Research Design and Research Problems Dr. David Piggott

Today 1. What are the important concepts in research design in different research traditions? 2. Is there a single logic of research design? 3. How do we develop research problems?

“Ask a scientist what he conceives his scientific method to be, and he will adopt an expression that is at once solemn and shifty-eyed: solemn, because he feels he ought to declare an opinion; shifty-eyed, because he is wondering how to conceal the fact that he has no opinion to declare.” Sir Peter Medawar

1. Research concepts a. Arrange yourselves into five or six groups based on disciplinary commonalities. b. Distribute the post-it notes and try to offer a single- sentence definition of a research design concept (see next). Write the concept with a definition underneath the heading. You may use the tablets to help. c. Discuss the definitions in your group before presenting them to the others.

Concepts Theory Induction Sampling Practice Validity Deduction Problem Concepts Reliability Data Abduction Paradigm Hypothesis Trustworthiness Ethics

2. Logic of design a. In your group, discuss common ways of designing research in your discipline. b. Place your post-it notes on the poster paper in an order that you think represents common logic in your discipline (you may not want to use all the concepts as some may not be relevant). c. Once you’ve finalised a logical design process and agreed, present your ideas to the class drawing on an ideal type example. Note similarities and differences between disciplines.

Horses for courses? Natural/physical ObjectExist without us VariablesObservable Can be isolated LogicExperimental (conditions + theory = hypothesis > test) QualityValidity (accuracy) Reliability (repeatability) WritingThird person Objective Sanitised retrospect Social/Humanities ObjectCreated by us VariablesObserver interaction Cannot be isolated LogicVarious (see next) QualityAuthenticity Trustworthiness Transparency WritingFirst person Subjective ‘Confessional’

Abstract Concrete S 1 S 2 S 3 S 4 Structures M 1 M 2 M 3 M 4 M 5 Mechanisms E 1 E 2 E 3 E 3 E 4 E 6 E 7 Events Types of research in social science (adapted from Sayer 2010: p.237) Intensive Extensive Abstract Synthesis

3. Research problems Your main guidance will come from your research supervisor here, however… Where do problems come from? Problems or ‘problem situations’? How do problems change as your study evolves?

Your research problems… Write down your research problem and share it with someone in the group. Is your problem novel? If yes, how do you know? Who else would be interested in the solution to the problem? How long have you spent formulating the problem? “…when we are not sure what needs to be taken into account, or even which questions to pose – or when the issue is too subtle to be captured by the familiar categories of conscious thought – we need recourse to the tortoise mind.” Claxton, G. (1998) Hare brain tortoise mind. London: Fourth Estate.

“A young scientist… is well advised if his teacher tells him [sic]: ‘try to learn what what people are discussing nowadays in science. Find out where the difficulties arise, and take an interest in disagreements. These are the questions you should take up’… In other words, you should study the problem situation of the day.” (Popper, 1972: p. 129) P 1  TS  EE  P 2, 3, 4… Problem is likely to change after a literature review, in light of better understanding of theory, its weaknesses and/or applications in a given field. “you also have to deal with formulating the research question at several stages of the process: when you conceptualise the design, when you enter the field [or lab], when you select the cases, and when you collect the data” (Flick, 2006: p. 105) Popper’s theory of critical rationalism (or science as ‘conjecture and refutation’)

Further reading Chalmers, A. F. (1999) What is this thing called science? Bucks: Open University Press. Sayer, A. (2010) Method in social science. London: Routledge. Popper, K. R. (1972) Conjectures and refutations: the growth of scientific knowledge. London: Routledge (chapter 1).