Ch. 2: Planning a Study

PICK A STUDY TOPIC something “generalizeable” featuring social patterns that applies to “aggregates” (i.e., a collection of people or other units) that is empirically observable

REVIEW PAST STUDIES to focus research question for examples of research designs, measures, and techniques to learn key ideas, factors, terms, and issues re: topic, in order to replicate, test, or extend what others have found for examples of content and style in research reports for FUN – to stimulate creativity & curiosity

Where Do You Find the Research Literature? Peer-reviewed scholarly journal Semi-scholarly professional publication Practitioner magazine or newsletter Opinion magazine Mass market magazines for the public

Where to find reports on empirical research? Scholarly journals Books (monographs, readers, edited collections) Government documents Ph.D. dissertations Policy reports Presented papers

Lit Review: the Six-Step Process Refine the topic Design your search Locate the research reports Read and take notes on reports found Organize notes, synthesize, and write the review Create the reference list

FOCUSING ON A RESEARCH QUESTION Inductive research starts with many specific observations and out of them builds generalizations or theory Deductive research starts with a general idea or theory and “tests” it by looking at specific observations

Fig. 2.8: Deductive vs Inductive Approaches IDEAS IDEAS Observed data Observed data

THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL In all empirical research studies, you systematically collect and analyze data Data may be qualitative or quantitative or both Each data form has strengths Your goal is to fit the form of data to a specific research question and situation in a way that utilizes its strengths (46)

Key questions in writing a research proposal: When to focus research question? Universe of study? Linear or nonlinear path? Variables/hypotheses or cases/contexts? How to analyze patterns in data? Type of explanation? Units of analysis? Level of analysis?

1. When do you focus the research question? It depends partly on the type of data you plan to use If quantitative, you need to have a focused question before you actually collect the data, so you know where to look If qualitative, your question will get focused in the process of gathering and examining your data

2. To what universe can you generalize a study’s findings? Only rarely do we want to restrict our findings to the specific units or cases we actually study; instead, we want to generalize to a broader category of people, organizations, and other units

universe a broad category of cases or units to which the study findings apply e.g., if we are interested in NYC high school students, we can’t contact all high school students in the city; rather, we’ll be able to contact only a subset of them; yet we will still attempt to generalize our findings to the universe of “NYC high school students”

3. Which type of research path do you follow? A path is a metaphor for the sequence of activities you do Generally, with quantitative data, you follow a linear path, with qualitative data, a nonlinear path 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

4. What do you examine? Research with quantitative data focuses on variables and the relationships among them Research with qualitative data tends to examine a limited number of cases in-depth; concerned with discovering “meanings” of different social situations

Variable Variable: a feature of a case or unit that represents multiple types, values, or levels The variable is central idea in quantitative research Simply defined, it’s a concept that varies Variables are different from categories of variables, though they’re often confused

Types of variables independent variable (IV): the variable of factors, forces, or conditions acting on another variable to produce an effect or change in it dependent variable (DV): the variable influenced by and changed as an outcome of another variable intervening: a variable that comes between the independent and dependent variable in a causal relationship

A 3-variable example from Durkheim’s study of suicide Theory: married people are less likely to commit suicide than single people because they are more socially integrated Restated in terms of variables: being married (IV) increases social integration (intervening variable), which in turn reduces the suicide rate (DV)

Hypothesis Hypothesis: a statement about the relationship of two (or more) variables yet to be tested with empirical data 5 features of a causal hypothesis: It has at least 2 variables It specifies how the variables are connected (which is the cause, which is the effect) It includes a time order assumption It can be restated as a prediction It can be supported or falsified with empirical data

Null hypothesis null hypothesis: a hypothesis that there is no relationship between variables, that they do not influence one another If the evidence supports the null hypothesis, you are forced to conclude your alternative hypothesis is false But if the evidence rejects the null hypothesis, then the alternative hypothesis remains a possibility Null hypothesis is used because researchers are very cautious – similar to the idea of innocent until proven guilty or reasonable doubt

5. How do you look for patterns in the data? With quantitative data, you use charts, tables and statistics to see patterns; you connect the patterns with your research question. With qualitative data, you identify patterns (sequences, cycles, contrasts) in the data (observed events, conversations, situations) as they appear in a specific context.

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 Used in both quantitative and qualitative research, but more common in quantitative grounded theory: ideas and themes that are built up from data observation More common in research using qualitative data

7. What are the units of analysis of your study? unit of analysis: the case or unit on which you measure variables and gather data Units of analysis influence how to gather data and the level of analysis

8. What is the level of analysis of your study? level of analysis: the level of reality to which explanations refer, micro level to macro level it’s a mix of the number of people, the expanse of geographic space, the scope of the activity the length of time Level of analysis influences assumptions, concepts and theories you will use, as well as the appropriate units of analysis

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

Fig. 2.11 Spuriousness Example Relationship between Illegal Drugs & Suicide Illegal drugs Observed association Suicide Emotional problems & community disorder True cause