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Research Methods > Social Research - Midterm > Flashcards

Social Research - Midterm Flashcards

1
Q

Social research ..

A

a) is about the social world
b) is not really scientific
c) uses a range of methods
d) is useful in marketing
e) helps develop social policy

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2
Q

Definitions of Social Research (2)

A

“is conducted in order to extend our knowledge abut some aspect of social life that we are interested in”
1) tests existing theories
2) develops new insights and theories
Asks the questions “why?” “how”?” or “what?”

“examining human behaviour and relationships with other human beings, groups, (sub)cultures and organizations”
- Focuses on human (social) behaviour
Ex. juvenile crime

“A fact is a reliable and valid item of information.” - Labovitz and Hagedorn (1981)
Social Research:
ּ Concerns people
ּ Tries to establish facts about the social world

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3
Q

Reliable

A

can be verified, if you repeat the same experiment/observation, you get same or similar results

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4
Q

Valid

A

observations measure what they say they are measuring, not something else

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5
Q

What are ‘facts’?

A

“The difference between an opinion and a fact is: an opinion is what you think; a fact is what I think.”

  • used by governments and businesses, parents, educators etc. to make decisions about what they do
  • (hopefully) affect social, economic and educational policy and laws
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6
Q

The Scientific Method

A

Observation - Observe a social phenomenon
Research Question - Form a question about your observation
Method - Interviews (qualitative), surveys (quantitative)
Results - Data (information) you get from methods
Analysis - Examine data for patterns, weaknesses, strengths
Conclusion - Summarize how experiment addressed question

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7
Q

Why do we do social research?

A
  1. To learn about or explain social phenomenon
  2. To solve social problems
  3. To help people
  4. To expand human knowledge
  5. To inform policy decisions for government
  6. Market research

Research agencies affect research choice

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8
Q

Positivist

A

Paradigm: Knowledge based on directly observable phenomena

Methodology: natural science methods
research subject must be quantifiable (measurable) > theory-then-research

Methods: Quantitative Methods: surveys, statistics, counting, numbers

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9
Q

Interpretivist

A

can only account for human behaviour if we can understand peoples’ underlying motivations

Paradigm: Knowledge based on understanding meaning and interpretation

Methodology: social world ≠ natural world
research subject must be understood (not measured) > research-then-theory

Methods: Qualitative Methods -interviews, participant observation, words

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10
Q

Qualitative Research

A

data represented with descriptive qualities

Ex: interviews, observation, participant observation, photographs, journal entries, literature review.

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11
Q

Quantitative Research

A

data represented with numbers

Ex: statistics, surveys, counting

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12
Q

Paradigm Definitions

A

“a cluster of beliefs and dictates which for scientists in a particular discipline influence what should be studied, how research should be done, how results should be interpreted, and so on.” (Bryman, 1988, p. 4)

“a set of assumptions about how the issue of concern to the researcher should be studied.” (text, p. 11)

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13
Q

Ontology

A

View of reality

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14
Q

Epistemology

A

View of knowledge

  • theories of knowledge regarding the status of different knowledge claims and how to judge them
    > How do we know what we know? (from God, elders, internet)
    What is true knowledge? How do we judge?
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15
Q

Methodology

A

How knowledge is made

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16
Q

Methods

A

Surveys, interviews, etc.

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17
Q

Pre-Industrial Revolution Epistemology >1760

A

-religious-based view of
world -people and the world were a divine creation that existed because of God’s will
-social order etc. was natural, from God etc.
= very difficult to challenge social order

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18
Q

Industrialization Epistemology

A

means to exert control over natural world—> science - established general laws about how things worked through observable facts
= could challenge social order

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19
Q

August Comte (1798-1857)

A

applied scientific methods to social world
> Social Sciences
The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830-1842)

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20
Q

Logical Positivism

A

** Inductive

● Social science research should be like natural science research
● Social phenomena explained by observing cause and effect

  • Not just what can be observed, but what is testable
  • Looking at immeasurable phenomena like consciousness, belief systems, and motivations = meaningless speculation (cannot be tested), in realm of metaphysics
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21
Q

Modern Positivism

A

Karl Popper (1902-1994) - continual verification doesn’t allow knowledge to progress
-laws based on induction are based on assumption
-what if there is some situation that hasn’t been observed that is contrary to the law?
-At what point do we stop verifying?
What about other explanations outside of the scope of the law being verified?

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22
Q

Falsification (Modern Positivism)

A

-Theories put to test against newly collected data
-If data refute theory, we should question theory’s usefulness
= progress in pursuit of knowledge foundation for current positivist paradigm

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23
Q

Hypothetico (deductive model)

A

theory -> research

-Start with an a prior theory tested by observation

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24
Q

Criticism of Positivism (interpretivist)

A

Social world ≠ Natural world
>Because the social world and the natural world are not the same, they cannot be studied in the same way

“To increase knowledge of the social world, we must interpret it from the points of view of those we are studying, not try to explain human action in terms of cause and effect” - Max Weber (1864-1930)

**Human ability to interpret and make choices distinguishes social science from natural science

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25
Q

Positivist Methodology and Methods

A

Theory-then-research (data tests theory)

  • Researcher should use scientific method, emphasizing control, standardization, objectivity
  • Highly structured research design
  • Methods should be reliable (replicable)
  • Used to generate large-scale statistically-based data
  • Scientific - rigour, precision, reliability
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26
Q

Interpretivist Methodology and Methods

A

Research-then-theory approach
- start with general research question rather than hypothesis, and build theory “in the course of collecting data, gradually develop our understanding of the issue”

Research small-scale, in depth, unstructured, flexible, intensive, based on detailed descriptions, not statistics, emphasizes validity

Qualitative methods necessary to understand how people think about their world, and how this shapes their behaviour (perception rather than explanation)

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27
Q

Criticism of Interpretivism

A

> Looking at immeasurable phenomena like
consciousness, belief systems, and motivations = meaningless speculation (cannot be tested scientifically), in realm of metaphysics
- Not Neutral
- Difficult to measure
- Unreliable data
- Findings cannot be applied on a large-scale
-Researcher in privileged position (critical social research)

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28
Q

Critical Social Research Approach

A

Main goals:

  1. to identify oppression
  2. to give voice
  3. to lead to social change
    - Also known as “action research” —> leads to something being done to improve the lives of the participants.
    - Has emancipatory goals = wants empowerment for minority groups and social change
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29
Q

Criticism of Critical Social Research

A

Researchers should be objective (political goals creates a bias)
NO research can be objective and value free

30
Q

Critical Social Research

A

Paradigm: Social world privileges some over others facts and values inseparable

Methodology: Research methodology replicates oppression in society
Lives of research participants improved through research

Methods: Mixed Methods. both numbers and words, whatever best emancipates participants

31
Q

Why Combine Methods?

A

depending on the angle, you see different things

  • Overcome non-overlapping weaknesses with complementary strengths
  • Overcome personal bias from use of single method
  • Assist in gaining complete overview of subject of study
  • Provides a complex rather than simple view
32
Q

What makes good research?

A 
● A clear idea of your goals
● An understanding of the research area
● A good research question
● Relevance
● Appropriate methods
● Large enough sample size
● Using your resources
● “Thick Description” = beyond surface
treatment of a problem
● Original
● Lots of work!
33
Q

Abstracts include..

A
  • What the study is about
  • Why the study was done – the gap in the literature
  • Methods
  • Findings
  • Conclusion
34
Q

Definition of critical social research

The Frankfurt School

A
  • All thought is mediated by power relations that are socially and historically constructed
  • Facts cannot be isolated from the domain of values
  • Language is central to the formation of subjectivity
  • Certain groups in society are privileged
  • The oppression that characterizes contemporary society is most forcibly reproduced when subordinates accept their social status as natural, i.e. oppressed groups labour under a false consciousness
  • Oppression is multi-dimensional
  • Mainstream research practice is unwittingly implicated in the reproduction of systems of oppression
35
Q

Critical Social Research - The Frankfurt School (Epistemological position)

A

Facts cannot be isolated from the domain of values
The social world must be understood in terms of the socially and historically constructed power relations responsible for human oppression

36
Q

Critical Social Research - The Frankfurt School (Methodology & Methods)

A

Research should expose oppression, emancipate (empower) the oppressed, and lead to social change

Flexible methods try to establish subjectivity and empower participants without replicating systems of oppression
Participants should have some control over, or be collaborators in, the research process
ex. interviews, surveys, participant observation

37
Q

Black Feminism/ 3rd Wave Feminism

A

“An important stage in the development of political consciousness is reached when individuals recognize the need to struggle against all forms of oppression. The fight against sexist oppression is of grave political significance - it is not for women only. Feminist movement is vital both in its power to liberate us both from the terrible bonds of sexist oppression and in its potential to radicalize and renew other liberation struggles.” - Bell Hooks

38
Q

Feminist Methodology

A

The American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Disillusioned with mainstream academia that did not give voice to minority or women’s issues, feminist researchers attempted to pursue women’s interests in their work. They believed that participants should NOT be treated as passive subjects and that, instead, research methods should emphasize subjects’ humanity. By failing to challenge exploitative gender roles, traditional social science perpetuated unequal gender relations in all sphere’s of women’s lives
… feminist researchers had to find a new methodology

39
Q

Feminist Critique of Quantitative Methods

A

Too detached - women = disembodied sources of data

Coded questionnaires = assumption of knowledge of total range of responses
Not suited to understanding complex and fragmented nature of women’s lives

  • Participants NOT passive subjects
  • Research methods should emphasize humanity of subjects
  • Quantitative methods misrepresent women’s experience
  • “fundamentally inconsistent” with the goals of the feminist movement
40
Q

Why do feminists prefer qualitative methods?

A
  • Qualitative interviewing = “method that validates women’s experiences”
  • Focus group (group interview, “round table” style discussion) = sympathetic to the nature of feminist research
  • Conversation analysis (recording/transcribing natural conversations, including gesture and non-verbal information to access deeper meaning and interpretation) > allows analysis of “interactional content of women’s lives”
41
Q

Suitability of Qualitative Methods in Feminist Methodology

A
  • Allow access to experience from actors perspective, rather than externally imposed truth, maximise understanding of women’s experiences
  • Closer researcher involvement = greater sensitivity to rights of subjects

• Women “more sensitized” to an understanding of “interaction, context, experience, and so on.”
• Women are “’sociability specialists’, who possess an intuitive ability to relate to people through the traditional tools of qualitative research”
“the job of qualitative interviewing is ‘intrinsically feminine’, with women being
natural facilitators of conversation”

42
Q

Criticisms of Qualitative research in Feminist Methodology (and Critical Social Research)

A

Feminist methods can remain primarily qualitative, but large-scale quantitative data (ie. statistics) have greater influence over public policy.

**Policy makers are not as influenced by small-scale qualitative data

43
Q

Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research

A

• Interviews can be exploitative
“The more successful I was at forming close relationships with interviewees, the more likely they were to reveal personal thoughts or feelings…intimate details about their lives that they may later regret having shared.”

Ethical interviews must ..
• Use informed consent, with forms explaining the usage of data
• State option to turn off recording device at any time, or later retract what they have said from the record

44
Q

Goals of feminist knowledge

A
  1. to identify oppression
  2. to give voice
  3. to lead to social change
    • Since research should be designed for women, it should emancipate (empower) women
    • Therefore, goal is not just “knowledge” but “useful knowledge” which serves “the interests of dominated, exploited and oppressed groups, particularly women”
45
Q

Emancipatory Disability Research Goals

A
  1. to accurately represent disability experience from disabled person’s perspective
  2. to contribute meaningfully to policy-making for disabled people and improve material conditions
  3. to acknowledge the struggles of disabled people -> apolitical approach to disability
46
Q

Social Model of Disability (Two Frames for disability)

A

1) Medical Model of Disability

2) Social Model of Disability

47
Q

Medical Model of Disability

A

Illness or injury -> disabled people -> social barriers

Individuals can be rehabilitated, cured , or “fixed” (Barnes and Mercer, 1997)

48
Q

Social Model of Disability

A

Socially constructed barriers -> disable people -> perceived impairment (ex. deaf
community)
Disability = social construction

  • We (disabled people) are not broken, society is broken
49
Q

What is emancipatory disability research?

A
  1. Social model of disablement = epistemological basis for research production
  2. Overt political commitment to the struggles of disabled people/ the removal of
    disabling barriers -> Surrender of claims to objectivity
  3. Research undertaken ONLY where it will actually self-empower disabled people/
    remove disabling barriers
  4. Evolution of control over research production -> researchers MUST be
    accountable to disabled people and their organizations
  5. Giving voice to the personal as political ex. Heather Crowe -> individual
    experiences as a whole made into a voice for political change
  6. Plurality of methods for data collection and analysis in response to disabled
    people’s changing needs
50
Q

Emancipatory Disability Researchers:

Methods and Delivery

A

Emancipatory disability research shares a common frame of reference with
feminism, including debates about objectivity, methods etc.

Disability research, feminist research prefer qualitative methods
ex. life histories, narratives
stereotypes of “overcoming personal tragedy” etc. are sentimental rather than practical

Researchers need to demonstrate ways in which research will improve outcomes
“actively seek change, rather than hope ‘the right people’ read the work
and act on it.”

51
Q

Emancipatory or Participatory Research?

A

Participatory research invites input and feedback from disabled people

Criticism
managerial and instrumentalist practice, doesn’t contribute to empowerment
(seeking positive individual change through participation) and is not emancipatory
(seeking positive societal change)
= will not lead to real social change

52
Q

Research Design

A

“Design deals primarily with aim, purposes, intentions and plans within the practical constraints of location, time, money and availability of staff.

Research design is an outline of an argument about the social world

53
Q

ARG conditions (Trudy Govier (2010) A Practical Study of Argument)

A

A – acceptable premises (you collected strong data)
R – premises are relevant to conclusion (data supports conclusion)
G – premises are good grounds to support the conclusion (data adequate in amount and quality to support conclusion)

54
Q

Sequential Model

A
  • Distinct stages of research
  • Fixed, linear path
  • Guided by specific research questions
  • Clear start and end

identify broad area > select topic > decide approach > formulate plan > collect information > analyze data > present findings

55
Q

Cyclical Model

A 
• Overlap between different aspects of
research cycle
• No determinable chronological sequence
• Research questions continuously revised
• May cycle through stages indefinitely
56
Q

Deduction

A

• Start with theory
• Research plan and data collection designed around theory
• Test the validity of the theory with new data -> Can the theory explain the data?
• If not (theory falsified), make adjustments to the theory if needed
•Hypothetico-deductive method/ theory-then-research strategy/ positivist
paradigm

57
Q

Induction

A

• Start with data and general research problem (more knowledge  right questions)
• Research plan and data collection designed to explore, explain
• Collection and analysis of new data used to build theory.
• Conclusions made, new theory developed
• analytic inductive method/ research-then-theory strategy/ interpretivist
paradigm

58
Q

Basic Research Design

A

What + Who + Where

Research problem clarifies all aspects of group or phenomenon studied:
• Which particular characteristics/beliefs/aspects will be examined
• Time frame
• Age, sex, or other special aspects of the group involved in the research
• Where will your research take place

59
Q

Operationalization

A

Making abstract concept(s) measurable or researchable with concrete research tasks

60
Q

Aspects of Operationalization

A
  • Theoretical Concepts and measurement
  • Conceptual definitions
  • Delineate the dimensions of the concept
  • Defining concepts in practice
61
Q

Hypothesis

A
  • Tentative answer to research question
  • Clearly states the dependent and independent variables
  • Can only be verified (or falsified) after empirical (measurable) testing
  • Specific statement that relates to research problem AND expresses research argument
62
Q

Social Research Alchemy

A

Research Question = Abstract—> Concrete

63
Q

Research Designs

A
  • comparative design
  • experimental research design
  • cross-sectional design
  • longitudinal design
  • case study design
  • action research design
  • evaluation research design
64
Q

comparative design

A
  • Compares results from two populations, times, cohorts, surveys etc. that are similar in some ways, but differ in the area being studied
  • Must account for many variables
  • Ex. Responses from delinquent adolescents 13-18 1950/1990 measures how this population has changed over 40 years
65
Q

experimental research design

A

• “the benchmark against which all others are assessed” (p. 61)
• Involves at least two similar groups (same age, gender, other characteristics)
• Treatment group(s) exposed to the experimental condition, the control group is not exposed to the condition in a controlled environment
• Both groups are compared to assess the effect of the condition (independent variable) on the chosen area of study (dependent
variable)

66
Q

cross-sectional design

A
  • Examines a representative slice across a population at a single pinpoint in time
  • Large variations within large participant group
  • Heavily associated with surveying
  • Ex. political opinion polls
67
Q

longitudinal design

A
  • Measures changes in attitudes between different points of time (ex. before and after an important event)
  • Often compares survey results, may compare interviews etc.
  • Panel Design: Same people in group at two (or more) different points in time
  • Cohort Design: Different people with similar characteristics at different points
  • May be used to infer causality
68
Q

case study design

A
  • Qualitative method used for in-depth study of individuals, organizations, groups etc. with a similar background or experience
  • Small sample size, detailed, in-depth research, systematic, (generalizable?)
  • Builds complex understanding of participants, considers contextual features
  • Multiple methods used to develop a more complete account (triangulation)
69
Q

action research design

A
  • Identifies practice-based problem
  • Research designed to result in effective action to improve situation
  • Cycles through multiple stages of inquiry, action, practice, and revision
  • Collaborative relationship with participants
70
Q

evaluation research design

A
  • Examine effectiveness of (often public) programs, policies, services etc.
  • Uses range of methods
  • Researcher usually autonomous and objective, “neutrality” - authority
  • Findings may be subject to commissioning agency
71
Q

objectivity

A

the stance that scientists can control the research process so as to produce neutral knowledge of social reality

72
Q

subjectivity

A

the stance that value-freedom is a myth and all research is conducted on the basis of political values, whether explicitly expressed or not.

Research Methods (3 decks)

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