Transcript Research Design - School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Research Design
Main Tasks of Research Design
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Specifying what you want to find out: this involves explaining the concepts you are interested in and how they will be measured (explication and meaning analysis).
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Determining the best way to do it: this involves determining whom or what you will explore, describe, or explain (unit of analysis); what time dimension is appropriate for your observations; and how you are going to do it (method).
Design Depends on Goals
What is the purpose of the research?
What shall we observe, among whom, for what purpose, and in what time frame?
Exploration
Often where inquiry begins
Informal methods, feasibility testing
Description
Detail the features of elements under review
E.g., U.S. Census
Explanation
Usually the aim of social scientists
Relating variables to account for process
Unit of Observation & Analysis
Unit of observation
What we look at to make observation
E.g., People in a survey, articles in content analysis
Unit of analysis
What we are interested in studying
Usually same as unit of analysis; sometimes different: E.g., Are “traditional” marriages more successful?
Unit of observation: husbands, wives Unit of analysis: marriage type (couple)
Types of Units of Analysis
Individuals
Groups
Organizations
Social Interactions
Social Artifacts
- However, bear in mind this is only one typology. - E.g., Lofland’s: practices, episodes, encounters, roles, relationships, groups, organizations, settlements, social worlds, lifestyles, and subcultures.
- What is important is the logic of units of analysis.
Types of Units of Analysis
Individuals
Groups
Organizations
Social Interactions
Social Artifacts
However, bear in mind this is only one typology. E.g., Lofland’s: practices, episodes, encounters, roles, relationships, groups, organizations, settlements, social worlds, lifestyles, and subcultures.
- What is important is the logic of units of analysis.
Units of Analysis: Individuals
Most common unit of analysis in social science/mass communication research
Seek to explain differences between individuals and relationships among individual differences
Variables and Relationships:
E.g., Income, Age, Gender, Education
E.g., Associated with differences in tolerance
Units of Analysis: Social Groups
Examples:
Households, families, neighborhoods, gangs
Seek to explain differences between groups and relationships among those differences
Variables:
Households: income, media use (Nielsen)
Marriages: types, communication patterns
Neighborhoods: crime rates, income stratification
Units of Analysis: Organizations
Examples:
Corporations, Universities, Governments
Groups with formal organizational structures
Seek to explain differences between formal social organizations and the relationships among organizational differences
Variables:
E.g., Corporations: employees, benefits, productivity
Units of Analysis: Social Interactions
Examples:
Kisses, Arguments, Email exchanges, discussion styles
Social interaction are usually the product of interplay between individuals.
Studies seek to explain different types of social interactions (ex. discussion as unit of analysis), the types of people engaging in certain interactions (ex. Individual as the unit of analysis)
Variables:
Number of arguments, argumentative people
Units of Analysis: Social Artifacts
Examples:
TV programs, newspaper articles, documents
Social artifacts are any product of social beings or their behaviors.
Studies seek to explain differences between social artifacts, the artifacts produced by different source, and the relationships among these factors
Variables:
Level of violence, number of sources used
Faulty Reasoning & Units of Analysis
Problems of drawing conclusions across units of analysis:
Ecological fallacy Reductionism
Ecological Fallacy
Observed characteristic of group leads to:
Inference about individual members
Similar to Prejudice
Individual judgments based on beliefs about group
E.g., Precinct voting records are unit of observation concerning support for democratic candidates
Majority Black precincts vote democratic
You can not assume that Blacks uniformly vote democratic
Whites within precincts may be responsible for pattern
Reductionism
Reducing complex phenomenon in a way that privileges particular units of analysis over others
E.g., Crime is a function of individual characteristics
What about social structures?
Economists: Economic reductionism
Psychologists: Psychological reductionism
Sociologists: Sociological reductionism
Dominant paradigms often limit views
Time Dimension & Research Design
Time and issues of causation
Static designs:
Cross-sectional study
Longitudinal designs:
Trend studies
Cohort studies
Panel studies
Cross-sectional Studies
Static snapshot
Slice of population at one point in time
E.g., An opinion poll
Inherent limitations:
Inability to capture change over time
Making causal inferences is dangerous
Cross-sectional studies
Top Global Concerns for 2003
% who list item among top 3 personal concerns Source: Roper Reports Worldwide 2003 Study of 30,000 consumers age 13 to 65 in 30 countries
Cross-sectional studies
Longitudinal Designs
Multiple observations across time
Tracking changes across time
Maybe in response to stimulus that occurs between observations
Testing for changes resulting from some intervening factor or event
Pretest-Posttest design in experimentation
Longitudinal Designs: Trends
Measures change in population over time
Sequential cross-sections of the population
E.g., Changes over time in:
Public knowledge levels
Voter turnout rates
Presidential approval ratings
Inherent limitations:
Starting point
Inability to capture individual change over time
Longitudinal Designs: Trends
Longitudinal Designs: Cohort Studies
Tracking changes in a group as they age
E.g., People born in 1940 sampled every 10 years
Measure change across the aging process
E.g., Do people become more conservative?
Cannot answer this question with a cross-sectional design because differences in age may be due to cohort or lifecycle differences.
Longitudinal Designs: Cohort Studies
Longitudinal designs: panel studies
Goes a step further:
Interviewing the same people more than once
Captures change in individuals over time
E.g., NES (cross-sectional and panel)
How do people react over time?
E.g, Public health/info campaigns
The respondent mortality problem
Are those who drop out different?
Longitudinal designs: panel studies
Statement: “Most people are honest” On a six point scale ranging from definitely disagree to definitely agree.
Source: Life Style Study – conducted by Market Facts on behalf of DDB Chicago and Dhavan V. Shah Wave 1 Feb. 1999 N= 3,348 Wave 2 June 2000 N= 1,886 Wave 3 Nov. 2000 N= 1,282 Wave 4 July 2001 N= 964
Longitudinal designs: comparisons Cross-sectional study 2000 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 Cohort study 1990 2000 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 2010 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 Trend study 1990 2000 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 Panel study 1990 2000 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 2010 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 41-50* 51-60* 61-70* 71-80* 81-90*