1. The basics of Social Science Research Lecture 2
Dr. Jordy Gosselt
Department of Communication Science

2. Today Basics of Empirical Research: From research question to method
Research question(s)
Literature review
Operationalization
Research method
Sampling
Research training: 2nd questionnaire
Sample projects (M. Junger)
Next Research lecture: Operationalization of method (how to make questions / answers)
[Bha2012] Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social Science Research. Principles, Methods, and Practices. Tampa, Florida: University of South Florida. PDF

3. Research process Research question(s) Literature review
Operationalization
Research method
Sampling
= Research proposal

4. Research question(s) Specific but not too narrow
Open question: what, why, how, when, to what extent etc.
Avoid yes/no questions
Interesting to you BUT also to your audience
Possible to answer

5. RQ: “Do computer games have bad influence?”
Example RQ (I)
RQ: “Do computer games have bad influence?”
Yes/no question
Better:
e.g. „to what extent“
What is meant by computer games?
Better: e.g. „first-person shooter games“
What is meant by „bad“?
Better: „aggressive behavior“ or be even more specific
Influence on?
Better: „influence on children aged between 10 and 14“

6. Example RQ (II)
To what extent do first-person shooter games influence aggressive behavior of children aged between 10 and 14?
What kind of character traits are most likely to cause people to commit cybercrime?
How does news propagate and influence users?

7. Example RQ (II)
To what extent do first-person shooter games influence aggressive behavior of children aged between 10 and 14?
What kind of character traits are most likely to cause people to commit cybercrime?
How does news propagate and influence users?

8. Research process Research question(s) Literature review
Operationalization
Research method
Sampling
= Research proposal

9. Literature review (I) Literature available?
How many papers? (search terms)
Read abstracts
(Still) interesting? New and relevant?
Use reference list of articles found
Adjust Research Question?

10. Literature review (II)
Web of Science
ScienceDirect
Google Scholar
Scopus
IEEE
JSTOR
PsycINFO
SpringerLink

11. Literature review (III)

12. Literature review (IV)

13. Literature review (V)

14. Research process Research question(s) Literature review
Operationalization
Research method
Sampling
= Research proposal

15. Operationalization: Classification of variables
RQ: To what extent do first-person shooter games influence aggressive behavior of children aged between 10 and 14?
Influence of variable A on B, C & D
Physical aggression
Playing a FPS game
Verbal
aggression
A: Independent variable
Symbolic aggression
B, C, D: Dependent variables

16. Operationalization: Classification of variables
Concept
e.g. usability of mobile apps
Concept
e.g. usability of mobile apps
Construct 1
e.g. demographics
Construct 1
e.g. demographics
Construct 2
e.g. user experience
Construct 2
e.g. user experience
Construct 3
Construct 3
Concept: An abstract explanation or description of observed phenomena. This is not measurable.
Construct: Construct is an abstract definition or description that explains the concept in more detail. It refers to the characteristic that will be measured. Here, user experience is not directly measurable but by the means of variables
Variables: Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are defined as variables of user experience. These variables are measurable by means of scale
So, for the description of your research problem and/or research question, you will start with defining a concept…maybe you can already think about a construct and variables? But this is also for the upcoming weeks and the writing of your research proposal
Variable: age
Variable: gender
etc.
Variable: Perceived usefulness
Variable:
Perceived ease of use
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.

17. Operationalization: Classification of variables
Concept:
Aggressive behavior
Construct 1:
Physical aggression
Construct 2:
Verbal
aggression
Construct 3:
Symbolic aggression
fighting
etc.
etc.
shouting
etc.
etc.
gesture
etc.
etc.
Variables (next lecture: are there existing scales you can use?)

18. Research process Research question(s) Literature review
Operationalization
Research method
Sampling
= Research proposal

19. Research method: Quantitative research
Quantitative e.g. survey / experimental design
(or qualitative e.g. interviews)
Method should fit your RQ!
By asking each respondent the same questions we can compare their responses and calculate statistics (Means, Standard Deviations, etc.)
Standardization (hopefully) promotes objectivity
NOT because standardized questionnaires produce superior information (far from it)
BUT (web-based) questionnaires can quickly get you lots of data that are suitable for statistical analysis
Variable Perceived usefulness consisting of 3 items

20. Research method: Which one is best?
RQ: What kind of character traits are most likely to cause people to commit cybercrime?
RQ: To what extent do first-person shooter games influence aggressive behavior of children aged between 10 and 14?
RQ: What do news consumers consider fake news?

21. Research method: Reliability vs Validity
Reliability: extent to which a measurement tool gives
consistent results
(If someone else had conducted the
research, the findings should be the same)
Validity: extent to which a measurement tool
measures what it is supposed to measure
In order to be valid an instrument has to be reliable
Standardization of questions:
- will increase the reliability of your findings (more replicable)
- can decrease the validity of your findings (do we measure what we want to measure?)

22. Research method: Reliability vs Validity
Test-retest reliability
Consistency over time
 e.g. pre-test or pre and post measurement
Inter-coder/observer reliability
Agreement between two or more coders (qualitative research)
 Cohens Kappa
Internal consistency reliability
= loading of items
 Cronbach’s Alpha
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Construct
Item 4
Item 5
Item 6

23. Research method: Reliability vs Validity
internal validity: change in dependent variable is caused by independent variable = causality. In other words: can the outcome be attributed to causes other than the designed interventions?
ensure a proper experimental design
external validity: the findings can be generalized beyond the context of the own research
broad and divers sample
construct validity: does your instrument measure the construct(s)
carefully define your construct and develop valid instrument or use existing instrument(s)

24. Research process Research question(s) Literature review
Operationalization
Research method
Sampling
= Research proposal

25. Sampling Who will be asked to participate?
How, how many, how often, when?
Random sample or otherwise? (e.g. convenience sample)
Random sample: probability to be selected known for every member of the population (not necessarily equal)
In case of experiment: randomization per condition
Type of campaign:
Green High Tech
How to select a sample from the chosen unit of analysis/population? How to approach/find your participants?
RQ: Effect of type of campaign and channel on reputation UT
Dependent variable: reputation UT
Independent variables: type of campaign and channel
Online
Channel:
Offline

26. Sampling Practical reasons
Surveys among entire populations not always feasible, necessary or desirable
e.g., all university students, all clients of a company
Conclusions about the entire population can be made, if you have drawn a random sample
How to select a sample from the chosen unit of analysis/population? How to approach/find your participants?

27. Sampling Does random sampling guarantee representativeness?
No! A sample will always deviate somewhat from the population because of random error, but …
If a sample is drawn through random selection we can estimate the sampling error, which …
Allows us to draw conclusions about the population
If you notice that the sample deviates from the population (e.g. overrepresentation of males), corrections can be made (sample weights)
How to select a sample from the chosen unit of analysis/population? How to approach/find your participants?

28. Research process Research question(s) Literature review
Operationalization
Research method
Sampling
= Research proposal

29. To sum up: Define RQ(s) based on literature
Define your concept(s), construct(s) and variable(s)
Determine how to examine your RQ(s)
The research method must fit your RQ(s)
Define your target group and sampling method
Start writing your proposal
Have a look at the ethical committee process
Make use of the clinics!
Clinics are a requirement to be able to submit your proposal!!
Incomplete teams?