The empirical counterpart of a construct or concept is called a variableVariables are important because

they link the empirical world with the theoretical; they are the phenomena and events that are
measured or manipulated in research.

Scientific research is an organized, objective, controlled, qualitative or quantitative empirical analysis of

.1 Scientific research is public. Advances in science require freely available information. Researchers
(especially in the academic sector) cannot plead private knowledge, methods, or data in arguing for the
accuracy of their findings; scientific research information must be freely communicated from one
researcher to another.

This process of replication allows for correction and verification of previous research findings.

2Science is objective. When a study is conducted, explicit rules and procedures are developed and the
researcher is bound to follow them, letting the chips fall where they may. Rules for classifying behavior
are used so that two or more independent observers can classify behavior patterns or other elements in
the same manner. For example, to measure the appeal of a television commercial, researchers might
count the number of times a viewer changes channels during a commercial.Objectivity also requires that
scientific research deal with facts rather than interpretations of facts

3. Science is empirical “experience.”) Researchers must be able to perceive and classify what they study
and reject metaphysical and nonsensical explanations of events. For example, scientists would reject a
newspaper publisher’s claim that declining subscription rates are “God’s will” because such a statement
cannot be perceived, classified, or measured. Scientists must link abstract concepts to the empirical
world through observations, which may be made either directly or indirectly via various measurement
instruments. Typically, this linkage is accomplished by framing an operational definition

A constitutive definition. Operational definitition

4. . Science is systematic and cumulative. No single research study stands alone, nor does it rise or fall by
itself. Astute researchers always use previous studies as building blocks for their own work.

In its ideal form, scientific research begins with a single carefully observed event and progresses
ultimately to the formulation of theories and laws.

A theory is a set of related propositions that presents a systematic view of phenomena by specifying
relationships among concepts. Researchers develop theories by searching for patterns of uniformity to
explain their data. When relationships among variables are invariant under given conditions, researchers
may formulate a law.

A law is a statement of fact meant to explain, in concise terms, an action or set of actions that is
generally accepted to be true and universal. Both theories and laws help researchers search for and
explain consistency in behavior, situations, and phenomena.

5. Science is predictive .Science is concerned with relating the present to the future. In fact, scientists
strive to develop theories because, among other reasons, they are useful in predicting behavior. A
theory’s adequacy lies in its ability to predict a phenomenon or event successfully. A theory that offers
predictions that are not borne out by data analysis must be carefully reexamined and perhaps discarded.
Conversely, a theory that generates predictions that are supported by the data can be used to make
predictions in other situations

The typical research process consists of these eight steps:

1. Select a problem.

2. Review existing research and theory (when relevant).

3. Develop hypotheses or research questions.

4. Determine an appropriate methodology/research design. deciding whether to use qualitative

research (such as focus groups or one-on-one interviews) with small samples or quantitative
research (such as telephone interviews), in which large samples are used to allow results to be
generalized to the population under study

5. Collect relevant data.

6. Analyze and interpret the results.

7. Present the results in an appropriate form.

8. Replicate the study (when necessary).

Steps 2 and 8 are optional in the private sector, where some research is conducted to answer a
specific and unique question related to a future decision, such as whether to invest a large sum
of money in a developing medium. In this type of project, there generally is no previous research
to consult, and there seldom is a reason to replicate the study because a decision is made based
on the first analysis. However, if the research produces inconclusive results, the study is revised
and replicated.
sampling procedures, experimental conditions, measuring techniques, and methods of data
analysis.

e. Any such variable that creates a possible but incorrect explanation of results is called an
artifact (also referred to as a confounding variable). The presence of an artifact indicates a lack
of internal validity; that is, the study has failed to investigate its hypothesis.

Independent variables are systematically varied by the researcher; dependent variables are
observed and their values are presumed to depend on the effects (influence) of the independent
variables. In other words, the dependent variable is what the researcher wishes to explain. For
example, assume a researcher is interested in determining how the angle of a camera shot
affects an audience’s perception of the credibility of a television newscaster. Three versions of a
newscast are recorded: one shot from a very low angle, another from a high angle, and a third
from eye level. Groups of subjects are randomly assigned to view one of the three versions and
complete a questionnaire to measure the newscaster’s credibility. In this experiment, the
camera angle is the independent variable. The experimenter, who selects only three of the
camera angles possible, systematically varies its values. The dependent variable is the perceived
credibility of the newscaster as measured by the questionnaire

The empirical counterpart of a construct or concept is called a variable.

In many instances, multiple dependent variables are measured in a single study, which is called a
multivariate analysis.

Mass media Qualitative research involves several methods of data collection, such as focus
groups, field observation, in-depth interviews, and case studies. In all of these methods, the
questioning approach is varied. In other words, although the researcher enters the project with
a specific set of questions, follow-up questions are developed as needed. The variables in
qualitative research may or may not be measured or quantified.

1 Understand the goals of the project so that only relevant questions are included.

2. Questions should be clear and unambiguous.

3. Questions must accurately communicate what is required from the respondents.

4. Don’t assume respondents understand the questions they are asked.

 5. Follow Ockham’s Razor in question development and order.
a person should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to
explain anything or make more assumptions than the minimum needed. Applying this principle
to media research says that the simplest research approach is always the best.

structured interview: specific, preprepared questions are asked in a determined order

1Pre-established questions (i.e. a specific interview schedule).

2• Specific response categories.

3• Few (if any) open-ended questions.

4• The interviews are often standardized, i.e. each respondent receives the same questions, in
the same order.

5• The interviewer is expected to be neutral, objective, and thoroughly familiar with the
interview schedule.

6• Structured interviews are most often used in survey research, for market research, opinion
polls and so on

unstructured interview: uses a freeflowing conversational style

No specific a priori categorizations and questions.

1• Designed to discover new ways of understanding social reality

2• Open-ended questions

3• Each respondent may be treated differently

4 • Conversational style.

5• A general guide or outline may or may not be used.

6• The interviewer should be actively involved in the interview, but in order to let the
respondent express her or his views.

ADVANTAGES OF THE UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEW

It avoids the hierarchical nature of the structured interview, which may bias results.

1• It allows the discovery of new aspects of social reality be letting respondents express their
views.
2• It may be more useful and productive when studying marginal or underprivileged groups and
individuals.
3• It makes for richer data

Disadvantages of unstructured interview

1The results may be difficult to compare across respondents
2 • More challenging to interpret than structured interviews.

Participant observation is a qualitative method with roots in traditional ethnographic research,

whose objective is to help researchers learn the perspectives held by study populations.
Participant observation always takes place in community settings, in locations believed to have
some relevance to the research questions.

The method is distinctive because the researcher approaches participants in their own
environment rather than having the participants come to the researcher
Generally speaking, the researcher engaged in participant observation tries to learn what life is
like for an “insider” while remaining, inevitably, an “outsider.”

Data obtained through participant observation serve as a check against participants’ subjective
reporting of what they believe and do. Participant observation is also useful for gaining an
understanding of the physical, social, cultural, and economic contexts in which study
participants live; the relationships among and between people, contexts, ideas, norms, and
events; and people’s behaviors and activities – what they do, how frequently, and with whom.

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION IS ALSO USEFUL FOR:

gaining an understanding of the physical, social, cultural, and economic contexts in which study
participants live;

• the relationships among and between people, contexts, ideas, norms, and events;

• and people’s behaviors and activities – what they do, how frequently, and with whom

In addition, the method enables researchers to develop a familiarity with the cultural milieu that
will prove invaluable throughout the project. • It gives them a nuanced understanding of
context that can come only from personal experience. • There is no substitute for witnessing or
participating in phenomena of human interaction – interaction with other people, with places,
with things, and with states of being such as age and health status. • Observing and participating
are integral to understanding the breadth and complexities of the human experience
Through participant observation, researchers can also uncover factors important for a thorough
understanding of the research problem but that were unknown when the study was designed. •
This is the great advantage of the method because, although we may get truthful answers to the
research questions we ask, we may not always ask the right questions. • Thus, what we learn
from participant observation can help us not only to understand data collected through other
methods (such as interviews, focus groups, and quantitative research methods), but also to
design questions for those methods that will give us the best understanding of the phenomenon
being studied

direct observation and participant observation?

• Direct observation is primarily a quantitative technique in which the observer is explicitly

counting the frequency and/or intensity of specific behaviors or events or mapping the social
composition and action of a particular scene. —direct observation is about observable
behaviour

The true identity and purpose of the complete participant in field research are not known to
those whom he observes. He interacts with them as naturally as possible in whatever areas of
their living interest him and are accessible to him as situations in which he can play, or learn to
play, requisite day-to-day roles successfully. He may, for example, work in a factory to learn
about inner-workings of informal groups. After gaining acceptance at least as a novice, he may
be permitted to share not only in work activities and attitudes but also in the intimate life of the
workers outside the factory.

PARTICIPANT-AS-OBSERVER Although basically similar to the complete observer role, the

participant-as-observer role differs significantly in that both field worker and informant are
aware that theirs is a field relationship. This mutual awareness tends to minimize problems of
role-pretending; yet, the role carries with it numerous opportunities for compartmentalizing
mistakes and dilemmas which typically bedevil the complete participant. Probably the most
frequent use of this role is in community studies, where an observer develops relationships with
informants through time, and where he is apt to spend more time and energy participating than
observing. At times he observes formally, as in scheduled interview situations; and at other
times he observes informally-when attending parties, for example. During early stages of his
stay in the community, informants may be somewhat uneasy about him in both formal and
informal situations, but their uneasiness is likely to disappear when they learn to trust him and
he them.
The observer-as-participant role is used in studies involving one-visit interviews. It calls for
relatively more formal observation than either informal observation or participation of any kind.
It also entails less risk of "going native" than either the complete participant role or the
participant-as-observer role. However, because the observer-as-participant's contact with an
informant is so brief, and perhaps superficial, he is more likely than the other two to
misunderstand the informant, and to be misunderstood by him. These misunderstandings
contribute to a problem of self-expression that is almost unique to this role. To a field worker (as
to other human beings), self-expression becomes a problem at any time he perceives he is
threatened. Since he meets more varieties of people for shorter periods of time than either the
complete participant or the participantas-observer, the observer-as-participant inclines more to
feel threatened. Brief relationships with numerous informants expose an observer-as-
participant to many inadequately understood universes of discourse that he cannot take time to
master.

The complete observer role entirely removes a field worker from social interaction with
informants. Here a field worker attempts to observe people in ways which make it unnecessary
for them to take him into account, for they do not know he is observing them or that, in some
sense, they are serving as his informants. Of the four field work roles, this alone is almost never
the dominant one. It is sometimes used as one of the subordinate roles employed to implement
the dominant ones.

What are the disadvantages of participant observation?

The main disadvantage of participant observation is that it is time-consuming. In traditional

ethnographic research, researchers spend at least one year in the field site collecting data
through participant observation and other methods.
A second disadvantage of participant observation is the difficulty of documenting the data – it is
hard to write down everything that is important while you are in the act of participating and
observing
A third disadvantage of participant observation is that it is an inherently subjective exercise,
whereas research requires objectivity. It is therefore important to understand the difference
between reporting or describing what you observe (more objective) versus interpreting what
you see (less objective)

. Strengths and weaknesses of participant observation

Strengths Allows for insight into contexts, relationships, behavior Can provide information
previously unknown to researchers that is crucial for project design, data collection, and
interpretation of other data

Weaknesses Time-consuming Documentation relies on memory, personal discipline, and

diligence of researcher Requires conscious effort at objectivity because method is inherently
subjective

Visual sociology is an area of sociology concerned with the visual dimensions of social life.