Doing Social Research

Question 1

Research methods

Answer 1

Research methods refer to the more practical issues of choosing an appropriate research design - perhaps an experiment or a survey - to answer a research question, and then designing appropriate methods of data collection.

Question 2

Why social research?

Answer 2

Understanding the interactions between disease and society, and delivering effective health care services, relies not only on understanding the nature of health and disease, but also understanding people and their beliefs about health, and their health behaviours. Social science research helps us understand these relationships.

Question 3

Quantitative questions

Answer 3

Quantitative questions which relate to ‘quantities’, and are concerned with counting or measuring phenomena (e.g., ‘How many?’, ‘What proportion?’, ‘How often?’). The data analysed are usually numbers.

Question 4

Qualitative questions

Answer 4

Qualitative questions which relate to the ‘quality’ of variations in experience, or the meaning of experience for different people. Qualitative questions are primarily about the classification of events or phenomena, and start with phrases such as ‘How?’ or ‘Why?’. The data analysed are usually in the form of words.

Question 5

What are the 3 paradigms?

Answer 5

Positivism

Interpretive approaches

Constructive approaches

Question 6

Positivism

Answer 6

Positivism – typical of natural sciences, assumes a stable reality that exists outside our methods for studying that reality.

Question 7

Interpretive approaches

Answer 7

Interpretive approaches – more typical of qualitative methods, assume that reality looks different depending on where we are standing, and that the proper role of social research is to understand how people interpret the world.

Question 8

Constructivist approaches

Answer 8

Constructivist approaches – assume that reality is only what we come to understand through talk and action, and the key question for research is how that reality is constructed.

Question 9

Research cycle

Answer 9

Literature review

Defining research question

Study design

Data collection

Analysis

Dissemination

Question 10

How do we choose the design?

Answer 10

Choice of design should be made with reference to the study objectives. However, it may also be influenced by practical concerns

Question 11

Methodology

Answer 11

Methodology refers to general principles which underlie how we investigate the social world and how we demonstrate that the knowledge generated is valid.