Social Research Methods

Introduction
Science and Research

How do we know about the

world around us?

Authority
Tradition
Common sense
Media
Personal experience
Overgeneralization
Selective observation
Premature closure
Halo effect

The Nature of Scientific

Theory
A. The Two Tasks of Science
Discovery
Explanation

B. Properties of scientific knowledge

Assertions about relationships
Empirical referents
Sensory verification
Deductive structure
Allows for prediction

The Nature of Scientific Theory

(cont.)
C. Desirable characteristics of science
Abstract, verifiable, intersubjective
agreement

D. Goals of science
Provide method to understand causality
and to predict

E. Causality
Association
Time order
Non-spuriousness
Theoretical justification

The Nature of Scientific Theory (cont.)

F. Testable propositions vs. parsimonious
explanations
G. Problems unique to the social
sciences
Empirical measurement
Control
Ethics
Bias
The human subject

Social Theory
Data
Empricial
Psuedoscience
Junk Science
Scientific Community
Norms of Scientific Community

Norms of Scientific
Community

Universalism
Organized skepticism
Disinterestedness
Communalism
Honesty

What is Research?
Real Research = the systematic process of
collecting and analyzing information
Criteria for research
Start with clear question/problem
Plan of how to proceed (methodology)
Acknowledgement of assumptions
Data gathered to solve problem (not
indiscriminate)
Cyclical process

The research process (see p. 9 in text)

Scientific Method and

Attitude
Scientific method: ideas, rules,
techniques, and approaches that
scientific uses to create and evaluate
knowledge
Scientific attitude: A way of thinking
and looking at the world that reflects a
commitment to the norms and values
of the scientific philosophy

Research Design
Influenced by:
Current knowledge
Cost
Ethics
Skills

Dimensions of Research
A. Style of Research
Exploratory
Descriptive
Explanatory

B. Purpose or Focus
Basic
Applied

Dimensions of Research (cont.)

C. Time
Cross-sectional
Longitudinal

D. Data Collection Technique

Quantitative
Qualitative

Schools of Thought
Quantitative Research

Meaningfully
expressed by
numbers
Provides counts and
measures

Qualitative Research

Meanings, concepts,
and definitions
Quality assessed
through words,
images, and
description
Copyright Allyn & Bacon 2010

The Quantitative-Qualitative
Divide in Research
Is really an artificial divide
Deductive vs inductive
Hard vs soft science
Value-free vs value-laden
Objective vs subjective

The research process more

accurately can be described as a
cyclical search for social truth

The Wheel of Research