R ESEARCH M ETHODOLOGY Dr. Erqian Zhu The School of International Business Beijing Language and Culture University

F ROM A S TUDENT TO A R ESEARCHER Undergraduate student Graduate student Researcher What is research and researcher?  Research (Dictionary.com) :diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications  Research (Webster Dictionary): investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws  Research (Oxford): the systematic study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.  Researcher: a scientist who devotes himself to doing research

I NTRODUCTION A BOUT THE R ESEARCH M ETHOD The subject of this course is how we find out about social reality. Looking for Reality Inquiry is a natural human activity. Much of ordinary human inquiry seeks to explain events and predict future events. When we understand through direct experience, we make observations and seek patterns of regularities in what we observe. Much of what we know, we know by agreement rather than by experience. In particular, two important sources of agreed-on knowledge are: Tradition Authority

E RRORS IN I NQUIRY, AND S OME S OLUTIONS Inaccurate Observations Overgeneralization  Replication Selective Observation Illogical Reasoning  Gambler’s fallacy

T HE F OUNDATIONS OF S OCIAL S CIENCE Social theory attempt to discuss and explain what is,not what should be. Theory should not be confused with philosophy or belief. Social science looks for regularities in social life. Social scientists are interested in explaining human aggregates, not individuals. Theories are written in the language of variables. Attributes ： a characteristic Variables ： a logical set of attributes Level of EducationPercent saying Homosexuality is Always Wrong Less than high school graduate72% High school graduate62% Junior college56% Bachelor’s degree44% Graduate degree30%

Source ： Bureau of Statistics (China) Bureau of Census (USA) Birth Rate: China vs. the United States YearBirth Rate ChinaUSA

Some Common Social Concepts FemaleAge Upper classChinese American YoungOccupation Social classGender Race/ethnicityPlummer VariableAttributes AgeYoung, middle aged, old GenderFemale, male OccupationPlummer, lawyer, data-entry clerk Race/ethnicityChinese American, Asian, Latino Social classUpper, middle, lower

T HE P URPOSE OF S OCIAL R ESEARCH Three major purposes of social research are explorations, description, and explanation. Studies may aim to serve more than one of these purposes.

T HE E THICS OF H UMAN I NQUIRY It is important to recognize from start that ethical issues, particularly with reference to protecting subjects, may rule out certain research procedures and/or require certain element in the research design.

S OME D IALECTICS OF S OCIAL S CIENCE Whereas idiographic explanations present specific cases fully, nomothetic explanations present a generalized understanding of many cases. Inductive theories reason from specific observations to general patterns. Deductive theories start from general statements and predict specific observations. Quantitative data are numerical; qualitative data are not. Both types of data are useful for different research purposes. Both pure and applied research are valid and vital parts of the social science enterprise.