This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease or lending of the program. Getting Started: How to Plan a Social Research Study Chapter 2

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Picking a Study Topic A topic appropriate for social research is one that  you generalize  about social patterns  that operate in aggregates and  are empirically observable.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Generalize – the topic is beyond one isolated unique instance; it is likely to reappear and applies to a broad scope of people, places, times or events. Social pattern – the topic has regularity or structure/form describing interconnections among events, situations or relationships in a condensed way. Picking a Study Topic

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Aggregates – the topic applies to a collection of people or other units (e.g., families, businesses, schools, hospitals, or neighborhoods). Empirically observable – the topic appears in the observable world in a way that we can detect and observe it using our senses (sight, sound, touch, smell) directly or indirectly. Picking a Study Topic

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Research Proposal = a detailed plan for conducting a study on a specific research question, that includes a literature review and specific technique to be used. Picking a Study Topic

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Conducting a Review Past Studies Literature Review = a summary of previously conducted studies on the same topic or research question.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 A Literature Review Search Plan:  Evaluate resources  Select and narrow the topic  Learn to use literature search tools  Plan to locate and scan read articles  Allow time to extract the major findings  Final Stage—synthesize Conducting a Review Past Studies

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Conducting a Review Past Studies Where do you find the research literature?  A Special Type of Periodical: Scholarly Journals  Peer-reviewed = A scholarly publication that has been independently evaluated for its quality and merits by several knowledgeable professional researchers and found acceptable.  Article Search tool = an online service or publication that provides an index, abstract database with which you can quickly search for articles in numerous scholarly journals by topic, author or subject area.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Conducting a Review Past Studies Where do you find the research literature?  Periodicals Popularized social science magazines for general public Practitioner advice/opinion/news Opinion magazines “Mass market” or “trade” magazines for general public Scholarly Journals  Peer-reviewed = A scholarly publication that has been independently evaluated for its quality and merits by several knowledgeable professional researchers and found acceptable.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Conducting a Review Past Studies

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Conducting a Review Past Studies

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Where do you find the research literature?  Books Monographs Readers Edited Collections  Dissertations  Government Documents  Policy Reports  Presented Papers Conducting a Review Past Studies

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 How to Conduct a Literature Review: A Six Step Process STEP 1: Refine the Topic  Go from research question to narrowed topic STEP 2: Design Your Search  Decide on the review’s extensiveness  Decide which article search tools to use  Decide how to record bibliographic information and take notes STEP 3: Locate the Research Reports  Articles in scholarly journals  Books  Other outlets

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 How to Conduct a Literature Review: A Six Step Process STEP 4: Read & Take Notes on the Reports Found  Create source and content files  What to record in notes STEP 5: Organize Notes, Synthesize & Write the Review STEP 6: Create the Reference List

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 Focusing On A Research Question Inductive = research in which you start many specific observations and move toward general ideas or theory to capture what they show. Deductive = research in which you start with a general idea or theory then move to test it by looking at specific observations.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 IDEAS Focusing On A Research Question Observed data IDEAS Observed data

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 The Research Proposal Research Proposal = a detailed plan for conducting a study on a specific research question, that includes a literature review and specific techniques to be used.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 The Research Proposal A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  1. When do you focus the research question?  2. To what universe can you generalize from a study’s findings? Universe = a broad category of cases or units to which the study findings apply.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 The Research Proposal A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  3. Which type of research path do you follow? Linear path = a relatively fixed sequence of steps in one forward direction, with little repeating, moving directly to a conclusion. Nonlinear path = advancing without fixed order that often requires successive passes through previous steps and moves toward a conclusion indirectly.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  4. What do you examine? Variable = a feature of a case or unit that represents multiple types, values or levels.  Independent Variable = the variable of factors, forces, or conditions acting on another variable to produce an effect or change in it.  Dependent Variable = the variable influenced by and changes as an outcome another variable.  Intervening Variable = a variable that comes between the independent and dependent variable in a causal relationship. The Research Proposal

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  4. What do you examine? Hypothesis = a statement about the relationship of two (or more) variables yet to be tested with empirical data. Null hypothesis = a hypothesis that there is no relationship between two variables, that they do not influence one another. The Research Proposal

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  5. How to Look for Patterns in the Data Quantitative data: rearrange, examine, and discuss numbers by using charts, tables and statistics to see patterns. Qualitative data: rearrange, examine, discuss textual or visual data. The Research Proposal

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 The Research Proposal

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  6. What type of explanation will you use? Causal explanation = a type of research explanation in which you identify one or more causes for an outcome, and place cause and effect in a larger framework. Has three elements:  Time order  Association  Alternative causes ruled out The Research Proposal

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  6. What type of explanation will you use? Grounded Theory = ideas and themes that are built up from data observation.  7. What are the Units of Analysis in your study? Unit of Analysis = the case or unit on which you measure variables or other characteristics. The Research Proposal

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 A Proposal for Quantitative or Qualitative Research  8. What is the Level of Analysis of your study? Level of Analysis = The level of reality to which explanations refer, micro to macro.  Micro-Level: small-scale (a few friends, a small group)  Macro-Level: large-scale (entire civilizations or a major structure of a society). Warning: Avoid Spuriousness  Spuriousness = when two variables appear to be causally connected but in reality, they are not because an unseen third factor is the true cause. The Research Proposal

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009 The Research Proposal