Social Research
a process that involves combining a set of principles, outlooks and ideas (methodology) with a collection of specific practices, techniques and strategies (a method of inquiry) to produce knowledge
Authority
Accepting something as true because someone in a position of authority or an authoritative publication say so, authority relied on as a basis of knowledge (e.g. think tanks, media personalities)
Tradition
Accepting something as true as that’s how its always been (e.g. food bank users)
Common Sense
Uses everyday lived experiences or anecdotes to shape thinking as fact, encourages logical fallacies (e.g. crime is committed by just certain people)
Media Myths
Bias and polarization to be found across all forms of media (e.g. crime is rampant and increasing)
Personal Experience
If something happens to you, if you personally see it or experience it you accept it as true, “seeing as believing” (e.g. people and situations you encounter)
What are the 3 different purposes of a research study?
Exploration : addresses the what, formulate hypotheses
Description : provide a detailed picture
Explanation : test hypotheses
Quantitative Research
structured, objective and measurable method for collecting data, relies heavily on #’s and data to identify patterns and correlations
Qualitative Research
collects and analyzes non numerical, unstructured data to understand the why and how behind human behaviour, experiences and social phenomena
Steps in the Research Process
- Select topic 6. Interpret Data
- Focus question 7. Inform Others
- Design Study
- Collect Data
- Analyze Data
Social Theory
“a system of interconnected abstractions or ideas that condense and organize knowledge about the social world”
- a theory that helps us understand the social world & influences the direction of research (e.g. makes sense of empirical observations)
Aggregates
collections of many individuals, cases or other units (e.g. businesses, schools, families, clubs, cities, nations)
Social Theories
explain recurring patterns, not unique events
explain aggregates, not individuals
state probabilities of things happening
Macro-theory
aimed at understanding the big picture of institutions, whole societies and the interactions among societies (e.g. class struggles, international relations, economies)
Micro-theory
aimed at understanding social life at the level of individuals and their interactions (e.g. dating behaviour, jury deliberations, student faculty, household spending decisions)
Mesotheory
referencing an intermediate level between macro and micro theory (e.g. studying organizations/institutions; and how those organizations structure/constrain individual behaviours
Agency vs Structure
An individual’s ability to make decisions and act vs structures that limit their ability to decide and act
Ontology
Is there an objective social reality, or is social reality subjective/constructed?
Epistemology
How we study the social world : positivism vs interpretivism
Positivism
Emphasis on repetition, nomothetic, large samples, quantitative methods, objective facts
Deductive
theory first, then do data collection and analysis
Interpretivism
constructionist view, ideographic, small samples, qualitative methods
Inductive
gather and analyze data, then generate theory
Causal Explanation
Does one thing cause something else?
