine the thought.

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The Steps In Conducting Research

• 1) Select topic
• 2) Focus Question
• 3) Design Study
• 4) Collect Data
• 5) Analyze Data
• 6) Interpret Data
• 7) Inform Others

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How to Choose a Research Question

• You dont choose the question, it chooses you.
• Begin with a problem/idea. Only after you
  investigate the problem/idea does it develop into
  a question.

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Dimensions of Research

• Uses of Research
• Purpose of Research
• Time Dimension of Research
• Data Collection Techniques

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Uses of Research

• Basic/Theoretical- adds to the general body of
  knowledge.
• Applied/Empirical- answers a specific question
  with a direct application.

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Types of Applied Research

• Program Evaluation- assessment of social programs
  or interventions. Did the program achieve its
  goals?
• Needs Assessment- how extensive is the problem?
  What resources exist? Are some other goods or
  services needed?
• Social Impact Assessment- a look at the effects
  of some program or practice on the social and
  cultural environment of a community.
• Social Indicators- an effort to devise
  quantitative measures of significant social
  phenomena.
• Cost Benefit Analysis- a quantitative assessment
  of costs and benefits of a program or practice in
  order to decide its future.

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Purpose of Research

• Exploratory
• Descriptive
• Explanatory

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Exploratory Research

• Become Familiar with the basic facts, settings,
  and concerns.
• Create a general mental picture of conditions.
• Formulate and focus questions for future
  research.
• Generate new ideas, conjectures, or hypotheses.
• Determine the feasibility of conducting research.
• Develop techniques for measuring and locating
  future data.

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Descriptive Research

• Provide a detailed, highly accurate picture.
• Locate new data that contradict past data.
• Create a set of categories or classify types.
• Clarify a sequence of steps or stages.
• Document a causal process or mechanism.
• Report on the background or context of a
  situation.

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Explanatory Research

• Test a theorys predictions or principle.
• Elaborate and enrich a theorys explanation.
• Extend a theory to new issues or topics.
• Support or refute an explanation or prediction.
• Link issues or topics with a general principle.
• Determine which of several explanations is best.

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Time Dimension in Research

• Cross-Sectional
• Longitudinal
• Time-Series
• Panel
• Cohort

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Data Collection Techniques

• Quantitative Data Collection Techniques
• Experiments
• Surveys
• Content Analysis
• Existing Statistics/Comparative Historic Analysis
• Qualitative Data Collection Techniques
• Field Research (Participant Observation,
  interviews
• Focus Groups
• Historical Comparative Research
• Textual Analysis

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Exercise- What Do You Want To Study?

• Take two minutes to jot down some initial
  ideas/problems that you might be interested in
  studying.
• Take five minutes to share these ideas with two
  or three of your classmates.
• Provide feedback on the appropriateness/efficacy
  of ideas

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The Role of Social Theory

• Social theory is Defined as a system of
  interconnected abstractions or ideas that
  condenses and organizes knowledge about the
  social world. It is a compact way to think of
  the social world. People are always creating new
  theories about how the world works. Neuman P.24

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The Function of Theories

• Explaining Phenomenon
• Guiding Research
• Integrating Multiple Observations
• Structuring Knowledge
• The Politics of Theory

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The Parts of Theory

• Concepts- Mental Construct or image developed to
  symbolize ideas, persons, things, events or
  processes. They may be impossible to directly
  observe (fairness, or sportsmanship), or they may
  be observable (height).
• A theory is relationship between concepts.
• Concept clusters- concepts are rarely used in
  isolation. Instead we tend to have
  interconnected groups of concepts called concept
  clusters.

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The Direction of Theorizing

• Deductive- in a deductive approach you begin with
  an abstract, logical relationship among concepts,
  then move toward concrete empirical evidence.
  You have an idea about how the world operates and
  want to test these ideas against hard data. A
  specific conclusion is reached from some general
  or abstract premises or propositions.

• Inductive- you begin with detailed observations
  of the world and move toward more abstract
  generalizations and ideas. You have a topic and
  vague concepts. Through your research, you
  refine the concepts, develop empirical
  generalizations and identify preliminary
  relationships.

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Level of Theory

• Micro- deals with small slices of time, space,
  or numbers of people. The concepts are usually
  not very abstract.
• Meso- Links macro and micro levels or to operate
  at an intermediate level.
• Macro- concerns the operation of larger
  aggregates such as social institutions, entire
  cultural systems, and whole societies. It uses
  concepts that are more abstract.

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Causality

• Five Characteristics of a Causal Hypothesis
• 1) Time
• 2) Association
• 3. It can be expressed as a prediction or an
  expected future outcome.
• 4. The Relationship is Nonspurious
• 5. It is falsifiable, that is, it is capable of
  being tested against empirical evidence and shown
  to be true or false.

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Logical Errors in Causation

• Tautology-a tautology is a form of reasoning in
  which someone appears to say something new, but
  is really talking in circles and making a
  statement that is true by definition.
• Teleology- something is directed by an ultimate
  purpose or goal ie. fate.
• Ecological Fallacy- arises from a mismatch in the
  units of analysis. Often the researcher
  mismatches units of analysis when he/she uses an
  aggregate to make statements about individuals.
• Reductionism- another problem involving
  mismatched units of analysis and imprecise
  reasoning is reductionism or the fallacy of
  nonequivalence. This error occurs when a
  researcher explains macro-level events but has
  evidence only about specific individuals.
• Spuriousness- a spurious relationship occurs when
  there is an association between two variables
  that appears causal, but actually there is a
  third variable that causes both things.

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Major Theoretical Frameworks

• Structural Functionalism
• Exchange Theory
• Conflict Theory
• Critical Theory
• Postmodern Theory
• Multi-racial Feminism

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Three Approaches

• Positivistic
• Interpretive
• Critical