Lecture 1: Chapters 1&2
● Learning goals:
○ Explain the importance of scientific inquiry
○ Identify the steps in the research process
○ Understand and apply important concepts in social science (inductive/deductive,
epistemological/ontological considerations)
● Why is research important?
○ What is research?
■ Systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts
and reach new conclusions
■ Careful study done to find and report new knowledge about something
■ Why research?
● Research allows us to test ideas/assumptions in a structured way, rather than
referring to authority, common sense, personal experience, or intuition to answer
the question “how do you know” or “why do you think so”.
○ Scientific Research:
■ Logical and systematic methods
■ Science allows us to inspect and evaluate its methods
■ It develops knowledge that is continually refined
● Because beliefs are rejected or confirmed on the basis of testing empirical
evidence
■ The importance of scientific research:
● Observing: systematic measurement/observation of information
(operationalization and measurement)
● Generalizing: systematic selection of cases for measurement/observation
● Reasoning: drawing correct conclusions from collected information
● Re-evaluating: less biased application of information to update world model
○ Relevance:
■ Scientific relevance:
● formulate/extend theory
● Empirical discoveries
● Innovations in methods/techniques
■ Applied relevance:
● Evaluate intervention/program or policy
● Innovations in business/technology
● What are the steps in the research process?
○ Formulate a research question (explicit, unambiguous)
○ Literature review
○ Concepts (organizing principles that describe aspects of the world) and theories (coherent system
of ideas intended to explain/predict regularities in the world)
■ Concepts are key ingredients of theories
○ (Formulate hypothesis: testable, falsifiable)
○ Decide on method, design (framework for the collection of data), sample (segment of the
population that is selected for research)
○ Collect data/information
○ Analyze data/information
■ Quantitative: application of statistical techniques to the data to test your hypotheses
, ■ Qualitative: analysis that focuses on the description, understanding, interpretation of
information
○ report/disseminate results
● Important concepts in social science:
○ Epistemology: what is knowledge and how can it be acquired? (about the method you are
using/acquiring knowledge)
■ Positivism: the application of natural science methods to the study of social reality;
universal laws, experiments, numbers (often quantitative)
■ Interpretivism: subjective meanings play a crucial role; focus on interpretation and
meaning of social reality, i.e. extracting concepts out of interviews (often qualitative)
○ Ontology: what is the nature of reality? (about the concepts you are looking at)
■ Objectivism: social phenomena exist independently from social actors
(mind-independent)
■ Constructionism: social phenomena are dependent on social actors and social interaction;
focus on chance; subjectivity (also as a researcher)
● Questions the existence of a concrete, objective social reality
● Constructionism + positivism: measuring anger that is different for everyone
using facial expressions
○ Deductive research: research in which a specific expectation (hypothesis) is inferred from theory
and then tested
■ Theory → hypotheses → observations/findings
○ Inductive research: in which general conclusions/theory are drawn from data
■ observations/findings → theory
● Types of Social Research/Research Strategies
○ Quantitative research: commonly deductive; relies on the collection of numerical data and
statistical analysis of those numbers
■ Descriptive research strategy: define/describe phenomenon; describing the social
phenomenon; usually focus of the first research
■ Explanatory research strategy: seeks to identify causes/effects of social phenomenon and
predict how one phenomenon will change in response to a variation in other phenomena
● Deductive because a specific explanation is deducted from a general premise
● Hypothesis formulated before data analysis
○ Qualitative research: commonly inductive
■ Evaluation: examines programs, politics that affect social patterns; can include other
types or research within it
■ Exploratory research strategy: investigating a phenomenon without specific expectations;
finding out how people get along in the setting under question, what concern them, what
is going on, usually uses qualitative methods
● Inductive
● Hypothesis formulated after data analysis
● Formulating research questions:
○ Research questions will guide your literature search/hypothesis/decisions about research
designs/data collection (measurements, sample, etc.)
■ Describing a phenomenon: what is y like?
■ Evaluating a phenomenon: does y exhibit benefits/disadvantages?
■ Predicting an outcome: does y happen more under circumstance x?
■ Explaining causes and consequences of a phenomenon: is y affected by x? Is y a
consequence of x?
■ Developing a good practice: how do we improve y?
, ■ Comparison: do a and b differ in terms of y?
○ Criteria for a research question:
■ clear/precise/unambiguous
■ Researchable
■ Connection with established theory and research
■ Not too broad, not too narrow
■ Original contribution (?)
○ Interdisciplinary research questions: integrate data,methods, tools, etc. from different scientific
disciplines to create a common understanding of a complex issue
● Common mistakes in social science:
○ Selective observation: looking at things that align with our beliefs
○ Inaccurate observation: false perception of empirical reality
○ Generalizability theory
■ Overgeneralization: things we know that are true for some is concluded to be true for
most or all cases; could be reduced by systematic procedures to select groups/events/ etc.
○ Illogical reasoning: concluding based off of invalid assumptions
■ Reduced by using explicit criteria for events and causes to determine whether the criteria
is met at particular instance
○ Resistance to change: reluctance to reevaluate our ideas in light of new information
■ Ego-based and institutional commitments
■ Excessive devotion to tradition
■ Uncritical agreement with authority, unquestioning
● Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: the distinction is not merely the type of data (not quantified vs
numerical data).
○ Quantitative is used for research with motives of explanation, description, evaluation,
■ usually guided by positivism: our perceptions can mistaken us but scientific methods
would clarify.
○ Qualitative methods, exploration:
■ Usually guided by constructionism: social reality is socially constructed and the goal of
social scientists is to understand what meanings people give to reality
● Rejects positivism that says there is a concrete, objective reality, understood by
scientific methods
● Believes that people construct an image of reality based on individual
preferences
● Empirical generalization: a statement that describes patterns found in a data
● Deductive research can lead to inductive when these patterns are found in data:
○ Anomalous findings: unexpected patterns in data
○ Serendipitous findings: unexpected patterns in data that stimulate new explanations
Lecture 2: Chapters 2&4
● Learning goals:
○ Understand and apply the process of operationalization
○ Understand the difference between DV and IV
○ Understand and apply important criteria in scientific research
○ Understand and reproduce often used research designs
● Operationalization and variables
○ How do you test your RQ?
■ Conceptualization: identifying concepts you want to study; process of specifying what we
mean by a term; translates theory into specific variables
● Learning goals:
○ Explain the importance of scientific inquiry
○ Identify the steps in the research process
○ Understand and apply important concepts in social science (inductive/deductive,
epistemological/ontological considerations)
● Why is research important?
○ What is research?
■ Systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts
and reach new conclusions
■ Careful study done to find and report new knowledge about something
■ Why research?
● Research allows us to test ideas/assumptions in a structured way, rather than
referring to authority, common sense, personal experience, or intuition to answer
the question “how do you know” or “why do you think so”.
○ Scientific Research:
■ Logical and systematic methods
■ Science allows us to inspect and evaluate its methods
■ It develops knowledge that is continually refined
● Because beliefs are rejected or confirmed on the basis of testing empirical
evidence
■ The importance of scientific research:
● Observing: systematic measurement/observation of information
(operationalization and measurement)
● Generalizing: systematic selection of cases for measurement/observation
● Reasoning: drawing correct conclusions from collected information
● Re-evaluating: less biased application of information to update world model
○ Relevance:
■ Scientific relevance:
● formulate/extend theory
● Empirical discoveries
● Innovations in methods/techniques
■ Applied relevance:
● Evaluate intervention/program or policy
● Innovations in business/technology
● What are the steps in the research process?
○ Formulate a research question (explicit, unambiguous)
○ Literature review
○ Concepts (organizing principles that describe aspects of the world) and theories (coherent system
of ideas intended to explain/predict regularities in the world)
■ Concepts are key ingredients of theories
○ (Formulate hypothesis: testable, falsifiable)
○ Decide on method, design (framework for the collection of data), sample (segment of the
population that is selected for research)
○ Collect data/information
○ Analyze data/information
■ Quantitative: application of statistical techniques to the data to test your hypotheses
, ■ Qualitative: analysis that focuses on the description, understanding, interpretation of
information
○ report/disseminate results
● Important concepts in social science:
○ Epistemology: what is knowledge and how can it be acquired? (about the method you are
using/acquiring knowledge)
■ Positivism: the application of natural science methods to the study of social reality;
universal laws, experiments, numbers (often quantitative)
■ Interpretivism: subjective meanings play a crucial role; focus on interpretation and
meaning of social reality, i.e. extracting concepts out of interviews (often qualitative)
○ Ontology: what is the nature of reality? (about the concepts you are looking at)
■ Objectivism: social phenomena exist independently from social actors
(mind-independent)
■ Constructionism: social phenomena are dependent on social actors and social interaction;
focus on chance; subjectivity (also as a researcher)
● Questions the existence of a concrete, objective social reality
● Constructionism + positivism: measuring anger that is different for everyone
using facial expressions
○ Deductive research: research in which a specific expectation (hypothesis) is inferred from theory
and then tested
■ Theory → hypotheses → observations/findings
○ Inductive research: in which general conclusions/theory are drawn from data
■ observations/findings → theory
● Types of Social Research/Research Strategies
○ Quantitative research: commonly deductive; relies on the collection of numerical data and
statistical analysis of those numbers
■ Descriptive research strategy: define/describe phenomenon; describing the social
phenomenon; usually focus of the first research
■ Explanatory research strategy: seeks to identify causes/effects of social phenomenon and
predict how one phenomenon will change in response to a variation in other phenomena
● Deductive because a specific explanation is deducted from a general premise
● Hypothesis formulated before data analysis
○ Qualitative research: commonly inductive
■ Evaluation: examines programs, politics that affect social patterns; can include other
types or research within it
■ Exploratory research strategy: investigating a phenomenon without specific expectations;
finding out how people get along in the setting under question, what concern them, what
is going on, usually uses qualitative methods
● Inductive
● Hypothesis formulated after data analysis
● Formulating research questions:
○ Research questions will guide your literature search/hypothesis/decisions about research
designs/data collection (measurements, sample, etc.)
■ Describing a phenomenon: what is y like?
■ Evaluating a phenomenon: does y exhibit benefits/disadvantages?
■ Predicting an outcome: does y happen more under circumstance x?
■ Explaining causes and consequences of a phenomenon: is y affected by x? Is y a
consequence of x?
■ Developing a good practice: how do we improve y?
, ■ Comparison: do a and b differ in terms of y?
○ Criteria for a research question:
■ clear/precise/unambiguous
■ Researchable
■ Connection with established theory and research
■ Not too broad, not too narrow
■ Original contribution (?)
○ Interdisciplinary research questions: integrate data,methods, tools, etc. from different scientific
disciplines to create a common understanding of a complex issue
● Common mistakes in social science:
○ Selective observation: looking at things that align with our beliefs
○ Inaccurate observation: false perception of empirical reality
○ Generalizability theory
■ Overgeneralization: things we know that are true for some is concluded to be true for
most or all cases; could be reduced by systematic procedures to select groups/events/ etc.
○ Illogical reasoning: concluding based off of invalid assumptions
■ Reduced by using explicit criteria for events and causes to determine whether the criteria
is met at particular instance
○ Resistance to change: reluctance to reevaluate our ideas in light of new information
■ Ego-based and institutional commitments
■ Excessive devotion to tradition
■ Uncritical agreement with authority, unquestioning
● Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: the distinction is not merely the type of data (not quantified vs
numerical data).
○ Quantitative is used for research with motives of explanation, description, evaluation,
■ usually guided by positivism: our perceptions can mistaken us but scientific methods
would clarify.
○ Qualitative methods, exploration:
■ Usually guided by constructionism: social reality is socially constructed and the goal of
social scientists is to understand what meanings people give to reality
● Rejects positivism that says there is a concrete, objective reality, understood by
scientific methods
● Believes that people construct an image of reality based on individual
preferences
● Empirical generalization: a statement that describes patterns found in a data
● Deductive research can lead to inductive when these patterns are found in data:
○ Anomalous findings: unexpected patterns in data
○ Serendipitous findings: unexpected patterns in data that stimulate new explanations
Lecture 2: Chapters 2&4
● Learning goals:
○ Understand and apply the process of operationalization
○ Understand the difference between DV and IV
○ Understand and apply important criteria in scientific research
○ Understand and reproduce often used research designs
● Operationalization and variables
○ How do you test your RQ?
■ Conceptualization: identifying concepts you want to study; process of specifying what we
mean by a term; translates theory into specific variables
