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SOCIOLOGY
Research Methods
Chapter Two
Diversity, Conflict, and Change
Kenneth J. Neubeck
University of Connecticut
Davita Silfen Glasberg
University of Connecticut
McGraw-Hill
© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 2
The Research Process
– Open-ended research questions —
exploratory queries that leave the
sociologist flexibility in deciding what
should be considered relevant data
– Closed (objective type) questions;
answers already given you just choose
among them, or yes or no type questions
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© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 3
The Research Process in Brief
1. Interest
2. Reviewing existing scholarly literature to learn more
about the phenomenon.
3. Framing hypotheses or research question that, if addressed,
will generate valuable new knowledge and understandings.
4. Selecting an appropriate research method (or methods).
5. Gathering data that will address the hypotheses or
research questions
6. Analyzing the data gathered
7. reaching conclusions based
on thereport
findings
8. Write
or present findings using other media.
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Slide 4
Types of Research Methods
• Experimental Research
– Research conducted to determine how a
particular organism or object is affected
by different types of treatment selected by
the researcher
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Slide 5
Types of Research Methods
– Establishing Experimental and Control
Groups
• Experimental group —group of subjects that
receives special treatment designed by the
researcher so that effects of that treatment
may be studied
• Control group —subjects that do not receive
special treatment designed for an
experimental group. The control group serves
as a baseline of comparison for the
experimental group
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© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 6
Types of Research Methods
• Bias — Unwanted influences that can
produce research results which are invalid or
without foundation
• Sample — Set of subjects representative of
the total population of subjects
• Random — System of sample selection in
which every individual in the total population
has an equal chance of being selected
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Slide 7
Types of Research Methods
– Research Example: Teacher
Expectations and Student Performance
• Hypothesis: “Within a given classroom those
children from whom the teacher expected
greater intellectual growth would show such
growth.”
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Slide 8
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Experimental Research
Advantages
Disadvantages
Demonstrate causal links
Sometimes experimental settings are
artificial
Provide high degree of control over
independent and dependent
variables
People aware of their involvement in
an experiment may adjust their
behavior. Hawthorne effect
Practical limits to the size of samples
for many experiments, can’t be
generalized much
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© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 9
Types of Research Methods
• Field Research
– Research conducted through first-hand
observation
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Slide 10
Types of Research Methods
– Making Field Observations
• Passive observations —researcher
observes the group and records the events
for later analysis and interpretation
• Participant observation —researcher plays
an active role in the group to the point where
he or she becomes an active participant
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Slide 11
Types of Research Methods
– Research Example: Manufacturing
Classroom Failure
• Explored ways in which schools may actually
nurture class inequalities
• Teacher had access to pre-enrollment
information that had nothing to do with ability
but placed students seating arrangements
based on that information.
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Slide 12
Advantages and Disadvantages
of Field Research
Advantages
Disadvantages
Ability of researchers to observe
behavior as it occurs
Difficulty in gaining entry to and
cooperation from a group
Ability to be flexible in determining
what to consider as data
Personal limitations or prejudices may
affect researcher’s observations
i.e data flexibility
In depth and not artificial like an
experiment
very costly and labor intensive.
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© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 13
Types of Research Methods
• Survey Research
– Survey — research in which questions
are administered to a sample of
participants, either written or in the form
of an interview.
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Slide 14
Types of Research Methods
– Research Example: Gatekeeping in High
Schools
• Tracking —ability grouping of students,
either academic or vocational.
• Gatekeepers — Schools that open different
doors of opportunity for different student
populations through such policies as tracking
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Slide 15
Advantages and
Disadvantages of Surveys
Advantages
Disadvantages
Lower costs
Limited to a given point in time
Reaches a population that is widely
dispersed geographically
Sampling and data analysis
accomplished quickly and efficiently
with computer technology and wide
generalization possible.
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Quality and dependability of results
hinge on representativeness of
sample and questions
© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 16
Types of Research Methods
• Historical Research
• Historical research —concerned with
establishing facts about the past
• Primary sources — Sources that are original
documents , like diaries, notes etc that have
not been interpreted by others.
• Secondary sources — Sources that have
been interpreted, evaluated, or analyzed by
others, for example, publications of scholars
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Slide 17
Types of Research Methods
– Research Example: The Origins of
School Tracking Practices- schooling
originally established in the US to serve
the needs of a hierarchical workplace.
– Advantages and Disadvantages of
Historical Research
• Possibility of inaccuracy and bias in the
sources
• Useful in understanding the present as well
as the past
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© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 18
Types of Research Methods
• Analyses of Existing Data
– Secondary Data Analysis —analysis of data
already gathered by others, often for totally
different purposes e.g. population data collected
by the census bureau.
– Advantages and Disadvantages of Using
Existing Data
• Saves a great deal of time and money
• Data not always the best fit with the research questions
• All data might not be available for public use.
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© 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Slide 19
Research Ethics and Politics
• The Ethics of Research
– American Sociological Association Code of Ethics
•
•
•
•
•
Informed consent
Confidentiality/anonymity
No harm to the subject
No deception of subject
Reveal funding sources
• The Politics of Research
– Understand the interest of the sponsor
– Know the implication of the research questions
– Be true to the humanistic part of your field, i.e no harm direct or
indirect to the subject.
– E.g.: Project Camelot- sociologists hired by the government to
help keep the powerful in Latin American countries in power, i.e.
friendly dictators to exploit the resources of those countries. (one
question on project Camelot on your exam).
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