Download Doing Sociological Research

DOING SOCIOLOGICAL
RESEARCH
CHAPTER 3
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
• There are various methods that sociologists use to
do research.
• All involve rigorous observation and careful
analysis
• These methods include:
• participant observation
• survey research
• use of official records or interviews
• statistical analysis of qualitative data
2
SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
• Research is an engaging and demanding process.
• It requires skill, careful observation, and the
ability to think logically about the things that
spark your sociological curiosity.
• The way the question is asked varies depending on
the research method used.
3
SOCIOLOGY &
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
• Sociologists attempt to follow the scientific method,
which uses the following four steps in the research
process:
1. observation
2. hypothesis testing
3. analysis of data
4. generalization
4
SOCIOLOGY: AN EMPIRICAL SCIENCE
• Sociologists conduct both qualitative and
quantitative analyses.
• Qualitative studies are more interpretative
observations.
• Quantitative studies are usually statistically
sophisticated.
• Both of these are methods of empirical analysis.
• The ideas and subjects studied must be testable.
5
VARIABLES
• Researchers design studies to test the influence of
one variable on another.
• A variable is a characteristic that can have more
than one value or score.
• For example: How does age effect income?
• Independent Variable is the presumed cause of
the outcome (age).
• Dependent Variable is the variable that is the
presumed effect (income).
6
INDUCTIVE REASONING
• Inductive reasoning takes us beyond the confines of
our current evidence or knowledge to conclusions
about the unknown.
• Conclusions are arrived at by studying general
observations.
• Conclusions arrived at by inductive reasoning do
not have the same degree of certainty as those
arrived at using deductive logic.
7
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
8
DEDUCTIVE REASONING
• Deductive reasoning argues from the general to a
specific instance.
• The basic idea is that if something is true of a
class of things, it is also true for an individual thing
in the class.
• Arguments are neither true or false; they are
either valid or invalid.
9
DEDUCTIVE REASONING
• Example:
– Catholic doctrine prohibits abortion.
– Therefore, Catholics are less likely than other
religious groups to support abortion rights.
• What is another example of deductive reasoning?
10
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
STEP I: DEVELOP A RESEARCH QUESTION
• Sociological research is an organized process that
follows an established protocol.
• In the first stage, the researcher decides what to study.
• This is a major step and it is not always as simple as it
may originally appear to be.
• The researcher needs to select a topic that can be
studied systematically, and must be able to find an
appropriate population to study.
• Even when the population is available, the researcher
may not be able to get access to it.
11
DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION
• There are many ways researchers decide what to study:
– replicating a previous research project to determine
its validity
– web searches for ideas
– selecting something that simply interests you or you
learned about in one of your classes
– ideas from professors, other researchers, and even
family or friends
– library and online literature searches
• Be careful; data found on the Internet is not
always valid or reliable.
12
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
STEP II: RESEARCH DESIGN
• The design stage involves deciding on the appropriate
data collection technique to use to investigate the
chosen research topic.
• Possible research design techniques include:
• interviews
• surveys
• observations of activities and events
• web searches
• previous research on the subject
• examining artifacts
• mixed method analysis (combines interviews and
observations)
13
RESEARCH DESIGN
• During this stage of the study the researcher
decides whether the study should use qualitative or
quantitative data or a combination of both.
• Some research designs may involve the testing of a
hypothesis.
• A hypothesis is an idea, a hunch, a tentative
assumption about a given issue or body of
knowledge, but not a demonstrable fact.
14
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
STEP III: GATHERING DATA
• Also referred to as “Data Collection.”
• The stage when the data is collected or gathered.
• Primary or secondary data can be used for gathering
quantitative data.
• Primary data is original data gathered specifically for
this project.
• Secondary data is data gathered from an earlier
study or purpose such as: National opinion polls,
census data, or national crime statistics, or official
sources, such as university records, city or county
records, national health statistics, or historical records.
15
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
STEP IV: DATA ANALYSIS
• At this stage, sociologists organize collected data to
discover the patterns and uniformities that the data
reveal.
• The analysis may be statistical or qualitative.
• This is a labor intensive phase of the research
process.
• This is when discoveries are made and important
information about human social behavior and our
institutions and society is uncovered.
• When the data analysis is complete, conclusions and
generalizations can be made.
16
DATA ANALYSIS: SERENDIPITY
• Sometimes unexpected or unanticipated findings
are made.
• These are referred to as serendipitous findings.
• They may direct a researcher into a new area of
study or provide the researcher with a new topic
to study as a follow up to the current project.
17
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
STEP V: CONCLUSIONS
• The final stage in research is developing conclusions,
relating findings to sociological theory and past research,
and reporting the findings.
• An important question researchers will ask at this
stage is whether their findings can be generalized.
• Generalization is the ability to draw conclusions from
specific data and to apply them to a broader
population; i.e. applying them to a bigger population
than the one being studied.
• Be very careful when generalizing.
18
THE TOOLS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
• There are several tools or techniques sociologists
use to gather data.
• Among the most widely used are:
• survey research
• participant observation
• controlled experiments
• content analysis
• historical research
• evaluation research
19
SURVEY RESEARCH
• Surveys are the most commonly used tools of
sociological research.
• Surveys can be administered as questionnaires,
interviews, or telephone polls:
• Questionnaires are sent to large numbers of people
and ask the respondent about income, occupation or
employment status, education, income, age, race,
gender, and other specific topics.
• Low return rates give skewed or biased data.
20
SURVEY RESEARCH
• Interviews involve asking structured questions in an
interview format. They can be open or closed-ended and
administered:
• face-to-face
• over the phone
• on the Internet via e-mail
• Telephone polls involve calling large samples of the
population and asking very specific information about the
topic of concern.
21
SURVEYS
Advantages
• Surveys make it possible
to ask specific questions
about a large number of
topics and then to
perform sophisticated
analyses to find patterns
and relationships among
variables.
Disadvantages
• The structured or rigid
nature of the questions
often makes it difficult to
accurately capture the
opinions of the
respondent or fail to
capture nuances in
people’s behavior and
attitudes.
22
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
• Also known as field research
• The sociologist becomes a part of the group and
studies or observes the behavior of the group
members.
• Two roles are played at the same time:
• subjective participant
• objective observer
• The group may or may not be aware that the
sociologist is studying them.
23
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
• Street Corner Society (1943), a classic work by
sociologist William Foote Whyte, documents one of the
first qualitative participant observation studies ever done.
• Whyte studied the Cornerville Gang, a group of ItalianAmerican men whose territory was a street corner in
Boston in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
• Doc was the covert participant; i.e., gang member who
knew Whyte was a sociologist.
24
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Advantages
• The observer gets to
know the study group
very well and gets vast
subjective information
about the group
members.
• These studies have
added to the rich body of
sociological research.
Disadvantages
• There may be too much
information to analyze
systematically.
• This data collection
technique and its analysis
is very time consuming.
• Interpretation may not be
objective.
25
CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS
• Controlled experiments are highly focused ways of
collecting data and are especially useful for
determining a pattern of cause and effect.
• This research requires creating two different
groups:
• an experimental group, which is exposed to
the factor or variable one is examining, and
• a control group, which is not exposed to the
factor or variable being tested.
26
CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS
• In a controlled experiment, external influences are
either eliminated or equalized; i.e., held constant.
• This is necessary in order to establish cause and
effect relationships.
• In order to establish a baseline the researcher
may administer pretest measurements before the
variable is introduced and posttest measurements
afterwards.
27
CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS
Advantages
• A controlled experiment
can establish cause.
• It can zero in on a single
independent variable.
• Controlled experiments
mean making judgments
about how much the
artificial setting affected
the results.
Disadvantages
• It is an artificial
environment.
• Large-scale community
based studies do not
lend themselves to
experimental research
designs.
• Required ethics must be
adhered to, which are
difficult to follow.
28
CONTENT ANALYSIS
• Content analysis is a way of measuring by examining the
cultural artifacts of what people write, say, see, and hear.
• The researcher studies communications people produce
as a way of creating a picture of their society.
• In content analysis the researcher analyzes cultural
artifacts such as newspapers, magazines, TV
programs, fairy tales, comic books, or popular music.
29
USES OF CONTENT ANALYSIS
• Content analysis is a tool often used to:
• gather trend data; i.e., changes over time
• compare different groups of people
• analyze how the media presents ethnic, racial,
age and gender groups to the public
• examine products advertised by the media
• criticize politicians’ presentations of self
• analyze tales told to children
• and much, much more!
30
CONTENT ANALYSIS
Advantages
• Content analysis has the
advantage of being
unobtrusive, or “nonreactive.”
• The research has no
effect on the person
being studied, because
the cultural artifact has
already been produced.
Disadvantages
• Content analysis is
limited in what it can
study.
• These artifacts are not
developed for research
purposes. Therefore, it
cannot tell us what
people really think about
these images or whether
they affect people’s
behavior.
31
HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
• Historical research examines sociological themes over
time.
• Data for these studies come from: official records,
church records, town archives, private diaries, oral
histories.
• The authenticity of the source is critical as the
quality of the data depends on it.
• Oral histories dramatically reveal unknown histories
of groups that have been ignored or misrepresented
in other historical accounts.
32
HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
Advantages
• Long term social changes
are easy to capture.
• This is a perfect
sociological tool for
conducting studies of
history or comparative
perspectives.
Disadvantages
• Knowing whether the
reports are allegories or
factual details is subject
to interpretation.
• Interpretation errors are
easy to make when the
information is symbolic or
in an unfamiliar language.
33
EVALUATION RESEARCH
• Evaluation research assesses the effect of policies and
programs on people in society.
• Policy research is the term used when the research
is intended to produce policy recommendations.
• Social organizations and governmental agencies use
policy research in order to make recommendations to
Congress on such issues as:
• Improving school performance
• Health care funding and service needs
34
RESEARCH ETHICS
• The problems sociologists choose to study, the people
they decide to observe, the research design they select,
and the type of media they use to distribute their
research can all be influenced by the personal values of
the researcher.
• Sociological research often raises ethical questions.
• Question: Can a researcher be value-free?
35
RESEARCH ETHICS
• The American Sociological Association (ASA)
developed a professional code of ethics.
• The federal government also has many regulations
about the protection of human subjects.
36
RESEARCH ETHICS
• When performing sociological research, researchers:
• are prohibited from imposing perceived or actual
physical, mental, or legal harm
• must inform subjects of the rights and responsibilities
of both the researcher and the subject
• are required to secure informed consent from their
subjects
• must ensure subject confidentiality and anonymity
• must follow strict reporting guidelines and
requirements
37
RESEARCH TERMS
• Bias: personal, social attitudes and beliefs that influence
what we know and our study results
• Reliability: the degree to which a measure produces
consistent results
• Validity: the degree to which measures actually
measures what they want to measure
• Variables: concepts that have more than one value
• Representation: assurance that the sample studies the
people that you need information about
38
RESEARCH TERMS
• Sample: the group of people being studied
• Causality: the analysis of cause and effect
• Survey: gathering information from many people on the
same topic
• Interview: talking to people in order to gather
information about them
39