Research Methods

PsyC 501

Program: Counseling Psychology MA

Tilahun G. (PhD)
Unit1: Foundations of Social Science
Research
What is Research
• A systematic way of collecting and analyzing inf. for
some purpose
• Systematic-planned, not haphazard
• Collecting and analyzing data
• Some purpose- research has several purposes

Aims of research
1.Explore
2.Explain
3.Predict
4.Control/modify

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Research paradigms
• Guba and Lincoln (2005)
1. The axiological question
2. The ontological question
3. The epistemological question
4. The methodological question

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Postpositivism

Based on rationalistic, empiricist philosophy rooted

in Aristotle
• Francis Bacon
• John Locke
• Auguste Comte
• Immanuel Kant
• Positivism- social world can be studied in the same
way as the natural world.
• Positivists - goal- discovering general laws to describe
constant relationships between variables.
• Postpositivists critics on positivism
• Focus solely overtly observable.
• Generalizling laws to human behavior is not easy.

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Constructivist Paradigm

• Origins
• Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology
• Wilhelm Dilthey’s and other German philosophers’
hermeneutics.
• Knowledge is socially constructed by people active
in the research process
Transformative Paradigm

• Includes
• Critical theorists
• Participatory action researchers
• Marxists, feminists
• Racial and ethnic minorities
• Persons with disabilities, among others
• Position themselves side by side with the less
powerful.
Transformative Paradigm ctd...

• Distinguishing characteristics of transformative

paradigms
1. central importance on the lives and experiences of the
marginalized
2. analyzes how and why inequities based on gender etc. are
reflected in asymmetric power relationships
Pragmatism
• Roots
• Charles Sanders Peirce
• William James
• John Dewey,
• George Herbert Mead
• Arthur F. Bentley
Classifications of Research
Based on Purpose
Basic Research
Applied Research
Evaluation Research
Research and Development
Action Research

Based on Method
Quantitative
Qualitative
Mixed

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Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Quanitative-Qualitative Research Distinctions

1. Assumptions about the world-single Vs multiple

reality
2. Research purpose-establishing relationships &
explaining causes Vs understanding social
phenomenon
3. Research methods & process-predetermined Vs
flexible
4. Prototypical study- experimental Vs ethnographic
5. Researcher role- detached Vs immersed
6. Importance of context-context free Vs context
bound generalization

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Quantitative Research Designs

QuanitativeResearch Varieties

1. Experimental Designs- involve manipulation of

variables to establish cause effect relationship
• True Experimental
• Quasi Experimental
• Single subject research
2. Non-experimental Designs- describe things that
have occurred or see their relationships with no
manipulation
• Descriptive research
• Correlational research
• Causal-comparative research
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The Process of Research
1. Identifying a research problem
2. Reviewing the literature
3. Specifying a purpose for research
4. Collecting data
5. Analyzing data
6. Interpreting the data and drawing conclusions

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