Summary Social Research Methods

Summary Social Research Methods
Summary Social Research Methods........................................................................................................1
Chapter 1 – The nature and process of social research....................................................................10
Introduction..................................................................................................................................10
What is meant by ‘social research’?.............................................................................................10
Why do social research?...............................................................................................................10
The context of social research methods.......................................................................................10
Elements of the process of social research...................................................................................11
Literature review......................................................................................................................12
Concepts and theories..............................................................................................................12
Research questions...................................................................................................................12
Sampling cases..........................................................................................................................13
Data collection..........................................................................................................................13
Data analysis.............................................................................................................................13
Writing up.................................................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Social research strategies: quantitative research and qualitative research....................14
Introduction..................................................................................................................................14
Theory and research.....................................................................................................................14
What type of theory?................................................................................................................14
What is empiricism?.................................................................................................................14
Deductive and inductive theory................................................................................................14
Epistemological considerations....................................................................................................15
A natural science epistemology: positivism..............................................................................15
What is positivism?...............................................................................................................15
What is realism?...................................................................................................................15
Interpretivism...........................................................................................................................16
What is interpretivism?........................................................................................................16
Ontological considerations...........................................................................................................16
Objectivism...............................................................................................................................16
What is objectivism?.............................................................................................................16
Constructionism........................................................................................................................17
What is constructionism?.....................................................................................................17
Relationship to social research.................................................................................................17
Research strategy: quantitative and qualitative research.............................................................17
Influences on the conduct of social research................................................................................17



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, Values.......................................................................................................................................17
Practical considerations............................................................................................................18
Chapter 3: Research designs.........................................................................................................18
Introduction..................................................................................................................................18
What is a research design?.......................................................................................................18
What is a research method?.....................................................................................................18
Quality criteria in social research..................................................................................................18
Reliability..................................................................................................................................18
Replication................................................................................................................................18
Validity......................................................................................................................................18
What is a variable?...................................................................................................................19
Relationship with research strategy.........................................................................................19
What is naturalism?..................................................................................................................20
Research designs..........................................................................................................................20
Experimental design.................................................................................................................20
Manipulation........................................................................................................................20
Classical experimental design...............................................................................................20
Classical experimental design and validity............................................................................21
The laboratory experiment...................................................................................................21
Quasi-experiments................................................................................................................21
Logic of comparison..............................................................................................................21
What is evaluation research?...................................................................................................21
What is a cross-sectional research design?...............................................................................21
Cross-sectional design..............................................................................................................21
Reliability, replicability, and validity.....................................................................................22
Non-manipulable variables...................................................................................................22
Cross-sectional design and research strategy.......................................................................22
What is survey research?..........................................................................................................22
Longitudinal design(s)...............................................................................................................23
Case study design.....................................................................................................................23
What is a case?.....................................................................................................................23
Reliability, replicability, and validity.....................................................................................24
Types of cases.......................................................................................................................24
Case study as intensive analysis............................................................................................24
Longitudinal research and the case study.............................................................................24
Comparative design..................................................................................................................25


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, Bringing research strategy and research design together............................................................25
Chapter 4: Planning a research project and formulating research questions...................................26
Getting to know what is expected of you by your institution.......................................................26
Thinking about your research area...............................................................................................26
Using your supervisor...................................................................................................................26
Managing time and resources......................................................................................................26
Formulating suitable research questions......................................................................................26
Criteria for evaluating research questions................................................................................27
Writing your research proposal....................................................................................................27
Preparing for your research?........................................................................................................28
Doing your research and analysing your results...........................................................................28
Chapter 9 – Structured interviewing.................................................................................................28
Introduction..................................................................................................................................28
What is a structured interview?...................................................................................................28
The structured interview..............................................................................................................28
Reducing error due to interviewer variability...........................................................................28
Accuracy and ease of data processing......................................................................................29
Other types of interview...........................................................................................................29
Major types of interview..............................................................................................................30
Interview contexts........................................................................................................................30
More than one interviewee......................................................................................................30
More than one interviewer.......................................................................................................30
In person or by telephone?.......................................................................................................31
Computer-assisted interviewing...............................................................................................32
Using mobile phones for interview surveys..............................................................................32
Conducting interviews..................................................................................................................32
Know the schedule...................................................................................................................32
Introducing the research..........................................................................................................32
Rapport.....................................................................................................................................33
Asking questions.......................................................................................................................33
Recording answers....................................................................................................................33
Clear instructions......................................................................................................................33
Question order.........................................................................................................................33
Probing.....................................................................................................................................34
Prompting.................................................................................................................................34
Leaving the interview................................................................................................................35


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, Training and supervision...........................................................................................................35
Problems with structured interviewing........................................................................................35
Characteristics of interviewers.................................................................................................35
Response sets...........................................................................................................................35
Acquiescence........................................................................................................................35
Social desirability bias...........................................................................................................36
The problem of meaning..........................................................................................................36
The feminist critique.................................................................................................................36
Chapter 10 – Self-administered questionnaires...............................................................................36
Self-administered questionnaire or postal questionnaire?...........................................................36
Evaluating the self-administered questionnaire in relation to the structured interview..............36
Advantages of the self-administered questionnaire over the structured interview.................37
Cheaper to administer..........................................................................................................37
Quicker to administer...........................................................................................................37
Absence of interviewer effects.............................................................................................37
No interviewer variability.....................................................................................................37
Convenience for respondents...............................................................................................37
Disadvantages of the self-administered questionnaire in comparison with the structured
interview...................................................................................................................................37
Cannot prompt.....................................................................................................................37
Cannot probe........................................................................................................................37
Cannot ask many questions that are not salient to respondents..........................................37
Difficulty of asking other kinds of questions.........................................................................38
Questionnaire can be read as whole.....................................................................................38
Do not know who answers...................................................................................................38
Cannot collect additional data..............................................................................................38
Difficult to ask a lot of questions...........................................................................................38
Not appropriate for some kinds of respondent....................................................................38
Greater risk of missing data..................................................................................................38
Lower response rates............................................................................................................38
Steps to improve response rates to postal questionnaires.......................................................38
Designing the self-administered questionnaire............................................................................39
Do not cramp the presentation................................................................................................39
Clear presentation....................................................................................................................39
Vertical or horizontal closed-ended answers?..........................................................................39
Identifying response sets in a Likert scale.............................................................................40



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