CHAPTER 2: DIMENSIONS OF RESEARCH DIMENSION: A VARIABLE PROPERTY OR QUALITY FOR EXAMPLE, PHYSICAL OBJECTS HAVE HEIGHT, WIDTH, DEPTH; WEIGHT; MOMENTUM; ETC.

DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH USE OF RESEARCH: BASIC OR APPLIED PURPOSE: EXPLORATORY, DESCRIPTIVE, EXPLANATORY TIME: CROSS-SECTIONAL, LONGITUDINAL, CASE STUDY DATA COLLECTION: QUALITATIVE, QUANTITATIVE

USE OF RESEARCH BASIC: GENERATE NEW KNOWLEDGE, THEORY APPLIED: SOLVE PROBLEMS IN PRINCIPLE, THEY ARE C0MPLEMENTARY OVERLAPPING IN PRACTICE, BASIC RESEARCH IS MORE PRESTIGEOUS

BASIC RESEARCH DEVELOPS OR TESTS KEY TOOLS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE: THEORIES CONCEPTS METHODS

APPLIED RESEARCH FOCUS ON SOLVING PROBLEMS TYPES SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: WHAT ARE THE LIKELY CONSEQUENCES OF A PLANNED POLICY OR PROGRAM? EVALUATION: OF A POLICY OR PROGRAM – HOW WELL DOES IT WORK? ACTION:EMPOWERS MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TO IDENTIFY AND SOLVE PROBLEMS

PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY Engages sociology in conversation with society about values, vision, analysis, direction Types traditional – writing or speaking for broad but thin audience grassroots – working with groups in the community May combine basic and applied

Grassroots Public Sociology and Action Research Goals are similar: empowerment, social change Action research often focuses on solving specific problems Public sociology also creates larger, critical conversations about social vision, values, analysis, and strategies for change

PURPOSES OF A STUDY EXPLORATORY – LEARN ABOUT A NEW TOPIC OR QUESTION DESCRIPTIVE – PROVIDE QUALITATIVE AND/OR QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION EXPLANATORY – DEVELOP OR TEST THEORY SEE BOX 2.2 ON PAGE 29 NO NEED TO MEMORIZE, BUT BE FAMILIAR WITH BASIC IDEAS OF EACH PURPOSE

THE TIME DIMENSION CROSS-SECTIONAL - SNAPSHOT LONGITUDINAL – SERIES OF SNAPSHOTS TIME-SERIES –SAME “UNITS OF OBSERVATION” EACH TIME PANEL – SAME INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, ETC. COHORT – SAME LIFE EXPERIENCES SHARED BY MEMBERS

THE TIME DIMENSION, continued CASE STUDIES – ‘CONTINUOUS’ VIDEO EXAMINE A GROUP, EVENT, ORGANIZATION, ETC. OVER TIME COMPARATIVE CASE STUDIES

DATA COLLECTION QUANTITATIVE EXPERIMENTS IN LAB OR IN ‘REAL LIFE’ USUALLY INVOLVES COMPARING EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS, BEFORE AND AFTER ‘TREATMENT(S)’ GIVEN TO EXPERIMENTAL GROUP(S)

DATA COLLECTION, CONTINUED QUANTITATIVE, CONTINUED SURVEYS THE MOST COMMON FORM OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH INVOLVES ADMINISTERING A QUESTIONNAIRE TO A POPULATION OR SAMPLE CONTENT ANALYSIS – OF ‘SYMBOLIC MATERIAL’ EXISTING STATISTICS – ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUSLY-COLLECTED DATA

DATA COLLECTION, CONTINUED QUALITATIVE DATA FIELD RESEARCH (OR PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION) GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH RECONSTRUCTION APPROACH HISTORICAL-COMPARATIVE RESEARCH DATA: ARCHIVES (MEETING NOTES, MINUTES, LETTERS, ETC.), MEMOIRS, BOOKS, NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS, ETC.