Social Research Methods

• Social research aims to explore new aspects of the social world, understand intricate social dynamics, and generate knowledge that can inform policy, practice, and future research.
• Social research is a structured process combining theories, principles, and practices to create knowledge while maintaining ethical standards, creativity, and clear communication of results.

Alternatives to Social Research

• Acquiring knowledge from experts, authoritative sources, and the media can be limiting due to potential biases and misuse.
• Knowledge passed down through generations can perpetuate stereotypes and resist change despite new evidence.
• Relying on everyday reasoning is susceptible to logical fallacies, subjective interpretations, and cultural biases.
• Information from media sources can perpetuate stereotypes, spread misinformation, and distort reality due to its focus on entertainment.
• Knowledge from direct observations is prone to cognitive biases like overgeneralization and the halo effect, skewing understanding.

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• Scientific study emphasizes evidence-based conclusions from peer-reviewed research.

How Science Works

• Natural science focuses on the physical/material world, whereas social sciences study human behavior, beliefs, interactions, and institutions.
• Science is a structured social institution producing knowledge through systematic inquiry, peer review, and replication.
• Quantitative data involves numerical data used for statistical analysis, while qualitative data includes non-numerical data providing in-depth insights.
• Empirical evidence, observations gathered through the senses, forms the foundation of scientific inquiry.
• The scientific community includes researchers, academic institutions, government bodies, and private sector organizations.
• The scientific method emphasizes professionalism, ethical integrity, methodological rigor, diligence, and openness to scrutiny.

Steps in the Research Process

• Select a topic, narrow it down to specific researchable questions, and design a detailed study.
• Systematically collect and analyze data to identify patterns and relationships.
• Interpret the data to draw conclusions and communicate results clearly and transparently.

Purpose of a Study

• Exploratory studies investigate new topics to develop initial ideas.
• Descriptive studies provide a detailed account of social phenomena.
• Explanatory studies seek to understand the "why" behind social behaviors, testing theories and identifying causal mechanisms.

Time Dimensions in Research

• Cross-sectional studies examine data at a single point in time.
• Longitudinal studies follow subjects over multiple time points to observe changes and trends.

Qualitative Data Collection Techniques

• Techniques include in-depth interviews, focus groups, field research, historical research, and content analysis.
• Qualitative interviews are in-depth, semi-structured, and explore participants' perspectives.
• Focus groups involve facilitated discussions to explore collective views.
• Field research includes immersive observation in natural settings.
• Historical research analyzes past events to understand social change.
• Content analysis examines symbolic meaning in texts and media.

Theory

• Social scientific theory explains recurring patterns and trends in groups, organizations, or societies, emphasizing probabilities and tendencies rather than isolated events.
• Social theory is a framework of interconnected ideas organizing knowledge about the social world to explain phenomena and predict outcomes, refined through empirical research.

Direction of Theorizing

• The inductive approach starts with observations and develops general theories from the data.
• Grounded theory is a methodology where theories emerge directly from detailed empirical observations.

Overall Advantages & Disadvantages of Qualitative Approaches

• Qualitative research offers detailed insights and captures lived experiences with subjective meanings.
• It can have validity and reliability issues and is potentially influenced by researcher bias.
• Qualitative research has a limited scope, is difficult to replicate, labor-intensive with data collection, and can sometimes lack methodological transparency.

Introduction to Research Ethics

• Ethics in research involves addressing concerns, dilemmas, and conflicts around proper research conduct to balance knowledge advancement with participant well-being.
• Ethical research relies on the integrity and moral responsibility of the researcher.
• Unethical behavior may result in public humiliation, career damage, and legal action.
• Pressures related to career or funding can tempt researchers to take shortcuts.
• Ethical conduct builds trust, ensures credible results, and upholds scientific integrity.
• Scientific misconduct includes research fraud (faking data) and plagiarism (using others' work without credit).
• Unethical actions may be legally permissible but ethically wrong (e.g., plagiarism).
• Unequal power between researchers and participants can lead to abuse, necessitating the protection of participant interests.

Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants

• Avoid physical, psychological, or legal harm, as well as impacts on careers, reputations, and income.
• The goal of research should benefit society and advance knowledge.
• Participation must be based on voluntary and informed consent.
• Deception is allowed in research only if essential for research integrity, with debriefing afterward.

Informed Consent Principles

• Key components include purpose and procedures, risks and discomforts, anonymity and confidentiality assurances, researcher contact information, and the right to withdraw without penalty.
• Ethical safeguards must be in place when involving vulnerable populations, such as children or cognitively impaired individuals, including legal guardian consent and adherence to ethical principles.
• Limited coercion is acceptable if educational objectives are met, with alternative activities offered.
• Privacy protection limits the invasion of personal details, ensuring anonymity where possible.

Privacy, Anonymity, and Confidentiality

• Implement protecting identifiable information using data in aggregate form.
• Disclosure may be necessary for safety concerns, such as self-harm.

Respect for Human Dignity

• Protecting the interests and well-being of research participants guides all ethical standards in Canadian research practices.
• Key guidelines include not exploiting or harming participants, using deception only when necessary with debriefing, ensuring informed consent and protecting privacy, and using appropriate methods with honest reporting.
• Transparency involves disclosing the true sponsor in published research, particularly when dealing with ethical challenges related to pressure to alter or suppress findings.

Introduction to Qualitative Research

• Literature review involves examining previously published studies to prepare for a study or summarize the field.
• Sources include scholarly journals and peer-reviewed articles accessed through libraries.

Defining and Refining a Topic

• The process includes establishing a focused research question, integrating findings from existing literature, and refining based on those insights.

How to Read a Journal Article

• Start by identifying the relevance of the abstract to the research question.
• Review the conclusion to assess significance and then analyze relevant articles thoroughly.
• Literature reviews can be found in cited studies for further reading.
• Theory sections help one to understand theoretical orientations, while the methods section evaluates data collection and analysis.
• The discussion section assesses interpretation of the results to summarize the main conclusions explored in citations.

Writing the Review

• Synthesize purpose, research questions, hypotheses, methods, variables, and findings while avoiding direct quotes to maintain originality and prevent plagiarism.
• Synthesis is a detailed overview of the findings of the research study.
• The avoidance of direct quotes is to protect original ideas and sources.
• Maintaining originality ensures you add value to the study.
• The avoidance of plagiarism helps protect the writer from legal and ethical ramifications.

Qualitative Orientation Towards Research

• Interpretive social science focuses on understanding social phenomena, following a circular, iterative, non-linear path.
• Cases and contexts examine specific situations within their natural settings, with interpretations influenced by historical and social context.
• The process of research includes starting with a general question, allowing topics to emerge during data collection, and sharpening the focus as research progresses.

Narrowing a Research Topic

• Start with a broad topic, specify the context, and define a specific group or issue.

Typical Research Questions

• Explore the origin, maintenance, and processes of change related to social conditions, situations, and development while confirming existing beliefs and discovering new ideas. I

Major Limitations in Research

• Factors to consider involve time constraints, financial costs, limited access to resources, need for authority approvals, ethical considerations, and researcher expertise.
• Quantitative research is linear, hypothesis-driven, and focuses on variables, whereas qualitative research is non-linear, meaning-focused, and uses thematic concepts.

Qualitative Design Issues

• Focus on documenting real events, behaviors, documents, and images within language of cases and contexts.
• Understanding depends on the social environment, with an emphasis on detailed case studies over variables, aiming for an authentic representation of participants' experiences.

Qualitative Measurement

Linking Data to Concepts: Measurement is ongoing, it is emergent; during data collection based on what researchers encounter. based on what researchers encounter.

Qualitative Conceptualization and Operationalization

• Conceptualization involves defining concepts in abstract, theoretical terms, such as "bullying" as repeated aggressive behavior causing harm.
• Operationalization links concepts to measurement techniques, such as analyzing narratives or observing interactions, using an inductive approach that starts with data.
• Reliability focuses on dependability and consistency, while validity emphasizes authenticity and fair representation of perspectives.

Qualitative Studies

• Qualitative studies use small collections that highlight key features of social life.
• There is a focus on nonprobability sampling involves selection based on non-random methods and sample size often not predetermined.

Types of Nonprobability Samples

• Haphazard sampling is convenient but prone to bias, while quota sampling categorizes and selects fixed numbers.
• There are also purposive techniques, like snowball sampling, and sequential sampling.
• Purposive sampling targets specific, informative cases, such as hidden populations.
• Snowball sampling uses referrals from initial participants to reach cases within a network.
• Sequential sampling collects data until no new information emerges, achieving theoretical saturation.

Measurement in Qualitative Research

• Implementation includes ongoing data collection with flexible guidelines with conceptualization and operationalization.
• Reliability focuses on consistent data recording, though studies are hard to replicate, while validity emphasizes conveying insider perspectives.

Key Sampling Methods Explained

• Haphazard sampling is prone to bias and misrepresentation, while purposive sampling selects unique cases for deep insights.
• Snowball sampling is effective for reaching interconnected individuals, while sequential sampling continues until data saturation is achieved.

Explore social research methods: understand human behavior, data types, empirical evidence, and study goals. Learn about research validity, data collection techniques, and social scientific theory.