Ch 1. General Research Orientations Flashcards
An explanation of observed regularities or patterns
what is a theory?
middle range theories are limited in scope and testable (ex. merton’s theory of anomie) while…
…grand theories are general, abstract, and provide ways to look at the world (ex. structural functionalism)
What is the relationship between theory and research?
– Theory can guide research
– Research can test theory
what method…
- is the most common approach to social research
- begins with theory
- helps understand specific phenomena through background research
- develop hypotheses
- test with empirical data
- revise if necessary
deductive method
the process of deduction:
- theory
- hypothesis
- data collection…
- findings
- hypothesis confirmed/rejected
- substantiation, revision, or rejection of theory
what method…
- theories/interpretations are the outcome of theory
- gather and examine data first
- then create theory from the observations
inductive method
deductive method begins with theory and applies it to observations while…
…inductive method creates a theory from observations
epistemology asks what question?
How do we know the world?
How does knowledge become acquired?
what are the three broad positions of epistemology (knowing the world)?
- positivism
- interpretivism
- critical approaches
what epistemological view follows the natural sciences and uses the principle of empiricism to generate hypotheses to test?
positivism
what epistemological view is a critique of positivism and has the goal of grasping the subjective meaning of people’s lives? Believes that people interpret the reality of their own lives (social construction theory) and views the social world form the point of view of the social actor with empathetic understanding and interpretation of existence
interpretivism
what major perspective in sociology uses interpretivism?
symbolic interactionism (george herbert mead & irving goffman)
what epistemological view is also a critique of positivism, rejects “value-free” science, and is anti-oppressive in practice and political in nature? Ex is Karl Marx and conflict theory.
critical theories
what is an ontology?
metaphysics, dealing with the nature of being. What is ‘reality’?
what are the three ontological perspectives?
- objectivist perspective
- constructionist perspective
- soft constructionist (middle ground)
what is the difference between quantitative research and qualitative research?
- quantitative research: Uses numbers and statistics in the collection and analysis of data
- qualitative research: uses mainly words and other non-numeric symbols in the collection and analysis of data
quantitative research is mainly deductive, positivistic (natural science model), has a narrowed research question to make a testable hypothesis, and is objective while qualitative research…
…is mainly inductive, interpretivist, has a less specific research question, no hypothesis, and constructionist.
A researcher’s values can contribute to bias in research. What are some biases that may happen?
– Choice of topic
– Formulation of the research question
– Choice of method
– Formulation of research design and data collection methods – Actual data collection
– Analysis of data
– Interpretation of data
– Conclusions
Researchers’ awareness that their values and decisions have an
impact on the research
Reflexivity
What are the three different positions on values in social research?
- Research should be value-free
- Research cannot be value-free, but researchers should be open and explicit about their values
- Researchers should use their values to direct and interpret their investigations: value commitment is a good thing for researchers to have
researchers sometimes “takes sides” politically. This has to do with…?
funding - government may fund research to benefit them politically
Gatekeepers of research findings evaluate:
What sorts of findings are “acceptable”
When little or no research has been done, what research method is preferable?
A qualitative, exploratory approach may be preferable
- Research questions should (5)
– be clear
– be researchable
– relate to established theory and research
– be linked or closely related to each other
– allow the researcher to make a contribution to existing knowledge – be neither too broad nor too narrow
