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Hyrje ne Hulumtim

Java1
Të gjithë jemi hulumtues …?

Cdo dite bejme pyetje dhe kerkojme/


hulumtojme pergjigjet
•Si shkohet tek qendra sportive
•Cfare te ha per drake
•Ku te shkojme per pushime
•Pse me dhemb koka
Pergjigjet I nxjerrim nga burimet, pervojat e
meparshme
Ne varesi te tyre del cilesia e hulumtimit

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Perse behet Hulumtimi?

Hulumtimi në shkencat shoqërore është


dicka e vecantë: ai është një proces të cilin
e përdorim për të kutpuar botën tonë në një
mënyrë që shkon shumë më përtej
përshkrimit të thjeshtë, logjikës së thjeshtë
apo gjërave që na kanë treguar të tjerët
(Pole dhe Lempard 2002).

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Hulumtimi
Progresi në pothuajse çdo fushë të shkencës varet nga
kontributet e dhëna nga kërkimi sistematik; kështu që
kërkimi shpesh shihet si gur themeli i përparimit shkencor. I
definuar gjerësisht, qëllimi i kërkimit është t'u përgjigjet
pyetjeve dhe të fitojë njohuri të reja. Kërkimi është mjeti
kryesor që përdoret pothuajse në të gjitha fushat e
shkencës për të zgjeruar kufijtë e dijes..
Hulumtimi mund të përdoret për qëllime përshkrimi,
shpjegimi dhe parashikimi, të cilat të gjitha japin
kontribute të rëndësishme dhe të vlefshme në zgjerimin
e asaj që dimë dhe se si e jetojmë jetën tonë.

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Disa përkufizime të hulumtimit

 Një qëllim ose hetim që ka për qëllim zbulimin e ndonjë fakti


me anë të shqyrtimit ose studimit të kujdesshëm të lëndës;
një kurs hetimi kritik ose shkencor (OED, 1989).

 …është hetimi sistematik, i kontrolluar, empirik dhe kritik i


pohimeve hipotetike për marrëdhëniet e supozuara midis
dukurive natyrore (Kerlinger, 1970: 8).

 …është një proces hap pas hapi, që ka të bëjë me


mbledhjen dhe shqyrtimin e informacionit. Hulumtimi bëhet
me qëllim që të përmirësojmë njohuritë dhe të kuptuarit e
botës që na rrethon. Ai pothuaj gjithmonë përfshin gjetjen
ose zbulimin e dickaje të re
(http://info.cancerresearchuk.org)
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Pse bëhet hulumtimi?

Hulumtimet shpesh nuk na japin rezultatet qe


presim apo duam:
•“Nuk ka si kerkimi nese deshiron te gjesh dicka !
Sigurisht kur kerkon, zakonisht gjen dicka, por nuk
eshte gjithmone pikerisht ajo gjeja qe po kerkoje”
Hulumtimi eshte process qe e kryejme kur:
•Kemi nje pyetje te ciles duam t’I pergjigjemi
•Na duhet te fitojme njohuri
•Duam te zgjerojme te kuptuarit tone te botes
shoqerore
Author/s: Book title, edition number – edit on master slide
Pse bëhet hulumtimi?

• Kur lind një ide dhe duam të mësojmë nëse


është e vërtetë…
• Kur duam të gjejmë arsyet pse ndodhi një ngjarje
e caktuar ose kur duam të mësojmë si reagojnë
njerëzit ndaj stimujve sociale

Karakteristikat e hulumtimit:

- Pyetja
- Procesi hulumtues
- Përgjigjja

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Natyra e hulumtimit është…

• E strukturuar dhe e qëllimshme (si ne mbledhjen


ashtu edhe në interpretimin e të dhënave)
• Rigoroze
• E shëndoshë dhe e mbrojtshme: solid ne
konceptim, hartim, praktik
• Sistematike
• Me shume sesa thjesht mbledhje faktesh:
perqendrohet tek shpjegimi po aq sa edhe tek
pershkrimi
AHalili_UAMD_Meto8
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dat Kerkimore_2016-
Natyra e hulumtimit NUK është…

• Mbledhje e thjeshtë informacioni ose faktesh

• E shkëputur nga jeta e përditshme: disa


hulumtime trajtojnë ide abstrakte ose
zhvillime teorike; lloje të tjera hulumtimesh
shkaktojnë ndryshime – shpesh për mirë – në
jetën ‘reale’ dhe mënyrën si e përjetojmë atë

AHalili_UAMD_Meto9
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dat Kerkimore_2016-
Cilësia në hulumtim

Cfarë e bën një hulumtim cilësor?

• Hulumtimet mund të ndryshojnë nga njëri


tjetri, varësisht nga tema, qasja teorike e
përdorur, zgjedhja e metodave të mbledhjes
së të dhënave etj…por ka disa koncepte që i
ndihmojnë kërkuesit të sigurojnë që puna e
tyre i plotëson standartet cilësore që priten
nga kërkuesit e tjerë…

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Cilësia në hulumtim

Cfarë e bën një hulumtim cilësor?

• Hulumtimet mund të ndryshojnë nga njëri tjetri,


varësisht nga tema, qasja teorike e përdorur,
zgjedhja e metodave të mbledhjes së të
dhënave etj…por ka disa koncepte që i
ndihmojnë kërkuesit të sigurojnë që puna e tyre i
plotëson standartet cilësore që priten nga
kërkuesit e tjerë…

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Cilesia ne hulumtim: Kerkime te verteta

• Becker et al. (2006): Cilësia në hulumtimet në fushën


e politikave shoqërore?...35 kritere të cilësisë !!!

1. Hulumtimi duhet të shkruhet në mënyrë te


kuptueshme per audiencat e duhura.
2. Modeli i hulumtimit eshte i tille qe trajton qarte pyetjet
e bera prej tij.
3. Transparence ne mbledhjen e te dhenave dhe
analizimin e tyre.
4. Shpjegim i qarte se si eshte kryer procesi i
hulumtimit.
5. Hulumtimi duhet te kontrolloje ne
shtimin/permiresimin e njohurive.

AHalili_UAMD_Meto 12
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dat Kerkimore_2016-
Koncepte te cilesise…

1. Mbeshtetshmeria – ose bazueshmeria


(riprodhueshmeria)
- A mund te riprodhohen rezultatet e mia nga kerkues te
tjere, nese ata perdorin te njejtat metoda?

Ne shkencat natyrore, pritet te arrihet plotesisht te njejtat


rezultate nga kryerja e te njejtit eksperiment…
Ne shkencat shoqerore, kryesisht punohet me njerez jo me
kimi apo fizike…Synimi eshte qe nje hulumtues tjeter te
mund te arrije te njejtat rezultate, nese do ta kryente
hulumtimin ne te njejten menyre ose i njejti hulumtues do
arrije te njejtat rezultate po ta perserise edhe nje here ate
ne te njejten menyre…

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Bazueshmeria dhe Transparenca

• Bazueshmeria: matje e cilesise se hulumtimit


qe do te thote psh., se ne te jane te perfshire te
gjitha te dhenat dhe se nuk ka humbur asnje e
dhene per shkak te aparateve te regjistrimit qe
nuk punojne mire ose zbardhjeve te pasakta.

• Transparenca: procesi i hulumtimit dhe


vendimet e marra nga hulumtuesi jane te gjitha
te regjistruara dhe te tjeret kane qasje ne to per
ti shqyrtuar.

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Koncepte te cilesise…

2. Vlefshmeria dhe besueshmeria


- A po hulumtoj vertet ate gje qe mendoj se po
hulumtoj?
- A kane lidhje te dhenat qe po mbledh me pyejtene
hulumtimit (a do te me ndihmojne ato ti pergjigjem
pyetjes se hulumtimit apo te testoj hipotezen time?

Perqendrimi eshte tek vendimi i hulumtuesit ne lidhje


me te dhenat qe duhen mbledhur dhe menyren e
interpretimit te tyre.

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Mendoni per kete…

• The Black Report (1980): hetimi i gjendjes


shendetesore te njerezve nga klasa te
ndryshme shoqerore ne Britani.

• Gjetja: njerezit nga klasa te ulta shoqerore kishin 2.5


here me shume gjasa te vdisnin perpara daljes ne
pension, sesa ata nga klasat e larta shoqerore.

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Mendoni per kete…

Nese hulumtimi do te perseritej a do te ishin te mjaftueshme


vetem keta parametra?

 Mosha e personave ne castin e vdekjes


 Klasa e tyre shoqerore?
 Cfare tjeter mund te jete e rendesishme???

Te ardhurat, punesimi, gjeografia, mjedisi, arsimi, ndotja,


shendeti, politika, gjenetika, drejtesia shoqerore etj…

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Koncepte te cilesise…

3. Pergjithesueshmeria dhe transferueshmeria

- Deri ne cmase mund te pretendoj se rezultatet ose


gjetjet e hulumtimit tim jane te verteta per popullaten e
gjere ose ne nje kontekst tjeter?

- Varet nga demonstrimi statistikor se gjetjet e bazuar ne


nje kampion te caktuar mund te konsiderohen pak a
shume te verteta edhe per te gjithe popullaten.
- Eshte e rendesishme te pranohet se kerkimet ne shkalle
te vogel jane me vlere por rralle mund te pretendohet se
jane te pergjithesueshme !!!
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Koncepte te cilesise…

4. Praktika etike

- A i kam kushtuar vemendjen time me te plote menyres


se si sillem si hulumtues me njerezit e tjere qe jane
pefshire ne hulumtimin tim?

 I duhet kushtuar vemendje etikes ne hulumtim sepse


praktika e hulumtimit shoqeror ka te beje me
pjesemarrjen e qenieve njerezore dhe punon me
informacione qe lidhen me njerezit.

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Kush jane hulumtuesit ne fushat
shoqerore?

• Kudo: Punojne ne organet e qeverisjes


qendrore dhe vendore, organizatat
joqeveritare dhe bamirese, shkolla, klube,
ekipe futbolli etj…

• Per tu bere nje hulumtues ‘i mire’ duhet


kohe dhe pune, si dhe te kuptuarit e
ceshtjeve te cilesise qe lidhet me
hulumtimin!!!

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Hulumtimi juaj

CFARE DUHET MBAJTUR MEND?!?

• Hulumtimi eshte proces.


• Hulumtimi duhet planifikuar. Ai nuk ndodh rastesisht.
• Faktet dhe te dhenat nuk jane te domosdoshme e
njejta gje si dijet.
• Pershkrimi nuk eshte i njejte me shpjegimin.
• Hulumtimi duhet te jete i shendoshe dhe rigoroz. Ai
duhet te jete ne gjendje tu qendrohe kritikave dhe
kundershtimeve nga individe dhe organizata qe mund
te mos jene dakord me metodat e perdorura ose
rezultatet e nxjerra.

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DIJET, TEORITE, PARADIGMAT


DHE KENDVESHTRIMET
Nga t’ia fillojme?

• Per te hulumtuar nje teme duhen nje sere


informacionesh ne formen e statistikave,
mendimeve dhe ideve te akademikeve dhe
studiuesve me te shquar ne ato fusha, teorive ose
ideve qe perbejne bazat e menyres se si shihet dhe
kuptohet tema…

• Gjate mbledhjes se informacionit zgjidhni ate


informacion qe do tju ndihmoje ti pergjigjeni nje
pyetjeje dhe te tregoni qe e keni kuptuar si pyetjen
ashtu edhe informacionin qe do te perdorni per te
trajtuar ceshtjet qe ngrihen nga pyetja…

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• Titulli i detyres: C’eshte hulumtimi shoqeror dhe cila
jane idete, teorite dhe kendveshtrimet qe ndikojne ne
menyren se si kryhet hulumtimi shoqeor?

1. Cila eshte natyra e subjektit te hulumtimit shoqeror - C’eshte bota


shoqerore?
2. Si pjese e kesaj bote shoqerore cfare dime ose cfare mund te dime
per te? Si qenie njerezore – dhe pjese e botes shoqerore – cfare
marredhenjesh vendos hulumtuesi shoqeror ne boten shoqerore qe
po studion?
3. Cfare ka per te studiar ose hulumtuar – ontologjia? Dhe pse njerezit
i shohin gjerat ndryshe nga njeri tjetri?
4. Te menduarit per cka eshte per tu studiuar – si mund ta bejme kete?
Cilat jane menyrat per ta ‘veshtruar’ boten shoqerore –
epistemologjia – qe mund te na ndihmojne te mendojme se cfare
duam te studiojme dhe si mund ta bejme kete?
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Cfare eshte?...

• Ontologjia: shkenca qe studion ate qe


eshte/ekziston, llojet dhe strukturat e sendeve,
tipareve, ngjarjeve, proceseve dhe
marredhenjeve ne cdo fushe te realitetit (Smith,
2003).

• Epistemologjia: teoria e dijes dhe menyres se


si i dime (mesojme) gjerat.

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Cila eshte natyra e hulumtimit ne shkencat
shoqerore
C’eshte bota shoqerore?

Kushtet dhe rrethanat kulturore ne te cilat


kryhet hulumtimi shoqeror.

Marredhenjet shoqerore midis individeve dhe


botes shoqerore dhe si dhe pse eshte dhe
behet bota shoqerore kjo qe eshte – jane
objekt i interesit te shkencetareve ne fushat
shoqerore

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Author/s: Book title, edition number – edit on master slide
VËSHTRIM I PËRGJITHSHËM I
SHKENCËS DHE METODËS SHKENCORE
Me fjalë të thjeshta, shkenca mund të përkufizohet si një qasje
metodologjike dhe sistematike për përvetësimin e njohurive të reja.
Në mënyrë të veçantë, në vend që të mbështeten në vëzhgime të
thjeshta rastësore dhe një qasje joformale për të mësuar rreth botës,
shkencëtarët përpiqen të fitojnë njohuri të reja duke bërë vëzhgime të
kujdesshme dhe duke përdorur qasje sistematike, të kontrolluara dhe
metodike.
Për më tepër, njohuritë shkencore nuk bazohen në opinionet, ndjenjat
ose intuitën e shkencëtarit. Në vend të kësaj, njohuritë shkencore
bazohen në të dhëna objektive që janë marrë në mënyrë të besueshme
në kontekstin e një studimi kërkimor të hartuar me kujdes. Shkurtimisht,
njohuritë shkencore bazohen në grumbullimin e provave empirike (Essentials
of Research Design and Methodology by Geoffrey Marczyk, David DeMatteo, and David Festinger. Pg. 4)

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Çfarë është Hulumtimi?

1. Sistematik – procesi kërkimor


2. Logjike – induksion/deduksion
3. Empirike – e bazuar në dëshmi
4. Reduktiv – përgjithësim
5. Replikueshme – metodologji

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Metoda shkencore

Megjithëse ekzistojnë disa mosmarrëveshje në lidhje


me karakteristikat e sakta të metodës shkencore,
shumica pajtohen se ajo karakterizohet nga
elementët e mëposhtëm:
1.Qasja empirike
2.Vëzhgimet
3.Pyetjet
4.Hipotezat
5.Eksperimentet
6.Analizat
7.Konkluzione 8. Replikimi (Essentials of Research Design and Methodology by Geoffrey
Author/s: BookDeMatteo,
Marczyk, David title, edition number
and David – edit
Festinger. Pg.on
5) master slide
Type author names here

Social Research Methods


Chapter 1: The nature and
process of social research

The context of social research methods


The elements of the research process
The confusion of social research
What is social research?

• Academic research which uses the social


sciences for conceptual and theoretical
inspiration:

• to formulate research topics


• to interpret the findings

• This class is about the methods used to


do social research.
Pages 4 and 5

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


What Exactly is Research?

Research studies come in many different forms... For now, however, we


will focus on two of the most common types of research—correlational
research and experimental research.

Correlational research: In correlational research, the goal is to deter-


mine whether two or more variables are related. (By the way, “variables”
is a term with which you should be familiar. A variable is anything that
can take on different values, such as weight, time, and height.)
Experimental research: In its simplest form, experimental research
involves comparing two groups on one outcome measure to test some
hypothesis regarding causation.
(Essentials of Research Design and Methodology by Geoffrey Marczyk, David DeMatteo, and David
Festinger. Pg. 4)

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


The Purposes of Social Research

Social research is a vehicle for mapping out a topic that may


warrant further study later: looking into a new political or religious
group, learning something about use of a new street drug, and so
forth. The methods vary greatly and the conclusions are usually
suggestive rather than definitive. Even so, such exploratory social
research, if carefully done, can dispel some misconceptions and
help focus future research.
Some social research is done for the purpose of describing the state
of social affairs: What is the unemployment rate? What is the racial
composition of a particular city? What percentage of the population
plans to vote for a particular political candidate? Careful empirical
description takes the place of speculation and impressions.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


How are research topics formulated?
• They stem from social scientists’ attitudes to prevailing
social theories;

• They follow from the researcher’s existing knowledge about


the current state of phenomena;

• They depend on the researcher’s orientation to theory as


something to be tested in research or to emerge from
research;

• They depend on whether research is regarded as apart


from the social world studied or as an integral part of that
world.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


The role of ethics and politics

• Certain kinds of research – involving children


or vulnerable adults, for example – require
special provision with regard to ethics, limiting
what can and cannot be researched.
• Related to the previous issue is the question of
what research is for
• Certain research topics are more likely to be
funded than others, leading to a strong
influence by sponsors on the issues actually
researched.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


The role of theory in research

Which comes first, theory or research?

- should we examine a problem and try to work out


how it’s caused and how it might be solved (inductive
reasoning),

- or should we take a generally accepted theory of


how things work and find evidence for it in the
problem we examine (deductive reasoning)?

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Epistemological considerations

• What is (or should be) considered acceptable knowledge? (The


Practice of Social Research, Twelfth Edition. Earl Babbie)
• ...More to the point of this class, however, science offers a
special approach to the discovery of reality through personal
experience. In other words, it offers a special approach to the
business of inquiry. Epistemology is the science of knowing;
methodology (a subfield of epistemology) might be called the
science of finding out. This class presents and examines social
science methodology, or how social scientists find out about
human social life.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Epistemological considerations
• epistemology The science of knowing; systems of knowledge.
• methodology The science of finding out; procedures for
scientific investigation.
• agreement reality Those things we “know” as part of the
culture we share with those around us.
Our attempts to learn about the world are only partly linked to direct
personal inquiry or experience. Another, much larger, part comes from
the agreed-on knowledge that others give us, those things “every-one
knows.” This agreement reality both assists and hinders our attempts to
find out for ourselves.
To see how, consider two important sources of our secondhand knowledge
— tradition and authority.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Elements of the social research process

• Literature review
• Concepts and theories
• Research questions
• Sampling
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Writing up the research

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The literature review

• See chapter 5
• Essentially, we must read the existing
literature to find out:
– what is already known about the topic,
– what concepts and theories have been applied to
it,
– which research methods have been applied to it,
– what controversies exist about the topic and/or
how it has been studied,
– what clashes of evidence exist, if any,
– who the key contributors are. Page 8

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Concepts and theories
•Concepts are a key ingredient of theories;
(Concepts are the way that we make sense of the social world.
They are essentially labels that we give to aspects of the social
world that seem to have common features that strike us as
significant).
•Almost all theories have at least one embedded concept, like
bureaucracy, power, status, charisma, cultural capital,
McDonaldization and so on;

•They help us organize our research and make our intentions


clear to others.
•They help us to think about and be more disciplined
about what it is we want to find out about and at the same
time help with the organization of our research findings.
Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition
What are research questions?
A research question is a question that provides an explicit
statement of what it is the researcher wants to know about. A
research purpose can be presented as a statement (for example,
‘I want to find out whether (or why) . . .’), but a question forces the
researcher to be more explicit about what is to be investigated. A
research question must have a question mark at the end of it or
else it is not a question. It must be interrogatory.(In a civil action,
an interrogatory is a list of questions one party sends to another
as part of the discovery process).
A hypothesis is in a sense a form of research question, but it is
not stated as a question and provides an anticipation of what will
be found out.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Research questions are crucial
...in the research process, because they force you to consider that most basic
of issues—what is it about your area of interest that you want to know? Most
people beginning research start with a general idea of what it is they are
interested in. Research questions force you to consider the issue of what it is
you want to find out about much more precisely and carefully. Developing
research questions is a matter of narrowing down and focusing more
precisely on what it is that you want to know about.
•Because they guide:
– your literature search and your decisions about research design,
– the type of data you will collect and from whom,
– your data analysis and your final write-up.
•They will stop you from going off in unnecessary directions.
•They will give your readers a clearer sense of what your research is about.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Types of research question

The following types of research question are proposed by


Denscombe:
1.Predicting an outcome (does Y happen under circumstances A
and B?).
2.Explaining causes and consequences of a phenomenon (is Y
affected by X or is Y a consequence of X?).
3.Evaluating a phenomenon (does Y exhibit the benefits that it is
claimed to have?).
4.Describing a phenomenon (what is Y like or what forms does Y
assume?).
5.Developing good practice (how can we improve Y?).
6.Empowerment (how can we enhance the lives of those we
research?)

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Sampling

• Because a wide variety of objects can be researched,


not just people, the term ‘case’ is used to denote the
unit of analysis.
• Time and money available will constrain the number
of cases we can study – we can rarely study all cases
– so we have to sample.
• Samples can be selected for their ability to represent
the entire population
• Samples can be selected for their appropriateness to
research questions (WE WILL BE BACK AT THE
LESSON 3).

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Data collection
Structured methods of data collection include
questionnaires and interviews used in survey
studies: the researcher designs research tools
relative to what needs to be known;

Less structured methods include participation


observation and semi-structured interviewing:
the researcher can keep an open mind about
what needs to be known.

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Questionnaire
Some of the methods of data collection covered in this class, such as
interviewing and questionnaires, are probably more familiar to many
readers than some of the others. Some methods entail a rather structured
approach to data collection—that is, the researcher establishes in
advance the broad curves of what he or she needs to find out about and
designs research instruments to implement what needs to be known.
The questionnaire is an example of such an instrument; the researcher
establishes what he or she needs to know to answer the research
questions that drive the project and designs questions in the
questionnaire that will allow data to be collected to answer those research
questions. Similarly, something like a structured interview—the kind of
interview used in survey investigations—includes a host of questions
designed for exactly the same purpose.

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Stages of data analysis

First, the data collected needs to be managed by, for


example, entering it into a computer programme;

Second, it must be coded;

Third, relationships can be discovered between various


categories or groups of data, possibly by applying statistical
techniques;

Fourth, links can be made with the research questions, the


literature review and the concepts and theories used.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Data analysis

The data analysis stage is fundamentally about data reduction—


that is, it is concerned with reducing the large corpus of
information that the researcher has gathered so that he or she
can make sense of it. Unless the researcher reduces the amount
of data collected—for example, in the case of quantitative data
by producing tables or averages and in the case of qualitative
data by grouping textual material into categories like themes—it
is more or less impossible to interpret the material.
A further issue to bear in mind with data analysis is that it can
refer to the analysis of either primary or secondary data.

Social Research Methods Alan Bryman Fourth edition. Pg 13.

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Categories of Research
There are two broad categories of research with which researchers must
be familiar.
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
• Quantitative research involves studies that make use of statistical
analyses to obtain their findings. Key features include formal and
systematic measurement and the use of statistics.
• Qualitative research involves studies that do not attempt to quantify
their results through statistical summary or analysis. Qualitative studies
typically involve interviews and observations without formal
measurement. A case study, which is an in-depth examination of one
person, is a form of qualitative research. Qualitative research is often
used as a source of hypotheses for later testing in quantitative research.
(Essentials of Research Design and Methodology by Geoffrey Marczyk, David DeMatteo, and David Festinger. Pg. 28)

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


The core ingredients in writing up research

• Introduction: An outline of the research area and its


significance; the research questions and hypotheses.
• Literature review: A critical examination of what is
currently known about the topic.
• Research methods: A presentation of how the
sampling was done and how the data was collected and
analysed.
• Results: A presentation of the findings.
• Discussion: Findings are discussed in relation to their
implications for the literature and the research
questions.
• Conclusion: The significance of the research.

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Stages in the research process

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Stages in the research process

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Social research is messy

Research is full of false starts, blind alleys, mistakes, and enforced


changes to research plans. But these are rarely written about in the
final research publications.

Books (no matter how well written) can only deal with generalities, so
individual pieces of research may seem difficult to reconcile with the
broader picture.

There are plenty of things that can go wrong with a research plan so
being flexible and being willing to persevere in adverse
circumstances are desirable traits in a social researcher.
Nonetheless, the methodological principles and techniques outlined in
this book provide a road map for the research journey.

Bryman: Social Research Methods, 4th edition


Questions for review
• What is meant by ‘social research’?
● What is distinctive about academic social research?
• Why do social research?
● If you were about to embark on a research project now or
in the near future, what would be the focus of it and why?
• The context of social research methods
● What are the main factors that impinge on social research
and the implementation of social research methods
identified in the chapter? Can you think of any that have not
been touched on?

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