Lecture 2B/ SOC:1100

Researching the Social World

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Researching the Social World

• Research is essential to the discipline of

sociology.

• All sociologists are encouraged to utilize

previously conducted research while
conducting their own.

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The Scientific Method
• Sociologists practice empiricism, which
means they gather information using their
senses.
• The scientific method is a structured way to
find answers to questions about the world.
• The scientific method is a systematic
search for a thorough understanding of the
world.

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The Scientific Method
• The scientific method uses steps.
• Uncover questions in need of answers.
• Review the relevant literature.
• Develop hypotheses (tentative statements
about the relationship between two or more
variables).
• Choose a research method.
• Collect data.
• Analyze the data.
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The Development of Scientific Knowledge

• The scientific method implies that science

develops gradually and cumulatively.

• Confidence in findings grows as they are

confirmed by additional research.

• All sciences are built on such facts.

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The Development of Scientific Knowledge

• Thomas Kuhn (1962) proposed a different model of

scientific development in The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions.

• A paradigm is a general model that is accepted by

most practitioners in a field.

• However, scientific revolutions occur when one

paradigm replaces another after a scientific
breakthrough.

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Sociological Research: Qualitative and
Quantitative Research
• Qualitative Research
• A scientific method that does not require
statistical methods for collecting and reporting
data

• Observation and open-ended questions are

two examples.

• Capture descriptive information.

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Sociological Research: Qualitative and
Quantitative Research
• Quantitative Research
• Involves the analysis of numerical data
typically obtained from the administration of
surveys and experiments.
• Can help us describe and understand
observable social realities
• Descriptive statistics are used to compare trends
over time
• Inferential statistics rely on data from small groups
to speculate on the behavior of larger groups.

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Sociological Research: Observational
Research
• Involves systematic watching, listening to,
and recording what takes place in a natural
setting over time

• The most common observational methods

used by sociologists are participant and non-
participant observations, and ethnography.

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Sociological Research: Observational
Research
• Dimensions to any type of observation in
sociology
• Degree to which those being observed are
aware that they are being observed

• Degree to which the presence of the observer

may affect those being observed

• Degree to which the process is structured

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Observational Research
• Participant and nonparticipant observation
• In participant observation the researcher
plays a role in the group or setting being
observed.

• In nonparticipant observation the researcher

plays little or no role in what is being
observed.

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Observational Research
• Ethnography
• The creation of an account of what a group of
people do and the way they live
• Entails much more intensive and lengthy
periods of observation
• Global ethnography: a type of ethnography
grounding in understanding globalization
• Netnography is using the internet and social
networking places and events as the
evaluative space of study
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Sociological Research:
Interviews
• Information is sought from participants
who are asked a series of questions.

• Types of interviews:
• Prestructured

• Unstructured

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Sociological Research: Surveys
• Questionnaires are self-administered, written sets
of questions.
• Types of surveys
• Descriptive
• Explanatory
• Sampling: a sample is a representative portion of
the overall population
• Random
• Stratified
• Convenience

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Sociological Research:
Experiments
• Involves the manipulation of one or more
characteristics of an independent variable
in order to examine the effect of that
manipulation
• Types of experiments
• Laboratory
• Natural
• Field

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Secondary Data Analysis
• Refers to re-analyzing data that has been
previously collected and analyzed.
• Historical-Comparative Analysis
• Goal is to contrast how different historical
events and conditions in various societies led
to different societal outcomes
• Content Analysis
• The systematic and objective analysis of the
content of cultural artifacts
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Issues in Social Research: Reliability and
Validity
• Reliability
• Involves the degree to which a given measure
produces the same results time after time
• Concern is with consistency
• Validity
• Involves whether a researcher is measuring
what he/she claims to be
• Concern is with accuracy

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Issues in Social Research: Research Ethics

• Ethics is concerned with issues of right

and wrong, the choices that people make,
and how they justify them.

• Research ethics is a balance of potential

knowledge - the goal is to increase
knowledge - and potential harm - the goal
is to minimize or eliminate harm.

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Issues in Social Research: Research Ethics

• Physical and Psychological Harm

• Physical harm can be an unintended
consequence of sociological research.
• Psychological harm can be caused merely by
asking people about sensitive issues.
• Illegal Acts
• A researcher might witness or even become
entangled in illegal acts during the course of
his/her research.

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Issues in Social Research: Research Ethics

• Violation of Trust
• Possibility of inadvertently divulging the
identity of respondents even though they were
promised anonymity or confidentiality
• Informed Consent and IRBs
• Institutional review boards are designed to
deal with issues of deception in social
research and potential harm.

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Issues in Social Research: Objectivity or
Value-Free Sociology

• Have researchers been, or can they be,

objective?
• Objectivity refers to suppressing personal bias and/or
value judgments from entering research
• Procedural objectivity involve reporting research
findings in a way that any reader will understand how
the research was conducted.

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Issues in Social Research:
Objectivity or Value-Free Sociology
• Many argue that value-laden research
jeopardizes sociology as it could destroy
its credibility.

• Others argue that it is appropriate for

researchers to be guided by their values or
the values that predominate their society.

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