Social research LECTURE 5

PLAN Social research and its foundation Quantitative / qualitative research Sociological paradigms (points of view) Sociological paradigms A focus group and its types A questionnaire

Social research refers to researchresearch conducted by social scientists (primarilysocial scientists within sociology and social psychology)sociologysocial psychology SociologistsSociologists and other social scientists study diverse things: from census data oncensus hundreds of thousands of human beings, through the in-depth analysis of the life of a single important person to monitoring what is happening on a street today - or what was happening a few hundred years ago.

Common tools of quantitative researchers include surveys, questionnaires, and secondary analysis of statistical data that has been gathered for other purposes (for example, censuses or the results of social attitudes surveys). Commonly used qualitative methods include focus groups, participant observation, and other techniques.surveys questionnairesstatisticalfocus groupsparticipant observation

Social research (and social science in general) is based on logic and empirical observations.logicempirical observations Charles C. Ragin writes in his Constructing Social Research book that "Social research involved the interaction between ideas and evidence. Ideas help social researchers make sense of evidence, and researchers use evidence to extend, revise and test ideas". Charles C. Ragin

Social research thus attempts to create or validate theories through data collection and data analysis, and its goal is exploration, description and explanation.theoriesdata collectiondata analysisexplorationdescription explanation Research can also be divided into pure research and applied research. Pure research has no application on real life, whereas applied research attempts to influence the real world.pure researchapplied research

Social methods can generally be subdivided into two broad categories. Quantitative methods are concerned with attempts to quantify social phenomena and collect and analyse numerical data, and focus on the links among a smaller number of attributes across many cases.Quantitative methodssocial phenomena attributes Qualitative methods, on the other hand, emphasise personal experiences and interpretation over quantification, are more concerned with understanding the meaning of social phenomena and focus on links among a larger number of attributes across relatively few cases. While very different in many aspects, both qualitative and quantitative approaches involve a systematic interaction between theories and data. Qualitative methods theoriesdata

Quantitative methods are useful for describing social phenomena, especially on a larger scale. Qualitative methods allow social scientists to provide richer explanations (and descriptions) of social phenomena, frequently on a smaller scale. By using two or more approaches researchers may be able to 'triangulate' their findings and provide a more valid representation of the social world. A combination of different methods are often used within "comparative research", which involves the study of social processes across nation-states, or across different types of society.comparative research

Social scientists usually follow one or more of the several specific sociological paradigms (points of view):sociological paradigms  conflict paradigm focuses on the ability of some groups to dominate others, or resistance to such domination. conflict paradigm  ethnomethodology paradigm examines how people make sense out of social life in the process of living it, as if each was a researcher engaged in enquiry. ethnomethodology paradigm  feminist paradigm focuses on how male dominance of society has shaped social life. feminist paradigm

 Darwinism paradigm sees a progressive evolution in social life. Darwinism paradigm  positivism paradigm was an early 19th century approach, now considered obsolete in its pure form. Positivists believed we can scientifically discover all the rules governing social life. positivism paradigm  structural functionalism paradigm addresses what functions various elements of the social system perform in regard to the entire system. structural functionalism paradigm  symbolic interactionism paradigm examines how shared meanings and social patterns are developed in the course of social interactions. symbolic interactionism paradigm

Focus group A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their attitude towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.qualitative research

Variants of focus groups include:  Two-way focus group - one focus group watches another focus group and discusses the observed interactions and conclusions  Dual moderator focus group - one moderator ensures the session progresses smoothly, while another ensures that all the topics are covered  Duelling moderator focus group - two moderators deliberately take opposite sides on the issue under discussion

 Respondent moderator focus group - one or more of the respondents are asked to act as the moderator temporarily  Client participant focus groups - one or more client representatives participate in the discussion, either covertly or overtly  Mini focus groups - groups are comprised of 4 or 5 members rather than 8 to 12  Teleconference focus groups - telephone network is used  Online focus groups - computers and internet network is used

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents.researchquestions Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. However, such standardized answers may frustrate users. Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be practical.

The ethics of social research Two main assumptions of the ethics inethics social research are:  voluntary participation  no harm to subjects