week 2 - Doing Social Research Flashcards
1
Q
Why do research?
A
- To learn
- To solve
- To fill gap in knowledge
- Test a new theory
- Replicate a research
- Test a new hypothesis
- etc.
2
Q
Alternatives to research
A
- Authority
- Tradition
- Common sense
- Medias Myths
- Personal experience
3
Q
Steps in the Research process
A
-Select a topic
-Focus a question
-Design a study
Collect data
Analyze data
Interpret data
-inform data
4
Q
Two wings of science
A
- Purely scientific and academic orientation (basic or academic research)
- Activist, pragmatic, and interventionist orientation (applied research)
5
Q
Academic research
A
- Academic social research aims at advancing fundamental knowledge about the social world by testing theories that explain how the social world operates, what makes things happen, etc.
- Academic research is the source of most of the tools, methods, theories and ideas used by an applied researchers to analyze underlying causes of people’s actions and thinking.
6
Q
Applied research
A
- Applied research is designed to address a specific concern or to offer a solution to a problem identified by an employer, club, agency, social movement, organization, etc.
- While scientific community is the primary consumer of academic research, the consumers of applied research finding are practitioners (social workers, nutritionists, teachers, etc.) or decisions makers (government ministries, board of education, etc”)
7
Q
Purpose of a study
A
- Explore a new topic
- Describe a social phenomenon
- Explain why something occurs
8
Q
Exploratory research
A
- A researcher examines a new area to formulate precise questions that he or she can address in a future research.
- May be the first stage in a sequence of studies
- Tend to use qualitative data and not be committed to a specific theory
- Rarely yields definitive answers
9
Q
Descriptive research
A
- Represents a picture of the specific details of a situation, social setting, or relationship.
- Focus on how/who questions
- Use most data gathering techniques; surveys, field research, content analysis, and historical research BUT experimental is less often used.
- Much of social research found in scholarly journals or used for making policy decisions is descriptive.
10
Q
Explanatory research
A
- Identifies the sources of social behaviors, beliefs, conditions, and events. It documents causes, tests theories, and provides reasons
- It builds on explanatory and descriptive research.
11
Q
Cross-sectional research
A
- They examine a single point in time or take one time snapshot approach.
- Usually the simplest and least costly alternative
- Disadvantage = it cant capture social progress or change,
- Can be exploratory, descriptive or explanatory but usually descriptive
12
Q
Longitudinal approach
A
- Examines features of people or other units at more than one time.
- Usually more complex and costly than cross sectional research, but it is powerful and informative.
- Descriptive and explanatory researchers use longitudinal approaches
- There are three main types of longitudinal research: time series, panel, and cohort. (BUT 4 types total)
13
Q
Time-series Study
A
- Time-series study gathers the same type of information across two or more periods. Observe different people at multiple times
- Collecting data across several points in time can show trends in social life change
14
Q
Panel Study
A
-Panel study is a powerful type of longitudinal research to which the researchers observes the same people, group, or organization across multiple time points
-It is more difficult to conduct than time series research and is very costly – tracking people over time is often difficult because some people die or can be located.
-
15
Q
Cohort study
A
- A special type of panel study that focuses on the same people over time who share a similar life experience in a specified period.
- Commonly used cohorts include all people born in the same year ( called birth cohorts), all people hired at the same time, and all people who graduate in a given year.
