Methods of Research

Why Research Methods? Purpose: – Establishing causation through evidence – Different methods of research provide different types of evidence – Who cares? In any form of argumentation, you are inevitably using research methods. – 2 main types: Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods

Causation & Correlation What is the difference between the two? Why does it matter? – E.g.s?

Quantitative Methods What are quantitative methods? – Methods of research that try to establish causation through the use of quantifiable data, and mathematical tools – In the end, all quantitative methods aspire to follow the scientific method. – The modern understanding of scientific method: Experiments

Experiments Experiments: The dominant method to causation in modern scholarship Causation as “effects of causes”, ceteris paribus Types of Experiments: – Laboratory Experiments – Natural Experiments – “Quasi”- Experiments

“Quasi” Experiments Sometimes, experiments are unfeasible for a variety of reasons, ethical & logistical. – Can you think of examples? Alternative solutions: – Statistical approaches: Instead of running experiments, we try to approximate experiments using statistical tools The simplest way is correlational analysis. From there, approaches get increasingly complex

Qualitative Methods But quantitative approaches aren’t the only way to “prove” arguments. What are qualitative methods? – Methods of research that use non-mathematical tools to gather evidence and establish causation – Causes of effects approach [as opposed to Experiments] – Much more conducive to inductive reasoning

Qualitative Methods There are different types of qualitative research methods: – Ethnographic Approaches – Historiographical Approaches – Archival Research There is often overlap amongst the various approaches Often, there are ways to quantify qualitative evidence – E.g.s?

Pros & Cons There are advantages & disadvantages of both approaches. – Neither is superior to the other, despite what many may say. Pros & Cons of Quant: – Rigor; When done well, it is often persuasive. – Comes with severe risks – easily misapplied; correlation & causation. Quant is often incomplete Pros & Cons of Qual: – Qual methods get directly at the ‘why’. – Also easily misapplied – lack of rigor.

Parting Thoughts Social science as hard science? – How do you “prove” arguments? – Can a theory ever be disproven completely? – What does disconfirming evidence look like? – How much disconfirming evidence should you look at? – At what point do you know that your argument is wrong?