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    Principles of Methodology - Perri 6 & Christine Bellamy

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    Michael Umaña

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    SAGE has been part of the global academic community since 1965, supporting high quality research and learning that transforms society and our understanding of individuals, (groups, and cultures. SAGE is the Independent, innovative, ‘natural home for authors, editors and societies who share ‘our commitment and passion for the social sciences. Find out more at; wwwi.sagepublications.com @SAGE Principles of Methodology Research Design in Social Science Perri 6 and Christine Bellamy @SAGE Loxgeoi| en int “thmoce sedan (© Pers 6 and Christine Bellamy 2012 Fics published 2012 Apart fom any fae dealing for the purposes of researc ‘or private study, or etc or review, as permitted ‘under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be repreduced, stored or transmitted Jn any form, or by any means, only withthe prioe pesmisian in watg ofthe publishers, of inthe cas of reprograpbie production, In accordance with the terms ‘of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concetning reprodaction outside thove terms shouldbe sent tothe publishers, SAGE Publiations Ltd 1 Olivers Yard ‘SS City Road London BCIY 1S? SAGE Publications Ine, 2485 Teller Road ‘Thousand Oats, Calfornis 91320 SAGE Publications Tadle Pvt Led B1/11 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road New Dest 110.044 SAGE Publications Asia Paci Pte Led 23 Pekin Groce 409-01 For Bast Square Singapore 048763, Library of Congress Control Number: 2011920596 Dritish Libeary Cataloguing in Publication data ‘Acatalogue record for this Book is avallable fom the Bltish Library {SBN 978.0-85702-473-2 158 978-0-85702-4749 “Typeset by C&M Dighals () L1d, Chennai Punted and bound by CPI Group (UK) Li, Cropton, CRO AYY Printed on paper from stainable resources Contents ‘Acknowledgements About the authors Injection (p Youndations: what methodotogy is and does Anference nd warrant designing research Methodoldgy and social science knowledge 3. Tesng, confeming and falsying Medd “lag Perspectives on findings from social research, 7 OO Types of research design GQ) istered ene dese ‘Case-based research designs 8 Comparative and case-orlented research designs 9 Concept formation Part IIt Achievements: what research makes inferences to 10 Why ideas about explanation matter for methodology 11 Basic forms of explanation. 12, Mechanisms, contexts and trajectories 13 Warranting explanations 14 Between-case and within-case strategies 15. Interpretation 16 Warranting interpretations Part 1V Synthesis: combinations and trade-offs 17 Combining research designs 18 Tiade-offs in research design Glossary References Index 25 38 49 67 6 102 7 129 153 158 166 180 200 212 227 287 267 269 285 299 310 320 Acknowledgements We are very grateful to several cohorts of Nottinghain Trent University graduate students for taking part in our uncontrolled experiment in teaching them by using, materials on which we diew in writing this book, and for their comments and sug: gestions. The Influence of our former colleague, Nick Tilley, on out thinking will be obvious, andl we ome him a big debt. Rob Denny offered insightful comments on the material, We are very grateful to Patrick Brindle at Sage for encouraging us to wiite this book and to David Hodge and Tan Antcllff of Sage for their patience and theis valuable guidance as we completed it, and for the reviewers’ comments, All mistakes and infeliities are, of course, ou own, About the authors Berri 6s Professor of Social Policy in the Graduate Sco in the Cokege of Basnes, Lav and Social Scfence at Notingham Trent Univer, where be teaches coutses in methodology and advanced qualitative methods. He has worted atthe universes of Bimingham, Kings Cole London, Stale ad Bath in recent yeas, he os published bot qualitative and quantitative research on policies to change citizens Tehavion, tensions Between joinedsup goverment and cent confentaty (vith Chuistne Bellamy and Chares Raab, policy implementation and poyaaker se of information in decson-naking, aswell as aor theoreti work on Instations, temotionsand networks and consumer cholce in publicservces, Arnong his best-known books ave Paradates of moderation (ed ita Margets ax Hood, 2010) esttional Apna of ate the new Duin (et with G Mar, 200), Pubic emotion (et with $ Radsione, C Squie and A Teechet, 2007), Beyond elie: policy implemenaion as Sense malig and setement with & Peck, 2006), Managing neue of trent centr rgd (vith Gn, B Peck Teena, 2008), Eegorrnnas ies Fe ical judgment inthe information age poy (2004 ad Toads haiti governance oth D Tent Setzer and Stoke). Hs book, Expuning pita judgeent, which develops a ncoDurkhcmian cus tory of pla! decision-making, wil be published by Camrkige University Pressin 2011, Supported by the Leverhulme Tus, he research Ing styles of pola Judgement and unintended congequenos of plc dectslons in Bats government between 1959 and 1974. Christine Bellamy is Emeritus Professor of Public Administration in the Graduate School, Nottingham Trent University, She recently retired as Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Studies) in the College of Business, Law and Social Sciences at ‘Nottingham Trent University, to spend more time on waiting and research. She was responsible for the College's Graduate School for ten years, and played a key role in developing and delivering research training for students following masters, PhD and Prof programmes throughout the College. She continues to participate in teaching methodology and methods to PhD students at both basic and advanced levels. Christine Bellamy is a member of the Academy of Social Sciences. She has served on the ESRC’s Research Evalution Committee and on the Steering Group for Its International Benchmarking Exercise for Politics. She has also served on the ‘Commissioning Panels for two ESRC-funded Programmes, and was a member of tthe Politics and International Relations Sub Panel for RAE2008. Chaistine's research, snteret en public administration and pubic policy, expetallyinfrmaton po te. she recently completed a major 25RCMtunded projec with Pen 6 and Charles Taub) on How public agencies dea with ensons between elent confidentiality and data shaving, and is curently engaged in an administrative history of identity shane agement ad privacy in Britsh overnment vil PRINCIPLES OF METHODOLOGY Introduction ‘We have written this Book because, in our own teaching, we found that most text- books on methods ot philosophy of sccial science say remarkably little about one of the most fundamental questions in research design: what will we be able to clalm to know as a result of doing this research? The book deals with the key issues in methodology —as opposed to methods —feom basic through to advanced tevel. We have written it to address the needs of early career researchers, including graduate students taking masters’ courses for which they are expected (0 carry out empitical research and doctoral researchers undertake sng methods training in support of their PhDs. The early sections may also be use- ful for undergraduates preparing to undertake research-based dissertations. But we believe, too, that the important and oxiginal, and perhaps controversil, argument we develop will also engage experienced researchers, whether they work in universities of carty out or commission the growing volumes of social esearch now undertaken for businesses, government and social agencies. What is ‘methodology’? ‘This: book is about methodology and research design, By ‘methodology’, we ‘mean the understanding of how to proceed from the findings of empirical research to make inferences about the tuth ~ or at least the adequacy — of theories. Its importance stems from the fundamental insight thet findings about empirical facts are often most interesting when they enable us to make deeper judgements about what might be going on beneath those facts. The point of understand. ‘ng ‘methodology’ is that it should enable us to design our research so that we can draw defensible conclusions about what might be causing the things we ‘observe, including those causes stemming from ways in which people think about the world, : How to dra defensible conclusions is not the same problem as how to ‘gener~ ‘lise’ from our results. In its commonest form, generalisation fs not a very deep problem, If we have looked at a set of cases - perhaps youig people becoming homeless, or companies going bankrupt, or political parties recovering from electoral defeat ~ and we have good reason to think that those cases are typical of other cases in the same ‘population’, then most of us woulld risk generalising to ceases that we have not actually observed. ‘A much deeper problem is that of drawing conclusions, even about the cases we hhave observed, from paiterns of facts about such things to ‘explanations’ or ‘inter- pretations’. ‘Methodology’ is the study of this problem. It differs from the study of ‘research methods’, which deals with teclnniques for collecting data and for analysing them, Good methods are, of course, essential to doing good research. A defensible methodology is no use at all, 1 the data axe collected poorly or coded sloppily, 0: the ‘wrong statistical tests or qualitative analyses are carried out. But the converse Is also true. A sound understanding of methodology wil help us avoid the risk of collecting and analysing the data competently, but finding ourselves unable to draw any sound ‘conclusions because the research design Is flawed, ‘The study of methods is commonly divided by the type of data they use. Broadly, different methods are used for collecting, coding and analysing quantitative and ‘qualitative data, By contrast, many problems of research design and methodology are ‘much the same, strespective of whether the research uses numbers or strips of text ‘We still need to ensure that we can draw interesting conclusions from whatever we ‘lscover. For this reason, this book does not have separate chapters on qualitative and quantitative approaches to xesearch, Methodological disagreement: the impossibility of neutrality Methodology isa subject about which social scientists disagree, probably more than, they disagree about method. This means that there are few non-contentious issues with which to introduce social research methodology. We must therefore issue a health waming. No book on methodology can be ently neutral between meth: odological arguments. As practising researchers we inevitably hold our own post: tons, which have influenced how we have conducted our own research, We have also Found from teaching this subject over many yeats that students benefit from taking part in vigorous academic debates, For these reasons, this book takes sides in some imporia hhave endeavoured, nevertheless, o cover the main lines of methodological debate fromm a range of perspectives that accurately reveal the rationale for competing post- tions. We intend that, in this way, the book will equip you to develop your own, vlews. A reader who does not share our approach, oF who holds a slval one, can, we hope, use this book with confidence that we shall not smuggle in unacknowledged assurmptions or disguise the space for rival positions. We have tied Garoughout to set ‘out clearly the available contrary arguments, even as we indicate what we consider tobe theie weaknesses | current disputes. We A multi-disciplinary approach to the study of methodology We set out to vite a book that will be useful across the socialsciences, including, sociology, political science, anthropology, development studies, business and mane ‘agement studies, criminology, public polly, social policy, and science and technol ogy studies. Indeed, we draw examples from each of these disciplines and fields. We hhave both pilncipled and practical reasons for believing that this crossdisciplinary approach is appropriate ‘he principled reason is that all these diseipliies share common foundations in ‘methodology and research design. This isnot suzprising, because they have all devel- oped from @ common source, As late asthe mid-nineteenth century, these disciplines were hardly distinguished from one anothey, save as empitical fields within the broad emit of social science, The practical reason is that It is increasingly common for stu dents to learn about method and methodology in multi-disciplinary groups. Indeed, in many countries, including the UK, this practice is atively encouraged by the pub. Nic bodies which fund research training. We welcome mutti-disciplinary approaches io research training, because we kniovr from our own experience how much students and early career researchers benefit from seeing how colleagues in other disciplines work through methodological issues. Just as important, it can be easier to understand a complex issue from an example Outside our own field, because It is easier to recognise the problem's logical stu! ture, without being distracted by the empirical facts of the particular illustration Contouns and contrasts became clearer and easier to read, when we look at sometbing from a distance, So, for example, political sclentists should find considerable value in looking at methodological problems through the lens of examples taken, sty, from anthropology, public policy or business studies The scope of the book This isa book on methodology o i wil not cover much that is usually found ia texts on research methods, either qualitative or quantitative, We say nothing here, for example, about how to catty out standard statistical tests or how to conduct snterviews or analyse transcripts. Rather, this book addiesses the problem of what inferences you might expect to be able fo draw fiom fncings produced by such methods. So it deals with the problem of how to desigs! research that is meth- odologically defensible and provides confidence that good use ean be made of is findings. Nor is this book principally about the philosophy of the socal scfences. We devote Chapters 2, 3 ané 4 to philosophical issues that are of central Importance to metherdotogy, but this book does not provide a comprehensive guide to the ‘thought of the key figures in the philosophy of the social sciences orto philosophi- cal issues and problems. ‘We Insist, 100, that understanding research methods and the philosophy of the social sciences ~ Important as they both are ~ is not enough to make a competent ‘social researcher, Too many new researchers embark on their work with some back: ‘ground in method and philosophy, but too Hite in methodology. Worse stil, they may not even realise that the methodology of research design deals with distinct isoues from the study of method and philosophy. “The book is principally about what is often known as ‘obseivational research’, We do not cover in any depth the methorological issues at stake in experimental work, although Chapter 4 does say some important things about, experimental design in ‘order to show What is distinctive about observational research, The structure of the book “The book is divided into four parts covering, respectively: + Foundations — what methodology is and does “Designs ~ the principal types of research design and the methodological challenges each type presents. 1+ Achievements ~ the kinds of products.or arguments to which-researchers can make inferences from the finginas produced by analysis: + Combinations ond trade-ofs- ways of bringing two or more research designs together to support each other, and how to think about the compromises that ail types of research designs must make, Dart I raises two issues that recur throughout the book, We explain why the study of methodology is controversial in a manner and to a depth that, for example, the study, fof method is not, Second, all the good things prescribed by methodology do not go ‘together wel: we cannot have everything we would ideally like inthe same research, design, A research design may exhibit several different virtues, but we usually have to strike trade-offs between them. So a Key part of any methodological defence of a piece of research is making the case that the trade-off struck between these virtues Is a reasonable one, ‘The second part of the book ceals with the concepts structuring the whole book. It describes the main types of research design by distinguishing between deductive and Inductive design, within- and between-case analysis, and between varlable-orlented, ‘case-based and case-comparative research, The thisd part of the book is concerned with the main types of achlevements, products or outcomes of social science research, or what research seeks to draw inferences fer. These products ate descriptions, expla: expretations. nations and i 4 PRINCIPLES OF METHODOLOGY In practice, however, some social science research combines these elements. In the final past, we examine the services that description, explanation and Interpretation «an provide for each other in a combined study. In the concluding chapter, we discuss some of the ways in which trade-offs can be struck between particular vitues appro- Dilate to different research designs Our experience of teaching this material to multi

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