Research Questions - Blaikie ch. 3

Question 1

Fundamental purpose of social research (3)

Answer 1

= to provide new knowledge about the social world
= to answer puzzles about what the social world is like and how it works
= to find ways to solve problems and bring about change

Question 2

Formulating research questions (RQs) = the most critical component of any research design (5 reasons why)

Answer 2

= choices about the focus and direction of research can be made
= its boundaries can be clearly delimited (scope)
= manageability can be achieved
= a successful outcome can be anticipated
= makes it possible to select research strategies and methods of data collection and analysis with confidence

Research project is built on the foundation of its research questions.

Question 3

Functions of RQs (3)

Answer 3

• define nature and scope of the research
• determine WHAT is to be studies and HOW it will be studied
• some suggest that research should be guided by hypothesis (one or more) —> Blaikie: “In some kinds of research, it is impossible or unnecessary to set out with hypotheses. A much more useful procedure is to establish one or more research questions” (58)

Research project is built on the foundation of its research questions.

Question 4

What Flick and Mason say about RQs ?

Answer 4

• some researchers connect RQs with qualitative research (RQ were mentioned in some texts on research methods concerned with qualitative research)

Flick (2007): clearly formulated RQs: “decisive it is for the success of a project”

Mason (2002) on RQs:

• “intellectual puzzles’ of variety of forms
• “backbone of a research design”
• “should be clearly formulated, intellectually worthwhile and researchable”

Question 5

Three main types of RQs ? why are they categorized ?

Answer 5

• grouped into “what”, “why” and “how” (2 reasons):
  = to maintain simplicity
  = to achieve a correspondence with the three main categories of research purposes (description, explanation/understanding, change)

Question 6

Shortly describe What, Why and How questions.

Answer 6

1. What?
   - requires descriptive answer
   - > directed towards discovering and describing (the characteristics of and patterns in social phenomenon)
   ex. categories of individuals, social groups, social processes
2. Why?
   - the causes of/the reason for the existence (of characteristics/regularities in a particular phenomenon)
   - > directed towards understanding/explaining the relationships (between events/within social activities or processes)
3. How?
   - bringing about the change with practical outcomes and intervention

WHAT questions normally precede WHY questions, WHY normally precede HOW questions
(we need to know WHAT is going on before we can explain it, we need to know Why sth. behaves certain way before we can intervene or bring change)
Research include only one or two types of RQs - most commonly WHAT and WHY
Do not underestimate WHAT - “good description is a vital part of social research” (60)

Question 7

Some writers propose more than 3 RQs - examples

Answer 7

Some writers proposed more than three RQs
Yin (2003) - 7: who, what, where, how many, how much, why , how
Blaxter (2002): 5: how, who, what, when, why

Question 8

Name and describe 7 steps of developing and refining RQs

Answer 8

1. Write down every question related to the research problem
   - all ideas
   - particularly those that may be taken for granted (+marginal, outrageous, impractical)
2. review (the list of questions)
   - groups them under similar themes or topics (reveals overlaps)
   - set aside marginal questions
3. separate WHAT, WHY and HOW questions
   - beware of deceptive formulations (ex. what question can begin with how)
   - rephrase the wording to make it as clear and simple as possible
   - complex questions must be broken into a series of questions
4. expose assumptions
   - check each RQ to see what it assumes - many questions (mostly WHY) presuppose other questions
   - important ! - WHAT question must be answered before WHY can be asked (HOW presupposes WHAT and WHY answered)
5. examine the scope of the RQ
   - get practical - how many groups of questions can be tackled
   - decide what is going to be manageable
6. separate MAJOR and SUBSIDIARY questions
   a/ Major RQ = form a core (the key questions to be answered)
   b/ Subsidiary RQ = deal with background information/issues that are presupposed by one or more major RQs (necessary but not central to research project)
7. Scrutinise each question
   “Why I am asking this question ?”
   “Is it related to the research problem ?”
   “What will I do with the results from it ?”
   “How does it relate to other questions ?”
   “Is it researchable ?”

Question 9

What are the most common mistakes of developing RQs ?

Answer 9

• asking questions that would go to the questionnaire (RQs are what you want the research project to answer)
• desire to do the definitive piece of research (like PhD students) - BUT we have limited duration and resources
• making the developmental nature of a research design an excuse for poorly designed RQs (the research may necessitate some changes throughout its duration yet RQs have to be carefully considered in order to deliver a manageable project with a high probability of success)

Question 10

Staying on track

- common feature of a research project - researcher can be deflected or distracted from original intention due to (5):

Answer 10

• encountering new ideas
• discussion with colleagues
• changing academic fashions
• changing political agendas
• learning that takes place during the course of the research
• changes to the RQs should be made only after careful consideration
• print out the questions in large type and display them in prominent places - read regularly to keep focus

Question 11

What can be the relationship between RQs and hypotheses (3)

Answer 11

Formulation of hypotheses (they are drowned from):
- hunches/intuition
- previous research
- discursive argument
- carefully formulated theories
Their source is frequently vague and their purpose unclear
Lundberg (1942): hypothesis = “a tentative generalisation, the validity of which remains to be tested. In its most elementary stages, the hypothesis may be any hunch, guess, imaginative idea or intuition whatsoever which becomes the basis for action or investigation”

2. combination of hypotheses and RQs
   Mitchell and Jolley - research is done to answer questions - such questions are usually stated as hypotheses
   - generate questions and develop them into workable hypotheses
3. Blaikie: “hypotheses are tentative answers to “why” and, sometimes, “how” research questions”
   = our best guesses at the answers
   = not appropriate for “what” questions (hazardous to guess a possible state of affairs - research will produce an answer to that

Question 12

What is the main purpose of the literature review ? Name possible areas of literature research (6).

Answer 12

RQs and the literature review
main purposes (2):
= to provide background information to and context for the research
= to establish a bridge between the project and the current stated of knowledge on the topic

literature review:

1. background information that establishes the existence of the problem to be investigated
2. previous research on the topic (related topics)
3. theory of relevance to the WHY RQ
4. research paradigms
5. methodological considerations of relevance to the selection of a research strategy
6. review/elaboration of the methods to be used

Placement in the research report:

• introductory chapter (1.)
• methodology and methods chapter (5.,6.)
• choice of research strategy (4.)
• RQs relevance - 2. + 3.

Question 13

What literature is relevant for reviewing ?

Answer 13

= use RQs to guide and structure the review (they should forecast the literature to be reviewed)
= each RQ puts boundary abound a body of literature
= hypotheses - should have connection with literature as well

Question 14

Define research purpose and name 8 purposes of research

Answer 14

= concerned with the types of knowledge a researcher wants to produce
- research project can pursue just one or a number of them in sequence (ex. describe and then explain

Types of purposes (8):

BASIC RESEARCH
Explore = develop an initial, rough description of social phenomenon
Describe = provide a detailed account (precise measurement) of the characteristics of some population, group, phenomenon
Explain = establish elements (factors) that are responsible for producing the state of social phenomenon
Understand = establish reasons for particular social action
Predict = use established understanding to postulate certain outcomes under particular conditions

APPLIED RESEARCH (has a sponsor/client) - done within strict time and resource constrains —> has to draw on well-established theories 
Change = to intervene by manipulating some aspects of social situation preferably on the basis of established understanding 
Evaluate = to monitor social intervention programmes to assess whether they have achieved their desired outcomes (+ assist with problem-solving and policy-making)
Assess social impact = to identify the likely social and cultural consequences of planned projects, technological change or policy actions on social structures/procedures/people

Question 15

Can comparison be a research purpose ?

Answer 15

It is not included as a research purpose

• it is a form of description or a technique for arriving at explanation/understanding
• a list of purposes should NOT include statements like “to compare … “ - instead “to describe” and then “to explain”

Question 16

Describe exploratory research.

Answer 16

• when little is known about the topic or about the context in which the research is to be conducted (topic has not been investigated - or just not in that particular context
  ex. basic demographic characteristics, the relevance of particular RQ or feasibility of using certain methods of data gathering
• the methods need to be flexible
• usually conducted at the beginning
• but can be needed at other stages to provide information for critical design decisions
• overcome unexpected problem
• better understand an unanticipated finding
• establish which avenues of explanation would be worthwhile pursuing
  Blumer (1969): it is necessary to counter the common tendency to move straight into research without an adequate understanding of the sector of social life being investigated
  = exploratory research = essential part of any project

Question 17

Describe descriptive research.

Answer 17

= seek to present an accurate account of:
- some phenomenon
- the characteristics in some demographic category (group/population)
- the patterns of relationships in some social context
at a particular time or their changes over time
- can be expressed in words or numbers
- may involve the development of sets of categories/types
- more rigorous and narrower in focus than Exploratory research

Question 18

Describe Explain and Understand (Explanatory research)

Answer 18

= seek to account for (five reason) patterns in observed social phenomena (attitudes, behaviour, social relationships/processes/structures) —> why it behaves in a particular way/why particular regularities occur

• event or regularities that have been observed and which cannot be accounted for by existing theories
• eliminate puzzles and provide intellectual satisfaction, makes the obscure plain to see
• detailed description can provide the beginning of an explanation

      semantic explanation = concerned with the meanings of words and phrases 

• we do not have an explanation until we see it
  scientific explanation = seeks the causes for the occurrence of event/regularity
• either the having or seeing may occur without the other
• explanation is often resisted when it is first offered (to have it but not be able to see it)
• or one sees it without having it - ex. myths, occult science, religion - they provide intellectual satisfaction but no guarantee of having the right state of affairs —> those who accept them only see an explanation, but do not have one

Question 19

What is the difference - explanation vs. understanding ?

Answer 19

Tylor (1964), von Wright (1971), Giddens (1979)
= difference between how intelligibility is achieved (the quality of language that is comprehensible)
- by casual explanation
- by reason explanation

Explanation - identify:
- causes of events or regularities
- the factors that produce them
= produced by researchers who look at the phenomenon from the “outside”
Explanatory strategies —> Inductive, Deductive, Retroductive

Understanding
provided by:
- the reasons/accounts social actors give for their actions
Associated with the meaning of an event/activity in a social context
(given by actors or the meaning that researchers derive from actors’ accounts
= based on an “inside” view in which researchers grasp the subjective consciousness, the interpretations, of social actors
Strategies of understanding —> Abductive

Question 20

Describe Predict (Prediction in research)

Answer 20

• claims what should happen if certain laws/mechanisms operate under certain conditions - depend on the state of knowledge at a particular time
• NOT a prophecy (this claims what will happen in the future)

Can be achieved in 2 ways:

• in terms of well-established patterns of associations between concepts (Inductive) - ex. whenever one part of a relationship is present, it can be expected that the other part will be also present
• by shifting the emphasis in a theoretical argument (Deductive)

Prediction and explanation can be seen as similar - they just have a different focus and emphasis
Writers who advocate the Retroductive research strategy claim - prediction is only possible in closed systems (experimental conditions) —> social scientists work in open systems => prediction is not possible in the social sciences (no scope for prediction can be established)

Question 21

Describe change as a research purpose

Answer 21

• can be achieved with confidence only if the actions taken are based on those that a well established explanation or understanding would suggest
• the intervention process - can be used as a learning process —> knowledge of a phenomenon can be developed in a trial and error process —> the outcome can be an explanation or a change
  = some regard it as being the only way to generate scientific knowledge, or the only legitimate form of social science

Two types of intervention:
- one used primarily for the purposes of advancing knowledge (purely scientific concerns, basic research) - researcher is external person
- another that tries to change the social world (social and political concerns, applied research) - researcher is a facilitator, inside intervention
Can adopt inside or outside methods
1. INSIDE - done to a group/community at the researcher’s initiative - when group participate/initiate = participatory action research
2. OUTSIDE - done on behalf of sb else

Intervention research:
TOP DOWN
BOTTOM UP

Question 22

Describe Evaluate (Evaluation research)

Answer 22

+ impact assessment - concerned with polity and programme development and implementation, and with problem-solving and decision-making
- it seeks to answer to questions posed by decision-makers, not academics
= seeks to examine the consequences of the adoption of particular courses of action
= sets out to determine whether a particular policy/programme has been effective in achieving certain policy/programme goals
= compares “what is” with “what should be”
= measure the effects of a program against the goals it set out to accomplish

Two types of evaluation research:

1. formative evaluation = built-in monitoring/continuous feedback is used DURING the evaluation
2. summative evaluation = conducted AFTER policy has been implemented to establish effectiveness overall in achieving the original goals

4 perspectives on evaluation research
experimental - used classical or quasi-experimental procedures (try to establish whether change is the result of the planned intervention) - disappointing
pragmatic - less ambitious - advocated careful use of any kind of sound research
naturalistic - saw evaluation as negotiation between stakeholders with different interpretations of a programme
pluralist - called for greater depth and breadth in the evaluation by examining the way programmes are conceptualised and focusing on outcome effectiveness
(realistic - based on scientific realism)

Question 23

Describe Assessment of Impacts

Answer 23

= process of identifying the future consequences of a current or proposed action
Social impact assessment (SIA) - consequences are related to individuals, organisations, institutions and society as a whole (any public and private actions that alter the way people live, work, play, relate, organise)
Cultural impact assessment (CIA) - involve change of norms, values, beliefs
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) - concerns natural and biophysical impact of major physical projects

SIA tasks:

• asess and predict potential impacts
• mitigate and monitor these impacts
• audit and analyse the impacts of past actions

Question 24

Describe relationships among research purposes

Answer 24

Explore —> Describe —> Explain ——> Predict

• sequence in stages
• sequence in the increasing complexity of research

Description is extremely important - some explanations are nothing more than complex descriptions = “patters” model of Explanation

Question 25

What are the RQs for different research purposes ?

Answer 25

WHAT ?

• Explore
• Describe
• Predict
• Evaluate
• Assess impact

WHY ?

• Understand
• Explain

HOW ?
- Change