social research: social research: Introduction to Social Research

social research: social research: Introduction to Social Research: social research: Introduction to Social Research : Nature of man  is curious, and humans have an extraordinary capacity to exercise rational...

conducting research in social sciences.

Aims:
To make students understand how to conduct social  research using diverse
methodologies.
Objectives:
1. Describe empirical research and scientific method
2. Discuss basic steps in conducting social  research

General Introduction of this topic 
Conducting social  research will be complete in almost 6 parts . Apart from discussing
characteristics of empirical research and scientific method, this section of discussion  will concentrate
on un folding basic steps involved in conducting research. Starting from selection of research
problem, and defining and explaining variables, it will concentrate on discussion about ethical
issues, methods of data collection, and various research designs. While discussing various sampling
techniques, representative sampling procedures will be stressed as an ideal. However, this will also
be acknowledged through various actual research presentations that young white college students are
over-represented in much of social research. Correlation and experimental approaches to the study
of behavior are compared, as are laboratory and field research. Data sources, including self-report,
behavioral observation, and archival are contrasted, with a new discussion of the pros and cons of
Internet data collection. Sources of bias inherent in research are acknowledged, and this section
concludes with the basic considerations of writing a scientific research report.


What is Scientific Research?

According to Aristotle, "The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows. This seems
very appropriate as knowledge gives power and information which we obtain from research reduces
uncertainty and ambiguity
Research can be defined as “Research is the method of asking and answering a question with a set of
systematic procedures which assist researchers in avoiding biases”.

Characteristics of Empirical Research

• Well-planned
• Controlled for errors
• Internally and externally consistent
• Replicable

Scientific Method

Like all sciences, social sciences  relies on the scientific method. After 100 years of its practice,
Scientific method is still the basis for investigation, and is different from nonscientific method
“everyday approach”. For social scientist  to effectively study social problems —be it basic or
applied research—they must carefully plan and execute their research projects.
In doing so, social researcher  employ the scientific method, which consists of a set of
procedures used to gather, analyze, and interpret information in a way that reduces error and leads to
dependable generalizations. The characteristics of scientific method are as under:
• Requires a certain level of explanation
• Relies on empirical evidence rather than intuition: Scientific method is characterized by a
reliance on empirical procedures, rather than intuition, and by an attempt to control those
factors believed responsible for a phenomena.
• Relies on direct observation & experimentation

Goals of Scientific Method

• Description: Describing, classifying, cataloging events and relationships. For example,
describing events and relationships, by using nomothetic approach and quantitative analysis.
Nomothetic approach seeks to identify the similarities rather than differences. Levine et al.
(1990) desired to investigate “Pace of life” in various cultures and countries. They decided
to indicate pedestrian walking speed and accuracy of a country’s bank clocks, etc. to decide
about the tempo of life of that nation. The results showed that the citizens of Japan had the
fastest pace followed by American, while Indonesians appeared to be the slowest. Prediction
• Prediction: Description provides basis for prediction. Prediction when assessed by by
correlational relationships can not determine the causation. Examples of making predictions
can be: prediction of later performance on the basis of early success; or “whether early
deprivation can cause a deterioration in IQ”
• Understanding: Description and prediction are the only first steps in understanding a
phenomenon. It is achieved when causes of a phenomenon are identified. Three important
conditions are essential to understand causal inferences: time-order relationship, other
explanations:
1. Covariation of events: Understand what variables change in interaction to each other
2. Time-order relationship: (the presumed cause must occur before the presumed
effect)
3. Elimination of possible explanations: Example: “active learning strategies help
students learn”, other explanations could be motivation, I.Q.,gender, etc.


THE RESEARCH PROCESS

The Research Process Involves a Series of Sequential Steps:
For social researcher  to effectively study social issues —be it basic
research—they must carefully plan and execute their research projects (Sansone et al, 2004). In
doing so, social researcher  employ the scientific method. This entire process of scientific inquiry
unfolds in eight basic steps.

1. Develop a research question & review literature
2. Develop a research theory/ hypothesis
3. Variables and operational definitions
4. Choose a research design
5. Evaluate the ethics
6. Collect data
7. Analyze data and form conclusions
8. Report research results

Step 1. Develop a research Question & review literature

Research ideas do not develop in a vacuum. In selecting a topic to study, inspiration could
come from someone else's research, from an incident in the daily news, or from some personal
experience in the researcher's own life. Social researcher  generally investigate topics that have
relevance to their own lives and culture.
Once a topic has been chosen, the researcher must search the scientific literature to
determine whether prior investigations of the topic exist. The findings from these previous studies
generally shape the course of the current investigation. Today, literature searches can be vastly
accelerated by using a number of computer-based searching programs that catalog even the most
recently published studies. In addition, social researcher  can often instantly obtain unpublished
articles from researchers at other universities either through next computer networks or fax
machines.
Important points in selection of question:

• It is important to go beyond a general description of a problem by narrowing and zeroing in
on what you want to study.

• Generate questions – Read theories on your topic, consider own experience, think of
exceptions, note inconsistencies in prev research

• Scientific theory guides research by suggesting testable hypotheses.

• A real world problem: incident/ news/ personal experience/

• The research question usually has a relevance to researchers’s culture and experience

The research question comes from:

• Previous research
• Real world

Sources of Literature:

• Books
• Research Articles
• Electronic databases, e.g., PsycINFO, etc.
• Unpublished material