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Social research methodology summary of notes and literature
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Social research methodology summary of notes supplemented with summary of the literature for more background information
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SRM notes+literature summary per partial examTable of Contents
SRM notes+literature summary per partial exam...............................................................1
SRM week 1+2 notes+literature summary..........................................................................2
SRM week 3+4 notes+literature summary........................................................................21
SRM week 5+6 notes+literature summary........................................................................42
,SRM week 1+2 notes+literature summary
what is a research design
- A research design is a framework for data collection and analysis, focusing on causal
connections, generalizability to larger groups, understanding behavior in specific
social contexts, and temporal appreciation of social phenomena over time.
research method
- A research method is a technique for gathering data, involving instruments like
questionnaires, structured interviews, participant observation, or document analysis.
Research strategy
- All kind of basic assumptions you have, related to epistemology, how should we
gather knowledge about the social world
Sources of research questions
- Research questions can originate from personal interests, theory, research literature,
replication, puzzles, new developments in society, and social problems
Types of questions
- Exploratory
o Inventory: e.g. which kind of issues are defined as mental health problem, which
concerns exist about students’ wellbeing?
o When you don’t know much about the topic yet
- Descriptive
o E.g. How many first-year students in the Netherlands suffer from mental health
problems, how do students perceive their own wellbeing?
o You have clear definition already on mental health e.g.
- Explanatory (‘why’?)
o E.g. Which factors have a positive or negative impact on students mental health?
Why are some students stressed and other not
- Evaluative (‘how effective’?)
o E.g. How effective are mindfulness courses to improve mental health among
students, What are the advantages and disadvantages of different interventions?
o Goes further after you know the ‘why’ and can design a program to improve
situation and then ask the evaluative question
Difference between ‘everyday’ research vs scientific research
- Scientific research is systematic, you follow planning and different steps and think
about why you take these steps which contrast a more intuitive ‘everyday’ approach
as it could lead to confirmation bias (selectively seeking information confirming your
ideas)
- Scientific research is transparent, you write down in detail what you did and how you
arrived to certain evidence. Following from transparency is that you’re open to
criticism
- Scientific research is all about empirical evidence (the ‘data’), it ultimately decides vs
speculation, personal ideas and beliefs. Contrast between empiricism (gathering
knowledge via senses/observations) and rationalism (gathering knowledge through
reasoning/thinking
,Deductive approach
- Deductive research involves a researcher drawing on knowledge
about a domain and relevant theoretical ideas to deduce
hypotheses, which are speculations that can be tested empirically.
- Common in quantitative research
Inductive approach
- theory is formed by drawing generalizable inferences from
observations. However, just as deduction involves an element
of induction, the inductive process is likely to involve a degree
of deduction. Once the researcher has carried out some
theoretical reflection on a set of data, they may want to collect
further data in order to establish the conditions in which a
theory will and will not hold. This is often called an iterative
strategy and it involves moving back and forth between data
and theory.
Ontological orientation
- What is the fundamental nature of reality? What characterizes the (social) world?
Does it actually exist? What are the characteristics of ‘being’
- Field within philosophy which studies nature of being, the most natural abstract
question, the reality
- Two contrasting views
o Constructivism
whether they can and should be considered social constructions built up
from the perceptions and actions of social actors
Constructionism, also known as constructivism, is an ontological position
that asserts that social phenomena and their meanings are continually
created by social actors. It implies that social phenomena are not only
produced through social interaction but are in a constant state of revision.
o Objectivism
Objectivism is an ontological position that claims that social phenomena,
their meanings, and the categories that we use in everyday discourse have
an existence that is independent of, or separate from, social actors.
whether social entities can and should be considered objective entities
that exist separately to social actors
, epistemological orientation
- Epistemological positions raise questions about how the social world should be studied
and whether the scientific approach advocated by some researchers (involving
formulating a hypothesis and then testing it using precise measurement techniques) is
the right one for social research.
- Two views
o Positivism
Argues for the use of natural science methods
Goal is searching for universal, causal generalizations in order to uncover
law-like patterns in human behaviour
Knowledge confirmed through senses can be considered as knowledge
Purpose of theory is to generate hypothesis which can be tested to enable
explanations of laws (deductivism)
Knowledge is reached by gathering facts that provide the basis for laws
(inductivism)
Science should be value-free, objective
There is a strict division between normative and scientific statements:
results of research should be independent from any value judgement. We
cannot derive ethical norms from observations about reality
o Interpretivism
Goal:
‘understanding of social action’ we study the subjective meaning
of human behavior
Nature of explanation is idiographic:
o Description/clarification of a unique process, unique case
Holism
o Understanding phenomenon as an integrated whole, the
whole context
How do we acquire knowledge
Seeing through the eyes of the people being studied
So, gain access to people’s ‘common-sense thinking’ and their
point of view. Describe how member of a social group interpret
the world around them
Second (epistemological) meaning of constructivism: researchers
present their specific version of reality; their accounts of the social
world are also constructions
It leads to the ‘double interpretation’: interpretations of
interpretations
What is the role of values and normative judgements
Methodological relativism: put your own values temporarily aside
(‘bracketing’); all more values are equally valid
Reflexivity: be aware of the possible influence that your personal
perspective and your values could have had on your research
Quantitative research
• emphasizes quantification in the collection and analysis of data;
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