Sociology Chapter 2 - Understanding the Research Process

Basic research

Research that has the primary goal of describing some aspect of society and advancing our understanding of it.

• Research of this kind is published in journals and books

  addressed to a scholarly audience.

Applied research

Research that has the primary goal of directly addressing some social problem or need.

• Research of this kind takes place outside of academia, and the results are distributed within organizations that commission the studies.

Public sociology

Efforts to reach beyond an academic audience to make the results of sociological research, both basic and applied, known to the broader public.

• Sociologists often use the mass media in this effort.

Limits of everyday thinking

• Unquestioned trust in authorities

• Unquestioned acceptance of “common sense.”

• Unquestioned acceptance of traditional beliefs.

• Generalizations based on personal experience.

• Reliance on selective observation.

• Biased observation and interpretation.

Elements of social science research

• Identifying and understanding patterns in social life

• Gathering empirical evidence

• Using transparent methods

• Viewing knowledge as provisional

Patterns in social life

Social scientists seek to identify identifiable, recurrent patterns in human thought and action.

• Social life is not merely a chaotic series of random events.

Empirical evidence

Evidence that can be observed or documented using the human senses.

Can be categorized as either:

• Quantitative data: presented in the form of variables

• Qualitative data: researchers using this usually focus on describing social processes, and they organize their evidence around central themes that have emerged in their study

Operationalize

To define clearly the variables to be studied so that they can be measured.

Hypothesis

A statement about the relationship between variables that is to be investigated.

Transparency

The requirement that researchers explain how they collected and analyzed their evidence and how they reached their conclusions.

Provisional knowledge

The idea that truth claims are tentative and open to revision in the face of new evidence.

• The goal is to reach tentative conclusions that researchers can act on, while remaining open to new insights that might be generated by more research.

Special challenges of social science

• Social researchers are unlikely to be able to control conditions.

• Social life cannot be predicted with the certainty of natural laws.

• Human beings are conscious of being studied, which may change their behavior (Hawthorne effect).

Hawthorne effect

The tendency of humans to react differently than they otherwise would when they know they are in a study.

Theory-research dynamic

Theory plays several vital roles in social science research.

• It highlights key questions that can help direct research.

• It helps explain data collected by research.

• It can reveal connections among social phenomena that are not otherwise apparent.

__ helps us define research projects and interpret the data we collect.

Theory

__ provide the evidence that helps us evaluate and build theory.

Data

Deductive reasoning

Big → small

Researchers reason deductively from a general theory when they use it to inform the gathering of specific data.

Inductive reasoning

Small → big

Researchers reason inductively when they develop a theory based on data they already have.

Arnold van Gennep’s rites of passage

• Help encourage or reinforce certain behavior

• Affirm common ties through their use of cultural symbols

• Serve as a communal acknowledgment of the change of status

• Provide an outlet for emotions related to the status change

Surveys

A series of questions is administered in writing (on paper or online) or verbally (by telephone or in person).

Survey strengths

• Cost-effective way to get information on a wide range of issues.

• Results, especially from large random samples, can be generalized.

Survey weaknesses

• Closed-response options can be limiting.

• Data are broad but often not particularly deep.

• Problems when researchers write survey questions: lack of clarity, validity, lack of reliability, loaded language, and double-barreled questions.

Convenience samples

Data are not representative, in a statistical sense, of a broader target population.

• Strengths: Simple and often inexpensive.

• Weaknesses: Not generalizable to a broader population.

Quota samples

Specific groups in the broader target population are included in representative proportions.

• Strengths: Balances generalizability with practicality.

• Weaknesses: More difficult to achieve than a convenience sample.

Random sample

Every element of the population has a known and equal chance of being chosen.

• Strengths: Generalizable to a broader population.

• Weaknesses: Often not practical; most difficult and expensive sample to achieve.

Intensive interviews and focus groups

Open-ended questions and improvised follow-up questions are asked in relatively lengthy face-to-face interviews that are typically recorded for later analysis.

Intensive interviews and focus groups strengths

• Allow subjects the freedom to develop detailed responses in their own words.

• Researchers can immediately ask followup questions.

Intensive interviews and focus groups weaknesses

• Time and labor intensive.

• Data are rich and deep, but small, nonrandom sample limits generalizability.

Field research

Researchers work in natural settings observing social interactions and ongoing nature of social life.

• Researchers can try to remain separate from the activities they are studying, or they can engage in participant observation.

Field research strengths

• Less intrusive than direct questioning, resulting in more natural data.

• Goes beyond what people say to observing what they do.

Field research weaknesses

• Very time and labor intensive.

• Data are rich and deep, but small, nonrandom sample limits generalizability.

• Researcher presence can affect results.

Analysis of existing sources

Quantitative data are reanalyzed or existing materials, such as media content or historical records, are used.

Secondary data analysis

A type of research using data previously collected by other researchers.

Ex: analyzing the census

Content analysis

A variety of techniques that enable researchers to systematically summarize and analyze the content of various forms of communication—written, spoken, or pictorial.

Ex: analyzing media

Analysis of existing sources strengths

• Convenient and cost-effective.

• Existing content not affected by researcher’s presence.

Analysis of existing sources weaknesses

Data specific to the researcher’s question may not be available.

Experiments

Researchers use controlled manipulation of social conditions to test hypotheses.

Experiments strengths

Can isolate specific variable to study and establish causality.

Experiments weaknesses

• Typically limited to micro-level questions.

• Ethical considerations restrict their applicability.

Research ethics for sociologists

• Anonymity: subjects remain nameless, even to the researcher

• Confidentiality: the researchers know who the subjects are, but they keep their subjects’ identities private

• Informed consent: subjects in any study must know about the nature of the research project, any potential benefits or risks they may face, and that they have the right to stop participating at any time for any reason

Research process

1. Choose and explore a general topic

2. Identify a specific research question

3. Design the research study

4. Consider ethical dimensions of the research

5. Collect and analyze data

6. Report the results

Positivist social science

An approach that assumes that the social world, like the natural world, is characterized by laws that can be identified through research and used to predict and control human affairs.

• Usually look at quantitative data and use the language of variables in their analyses

Value-neutrality (positivist)

The goal of removing any personal views from the research process.

Positivist social science’s nature of the social world

Composed of discrete elements that interact in recurring patterns, producing usually stable social systems.

Positivist social science’s goal

Identify laws in social life to enable prediction and control.

Positivist social science’s role of values

Scientific research should be value-free; researchers should pursue objectivity by maintaining a detached distance from those being studied.

Interpretive social science

An approach that focuses on understanding the meaning that people ascribe to their social world.

Interpretive social science’s nature of the social world

Composed of evolving definitions of reality formed in the context of human interaction.

Interpretive social science’s goal

Better understand the meaning that the social world holds for others.

• Promotes empathy and understanding for the people being studied

Interpretive social science’s role of values

Scientific research should present an accurate portrait of the people being studied, including their values; researchers can gain insight by building relationships with those being studied.

Critical social science

Research carried out explicitly to create knowledge that can be used to bring about social change.

Critical social science’s nature of the social world

Structured by power imbalances that produce conflict and result in social change.

Critical social science’s goal

Promote social change by better understanding how society works.

Critical social science’s role of values

Scientific research inevitably involves a value position that researchers should make explicit; researchers should help promote positive social change.

• REJECTS value-neutrality

Peer-review process

The process in which scholars evaluate research manuscripts before they are published in order to ensure their quality.

Effects of technology on social research

Technological changes have helped transform sociological research.

• Personal computers and software programs have revolutionized how qualitative and quantitative data are recorded, stored, retrieved, and analyzed.

• The internet has also enabled researchers to expand the scale of their work, keep costs down, and manage time efficiently.

• As new tools continue to develop, researchers will find ingenious and practical ways to put them to use as they investigate the social world.