1. Introduction to Research

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Research Methods (Overview)

• 1. Introduction to Research
• 2. Social Sciences
• 3. Types of Research
• 4. Motives for Social Research

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Announcement

• Leading anti-sexist male activist Jackson Katz is
  coming to WSU on January 27 at 7 p.m. to give a
  male perspective on violence against women, and
  what men can do to stop it.Location Katz will
  speak to WSU and the Pullman community from 7
  p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Compton Union Buildings
  auditorium.

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Instructor

• Name Dr. Arina Gertseva
• Office Wilson-Short, room 146
• Office Hours M W 800 -1100 a.m.
• E-mail garina_at_wsu.edu

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Teaching Assistant

• Teaching Assistant Joseph King
• Office Wilson-Short Hall 214
• Office Hours by appointment
• Phone [phone] (messages only)
• Email joseph_king_at_wsu.edu

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Course Website

• http//cooley.libarts.wsu.edu/garina/soc320/

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Assignment 1

• Photos/images are symbolic statements that tell a
  lot about the person
• Create a photo essay about who you are
• Study the photo essays created by your classmates
• Analyze these exhibits to answer the question
  How do WSU students see themselves?

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Assignment 1

• Note both style and content
• Look for the what, and deduce the why
• Think comparatively
• Develop general categories(e.g., things related
  to school, family, leisure)
• Note any differences by gender

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Assignment 1 Example
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Research

• Research is an organized and systematic way of
  finding answers to questions

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Research is .

• SYSTEMATIC because there is a definite set of
  procedures and steps which you will follow
• ORGANIZED in that there is a structure or method
  in going about doing research. It is a planned
  procedure, not a spontaneous one.
• FINDING ANSWERS is the end of all research.
  Research is successful when we find answers.
  Sometimes the answer is no, but it is still an
  answer.
• QUESTIONS Without a question, research has no
  focus, drive, or purpose.

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Questions are everywhere

• How are you?
• How was the party?
• Do you want to have a cup of coffee?

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Questions are everywhere

• Why people lie and how to tell if they do?
• Why do people cheat?

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Explaining human behavior

• How do people fall in love?
• Compatibility? Attractiveness? Difference?

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Untested explanations

• Unfounded, but commonly accepted, explanations
  for behavior can have widespread consequences
• To avoid the trap of easy and untested
  explanations, we need to adopt an
  approach-scientific explanation

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Social Sciences

• The social sciences are a group of academic
  disciplines that study human aspects of the world

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List of social sciences (not all)

• Anthropology
• Communication
• Cultural studies
• Economics
• Education
• Geography
• History

• International Relations
• Linguistics
• Political science
• Psychology
• Social policy
• Social work
• Sociology
• Development studies

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Methods

• Experiment
• Survey
• Observation
• Interview
• Unobtrusive Method

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Other Methods Mike Adams
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Mystery Meat MacrophotographyA News Target
Photo Tour by Mike Adams
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This is a 1x magnification shot of a stack of
salami slices. You can clearly see some of the
texture, the fat blobs and some dark spices that
appear to be spices
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3x magnification of some huge black chunk of
something. Note that the ingredients list of this
product lists no pepper!
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Mystery Meat Macrophotography
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Here's a 1x cross-section photo of a Jimmy Dean
pork sausage
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Here's a 4x magnification showing some of the
beef collagen casing (that's the stuff that looks
like rice paper). That's made from interesting
beef parts
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Why to do research?
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Beyond Academia

• Since the late 1970s, many social scientists
  have tried to make the discipline useful for
  non-academic purposes
• The results of sociological research aid
  educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers,
  and others interested in resolving social
  problems and formulating public policy

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Science and Research

• We are surrounded by research
• We use social research to raise children, reduce
  crime, improve public health, sell products, or
  just understand ones life
• Reports of research appear on broadcast news
  programs, in magazines, and in newspapers

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People change their behavior, they

• Abandoned electric blankets (increase in cancer
  in children whose mothers had used electric
  blankets while pregnant)
• Moved their chairs away from televisions
  (radioactivity)
• Take aspirin a day to avoid strokes
• Quit smoking to avoid cancer

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Weight loss boom
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Advertising
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Weight loss drug- Wonder Pill

• European health agencies have warned that the
  weight-loss drug rimonabant -- marketed as
  Acomplia, may cause dangerous psychological side
  effects in 10 percent of users , including
  suicidal thoughts

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Side effects no one is talking about

• Rimonabant acts to suppress appetite by blocking
  receptors in the brain that regulate food intake
  and help break down sugars and fats
• Evidence suggests that 10 percent of Acomplia
  users develop psychological side effects, the
  most common being depression
• Other potential side effects include anxiety,
  irritability, nervousness and sleep disorders
• Approximately one percent of users experience
  suicidal thoughts while taking the drug

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• Crossen Cynthia Tainted Truth The Manipulation
  of Fact in America. New York Touchstone, 1994

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Research and food

• Research about food contributed many truths to
  the world (some of them contradict the others)
• There is little agreement about how coffee, oat
  bran, margarine, wine, and nuts affect human
  bodies

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Coffee

• Risks
• Anxiety and sleep changes
• Constipation
• Cosmetic
• Blood pressure
• Effects on pregnancy and menopause
• Coronary artery disease

• Benefits
• Reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease
• Reduced risk of gallstone disease
• Reduced risk of Parkinson's disease
• Cognitive performance
• Analgesic enhancement
• Antineoplastic
• Cardioprotective
• Laxative/diuretic
• Antioxidant

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Research and food

• There is truth about food so sacred that it
  cannot be challenged by research
• Consider some surprises of recent years
• Milk is the number one health hazard facing
  young children , wrote a Santa Rosa, California
  doctor in support of a new report by the
  Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
• The report cited a study published in the New
  England Journal of Medicine about milk
  contributing to juvenile diabetes

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Diabetes?

• Despite its neutral name , the committee is
  actually a pressure group of mostly vegetarians
  who oppose animal research and support animal
  welfare groups

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Motives for Social Research

• Policy Motivations
• Academic Motivations
• Personal Motivations

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Policy Motivation

• Specific problem/issue is addressed
• Student government wants to know whether the
  number of students who are arrested for driving
  while intoxicated will decline if university
  sponsors alcohol-free parties next year

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Academic Motivation

• Provide foundation for knowledge about the world
  without visible practical meaning
• Todays computers could not exist without
  research in abstract mathematics conducted over a
  century ago
• Why do people conform to social norms?

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Personal Motivation

• Shy people might study how to be more comfortable
  with strangers
• International researchers might be interested in
  cultural adjustment to the host culture
• Previous trauma can be a motive for future
  research in psychology

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Example explain the behavior of Kittys
Neighbors (1964)

• Kitty Genovese New York woman who was stabbed
  to death over a period of about 40 minutes
• During the attack, over 30 of her neighbors
  listened to her screams, yet no one of them
  bothered to call the police
• Urban Apathy phenomenon

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Types of research

• Pure research
• for the sake of scientific knowledge
• Construction of theories of models that allow for
  a better understanding of human behavior
• No immediate direct impact

• Applied research
• Practical goal in mind
• Development of strategies intended to address the
  problem

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Which research is more useful?

• Some scholars/policy makers consider pure
  research to be waste of time and money
• Since the late 1980s, many social scientists
  have tried to make the discipline useful for
  non-academic purposes
• The results of sociological research aid
  educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers,
  and others interested in resolving social
  problems and formulating public policy

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Which topic is more important?

• American Time Use Survey (ATUS) Series - collects
  information on the kinds of activities people
  engage in and the time they spend involved in
  these activities by age, sex, educational
  attainment, labor force status, and other
  characteristics, as well as by weekday and
  weekend day.

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Which topic is more important?

• Impact of the Court Process on Sexually Abused
  Children in North Carolina, 1983-1986 - examines
  how sexual abuse and the subsequent judicial
  processes affect the mental health functioning of
  child victims by assessing the impact of (1)
  additional harm to victims from out-of-home
  placement, (2) criminal prosecution of the
  offender/family member, (3) subject testimony in
  juvenile or criminal court, and (4) family and
  professional support for the children.