SO202

Introduction to Social Research

Dr. Rebecca King ORiain

Week 1
Tutor:
Sarah Kennedy
Sarah.kennedy.2009@nuim.ie
Office Hour: Tuesday @ 10 (B.4)
Types of Research:
Descriptive:
Social phenomena are defined and described.
Exploratory:
Explore how people get on in certain settings, what meanings
they give to their actions, and what issues concern them.
Explanatory:
Identify cause and effects, and predict how a phenomenon
will change in response to the variation of another
phenomenon why things happen.
Evaluative:
Describes the impact of social policies and programs.
Research Methods:

Quantitative
Positivist peach!
Reality is objective and
universal
Theory testing
Numerical data
Identify patterns and
correlations
Macro-scale
Generalizable
Qualitative
Interpretivist onion!
Reality is socially
constructed, subjective
Theory building
Rich, descriptive data
Understand the social reality
of those involved
Micro scale
Contextual understanding
Research Ethics:
Protecting Research participants
No harm
Informed consent
Disclosure
Anonymity/confidentiality
Benefits needs to outweigh the risks
Achieve valid results