Research Methods

• Empirical research methods use systematic data collection for verifiable findings, often starting with a research question.

The Nature of Research

• Research seeks answers, assembles information, and recognizes that answers lead to more questions, similar to detective work.

Types of Sciences

• Hard sciences (e.g., chemistry, physics) focus on the physical environment.
• Social sciences (e.g., communication, psychology) study human behavior and social structures.

Everyday Ways of Knowing

• Knowledge is gained through experience (e.g., learning from a hot stove), common sense (e.g., calling the police after an accident), authority (e.g., trusting experts), traditions, and intuition/superstitions.

Epistemology and Human Inquiry

• Epistemology studies knowledge acquisition through personal experience and accepting information from credible sources.
• Errors in inquiry include inaccurate observations, overgeneralization, selective observation, and illogical reasoning.

Research Ethics

• Ethics ensure integrity is maintained when studies involve human subjects by dictating treatment of participants, data handling, and the responsible use of the results.

Historical Context of Research Ethics

• The Milgram Experiment, Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and Willowbrook Study raised ethical concerns regarding deception, mistreatment, and coerced participation.

Ethical Guidelines and Principles

• The Belmont Report outlines respect for persons (voluntary consent), beneficence (minimize harm, maximize benefits), and justice (fair distribution of research burdens and benefits).

Main Ethical Issues in Social Science Research

• Main ethical considerations include voluntary participation, minimizing harm, ensuring anonymity and confidentiality, and managing deception.

Understanding Ethical Research Practices

• Ethics ensure the safety, dignity, and rights of participants as well as maintaining public trust.

Key Ethical Guidelines

• Ensure that ethical guidelines help researchers address moral dilemmas in complex environments.
• The Nuremberg Code emphasizes voluntary consent, societal benefits, and avoiding unnecessary suffering.

Notable Ethical Violations

• Tuskegee Study involved untreated syphilis without informed consent.
• Willowbrook Study coerced intellectually disabled children to participate in hepatitis research.

Core Ethical Principles in Research

• Respect for Persons: Voluntary, informed participation is essential.
• Beneficence and No Harm: Participants should not face physical, emotional, or social harm; help should be provided if distress is detected.
• Justice in Research: Benefits and burdens should be distributed fairly across society.

Research Design and Methodology

• Research design involves identifying interests, conceptualization of the research question, choosing a research method, operationalization of variables, defining the population, data collection, and data analysis.

Structure of a Research Paper

• Title concisely states the focus.
• Abstract summarizes the research.
• Introduction reviews previous research and provides rationale.
• Method details the research process for replication.
• Results present data and findings using tables and graphs.
• Discussion interprets results, implications, and future directions.

Reading and Analyzing Research Papers

• To read research papers, start with the abstract, introduction, discussion, and results before delving into the methods.
• Researchers must report findings accurately, including limitations.
• Peer review is essential for maintaining integrity.

Key Concepts in Social Science Research

• Conceptualization specifies abstract ideas/concepts, leading to a conceptual definition.
• Conceptual definitions are categorized into daily and scholarly definitions.

Operationalization and Variables

• Operationalization is translating concepts into measurable terms for empirical study.
• Variables are concepts that vary.
• Constant variables have fixed values.

Independent and Dependent Variables

• Independent variables cause or determine the value in another variable.
• Dependent variables depend on or are caused by another variable.

Types of Research Methodologies

• Descriptive research describes a group based on characteristics, often qualitative.
• Exploratory research examines a phenomenon and its relationships with others, leading to predictive models.
• Experimental research compares conditions while controlling for factors, typically quantitative.

Units of Analysis and Observation

• The unit of analysis is what generalizations are made about, often individuals in social science research.
• Units of analysis include individuals, groups, organizations, social interactions, and social artifacts.
• The unit of observation is determined by the method of selection.

Longitudinal Studies

• Longitudinal studies observe the same group over time via periodic testing.
• Types of longitudinal studies include trend, cohort, and panel studies.
• This can be expensive and take a long time.

Cross-Sectional Studies

• Cross-sectional studies test different people with similar characteristics at the same time.
• This method is quicker and less expensive but may introduce confounding variables.

Advantages and Uses of Trend Studies

• Trend studies monitor changes in a characteristic of a population over time using different samples.
• Advantages include monitoring large-scale changes and flexibility with participants.
• Trend studies are used to track shifts, analyze market trends, and monitor public health.

Overview of Research Methodologies

• Research methodologies guide data collection and analysis.

Trend Studies

• Flexibility with Participants: Trend studies draw new samples for each wave of data collection, allowing researchers to avoid participant attrition.
• Broad Generalizability: Provides a more representative view of the broader population.
• Advantages: Trend studies capture changes in behaviors or attitudes across a population.
• Limitations: Trend studies can't show how individual behaviors change, sample variability can be high.

Cohort Studies

• Focus on a Specific Cohort: Cohort studies track a subpopulation that shares a defining characteristic, such as birth year or employment start date.
• Longitudinal Approach: Data is collected at multiple points over time.
• Different Participants, Same Cohort: While the focus remains on the same cohort, different individuals may be surveyed at each data collection point, allowing flexibility in sampling.
• Uses: Studying the development of diseases, Studying how life events influence behaviors, Assessing long-term effects of policies on specific populations
• Advantages: Clear cause-and-effect relationships can be seen and allows for the observation of changes without researcher interference.
• Limitations: Time-consuming and expensive, suffer from participant attrition, difficult to control for variables.

Panel Studies

• Same Participants Over Time: Panel studies follow the same individuals across multiple observations, unlike trend studies.
• Multiple Time Points: Data is collected at regular intervals
• Detailed Tracking of Change: They provide precise observations of how and why individual behaviors or opinions evolve.
• Uses: Tracking Changes in Attitudes or Behavior, Consumer Research, Public Health Research
• Advantages: Researchers can isolate the impact of time or specific events on behavior or opinions.
• Limitations: Keeping participants engaged over time is challenging, Requires significant resources for repeated data collection and participant engagement.

Hypotheses in Research

• Difference statements indicate expected differences between groups.
• Continuous statements predict a relationship without specifying a direction.
• Null hypotheses assume no relationship between variables.
• Directional hypotheses predict the direction of a relationship.
• Non-directional hypotheses state that a relationship exists but do not specify the direction.

Understanding Research Variables and Relationships

• Directional Hypothesis: Predicts the direction of the relationship.
• Non-Directional Hypothesis: Predicts that the IV will influence the DV but does not specify the direction.
• Continuous Statements: Express an expected continuous relationship between variables.
• Positive Association: As the IV increases, the DV also increases.
• Negative Association: As the IV increases, the DV decreases.
• Curvilinear Association: Initially, as one variable increases, the other increases, but after a certain point, further increases in the first variable lead to a decrease in the second.

Correlation vs. Causation

• Correlation Does Not Equal Causation: Just because two variables are related does not mean one causes the other.
• Causal Relationship: Indicates that one variable produces a change in another

Research Objectives and Questions

• Research objectives state aim of the research and should be specific and narrow.
• Research Questions (RQ): Posed when outcomes are unknown.
• Hypotheses: Direct, declarative answers to RQs, indicating variable relationships.

Writing Research Questions and Hypotheses

• Write a Research Question by identifying a topic, conducting research, narrowing the focus and ensuring feasibility.
• Write a Hypothesis by defining key variables, formulating testable hypotheses.

Conceptualization

• It is the process of refining abstract concepts to reach a conceptual definition.

Operationalization

• It transforms abstract concepts into measurable indicators.

Measurement Levels

• Understanding the levels of measurement is crucial for interpreting data and choosing appropriate statistical analyses.
• Nominal: Names or labels without quantitative value, there is no quantitative value here. Example: Gender.
• Ordinal: Variables can be ranked, but differences aren't meaningful. Example: Satisfaction.
• Interval: Variables can be ranked with equal spacing, no true zero. Example: Temperature in Celsius.
• Ratio: Highest level, true zero point, full statistical operations. Example: Income.

Examples of Measurement Levels

• Nominal: Are you older than 30? (1) Yes (2) No
• Ordinal: What is your age group? (1) Teenager (2) Young adult (3) Middle-aged (4) Senior citizen
• Interval: How old are you? (1) 21-30 (2) 31-40 (3) 41-50 (4) 51-60 (5) 61-70
• Ratio: How many hours per day do you spend watching television?

Understanding Survey Research

• Survey research gathers information from a sample through questionnaires.
• It collects data on behaviors, attitudes/opinions, and facts.

Main Methods of Survey Completion

• Interviews: Direct interaction, in-depth responses.
• Telephone Surveys: Personal interaction, convenience.
• Snail Mail Surveys: Traditional paper surveys.
• Internet Surveys: Cost-effective, efficient.

Types of Surveys

• Self-Administered Surveys: Mail and internet surveys.
• Researcher-Administered Surveys: Telephone and interview surveys.
• Pros of Self administered reviews: Cost-effective, provides privacy
• Cons of Self administered reviews: Technical issues and difficult to provide clarifications on questions.
• Pros of researcher administered reviews: higher quality responses due to direct interaction.
• Cons of researcher administered reviews: Hawthorne effect and social desirability bias.

Understanding Biases in Survey Responses

• Hawthorne Effect: Participants alter behavior when observed.
• Social Desirability Bias: Participants answer in a socially acceptable manner.

Crafting Effective Survey Questions

• Close-Ended Questions: Select answer from a list.
• Open-Ended Questions: Provide answers freely.

Importance of Wording

• Clarity of questions is crucial for effective surveys to avoid confusion and inaccuracy

Best Practices in Survey Design

• Avoid Compound Questions: Avoid double-barreled questions and use two separate questions instead.
• Negative Wording: Minimize the use of negative phrasing.
• Leading Questions: Avoid questions that suggest a particular answer.

Response Alternatives and Balance

• Exhaustive and Mutually Exclusive Options: Options cover all possibilities without overlap.
• Balanced Scales: Equal positive and negative options to avoid bias.

Special Considerations in Survey Design

• Matrix Questions: Matrix questions asking several question which share the same set of response categories.
• Cultural Sensitivity in Language: Avoid slang, jargon, or charged words.

Explore empirical research, its methods, research questions, data collection, hard sciences, social sciences, and common knowledge acquisition. Learn to formulate research questions. Understand human inquiry and epistemology.