Transcript Slide 1
Research Methods (Overview)
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INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH
SOCIAL SCIENCES
TYPES OF RESEARCH
MOTIVES FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
Announcement
Leading anti-sexist male activist Jackson
Katz is coming to WSU on January 27 at 7
p.m. to give a male perspective on
violence against women, and what men
can do to stop it.
Location: Katz will speak to WSU and the
Pullman community from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
in the Compton Union Building’s
auditorium.
Instructor
Name: Dr. Arina Gertseva
Office: Wilson-Short, room # 146
Office Hours: M & W 8:00 -11:00 a.m.
E-mail: [email protected]
Teaching Assistant
Teaching Assistant: Joseph King
Office: Wilson-Short Hall 214
Office Hours: by appointment
Phone: 335-4595 (messages only)
Email: [email protected]
Course Website
http://cooley.libarts.wsu.edu/garina/soc320/
Assignment # 1
Photos/images are symbolic statements that tell
a lot about the person
Create a photo essay about who you are
Study the photo essays created by your
classmates
Analyze these exhibits to answer the question
“How do WSU students see themselves?”
Assignment # 1
Note both style and content
Look for the “what”, and deduce the “why”
Think comparatively
Develop general categories(e.g., things related to
school, family, leisure)
Note any differences by gender
Assignment #1: Example
Research
“Research is an organized and systematic way of
finding answers to questions”
Research is ….
SYSTEMATIC because there is a definite set of procedures
and steps which you will follow
ORGANIZED in that there is a structure or method in going
about doing research. It is a planned procedure, not a
spontaneous one.
FINDING ANSWERS is the end of all research. Research is
successful when we find answers. Sometimes the answer is
no, but it is still an answer.
QUESTIONS Without a question, research has no focus,
drive, or purpose.
Questions are everywhere
“How are you?”
“How was the party?”
“Do you want to have a cup of coffee?”
Questions are everywhere
“Why people lie — and how to tell if they do?”
“Why do people cheat?”
Explaining human behavior
“How do people fall in love?”
Compatibility? Attractiveness? Difference?
Untested explanations
Unfounded, but commonly accepted, explanations
for behavior can have widespread consequences
To avoid the trap of easy and untested
explanations, we need to adopt an approachscientific explanation
Social Sciences
The social sciences are a group of academic
disciplines that study human aspects of the world
List of social sciences (not all)
Anthropology
Communication
Cultural studies
Economics
Education
Geography
History
International Relations
Linguistics
Political science
Psychology
Social policy
Social work
Sociology
Development studies
Methods
Experiment
Survey
Observation
Interview
Unobtrusive Method
Other Methods: Mike Adams
Mystery Meat Macrophotography
A News Target Photo Tour by Mike Adams
This is a 1x magnification shot of a stack of salami slices. You can clearly see some
of the texture, the fat blobs and some dark spices that appear to be spices
3x magnification of some huge black chunk of something. Note that
the ingredients list of this product lists no pepper!
Mystery Meat Macrophotography
Here's a 1x cross-section photo of a Jimmy Dean pork sausage
Here's a 4x magnification showing some of the beef collagen
casing (that's the stuff that looks like rice paper). That's made from
interesting beef parts
Why to do research?
Beyond Academia
Since the late 1970s, many social scientists have
tried to make the discipline useful for non-academic
purposes
The results of sociological research aid educators,
lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others
interested in resolving social problems and
formulating public policy
Science and Research
We are surrounded by research
We use social research to raise children, reduce
crime, improve public health, sell products, or just
understand one’s life
Reports of research appear on broadcast news
programs, in magazines, and in newspapers
People change their behavior, …they
Abandoned electric blankets (increase in cancer in
children whose mothers had used electric blankets
while pregnant)
Moved their chairs away from televisions
(“radioactivity”)
Take aspirin a day to avoid strokes
Quit smoking to avoid cancer
Weight loss boom
Advertising
Weight loss drug- Wonder Pill
European health agencies have warned that the
weight-loss drug rimonabant -- marketed as
Acomplia, may cause dangerous psychological side
effects in 10 percent of users , including suicidal
thoughts
Side effects no one
is talking about
Rimonabant acts to suppress appetite by blocking receptors
in the brain that regulate food intake and help break down
sugars and fats
Evidence suggests that 10 percent of Acomplia users
develop psychological side effects, the most common being
depression
Other potential side effects include anxiety, irritability,
nervousness and sleep disorders
Approximately one percent of users experience suicidal
thoughts while taking the drug
Crossen Cynthia “Tainted Truth: The
Manipulation of Fact in America”. New
York: Touchstone, 1994
Research and food
Research about food contributed many truths to the
world (some of them contradict the others)
There is little agreement about how coffee, oat bran,
margarine, wine, and nuts affect human bodies
Coffee
Benefits
Reduced risk of Alzheimer's
disease
Reduced risk of gallstone
disease
Reduced risk of Parkinson's
disease
Cognitive performance
Analgesic enhancement
Antineoplastic
Cardioprotective
Laxative/diuretic
Antioxidant
Risks
Anxiety and sleep changes
Constipation
Cosmetic
Blood pressure
Effects on pregnancy and
menopause
Coronary artery disease
Research and food
There is truth about food so sacred that it cannot be
challenged by research
Consider some surprises of recent years
“Milk is the number one health hazard facing young
children” , wrote a Santa Rosa, California doctor in support
of a new report by the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine
The report cited a study published in the New England
Journal of Medicine about milk contributing to juvenile
diabetes
Diabetes?
Despite its neutral name , the committee is actually a
pressure group of mostly vegetarians who oppose
animal research and support animal welfare groups
Motives for Social Research
Policy Motivations
Academic Motivations
Personal Motivations
Policy Motivation
Specific problem/issue is addressed
Student government wants to know whether the
number of students who are arrested for driving
while intoxicated will decline if university sponsors
alcohol-free parties next year
Academic Motivation
Provide foundation for knowledge about the world
without visible practical meaning
Today’s computers could not exist without research
in abstract mathematics conducted over a century
ago
Why do people conform to social norms?
Personal Motivation
Shy people might study how to be more comfortable
with strangers
International researchers might be interested in
cultural adjustment to the host culture
Previous trauma can be a motive for future research
in psychology
Example: explain the behavior of Kitty’s
Neighbors (1964)
Kitty Genovese – New York woman who was stabbed
to death over a period of about 40 minutes
During the attack, over 30 of her neighbors listened
to her screams, yet no one of them bothered to call
the police
“Urban Apathy” phenomenon
Types of research
Pure research
Applied research
for the sake of scientific
Practical goal in mind
knowledge
Construction of theories of
models that allow for a better
understanding of human
behavior
No immediate direct impact
Development of
strategies intended to
address the problem
Which research is more useful?
Some scholars/policy makers consider pure research
to be waste of time and money
Since the late 1980s, many social scientists have
tried to make the discipline useful for non-academic
purposes
The results of sociological research aid educators,
lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others
interested in resolving social problems and
formulating public policy
Which topic is more important?
American Time Use Survey (ATUS) Series -
collects information on the kinds of activities people
engage in and the time they spend involved in these
activities by age, sex, educational attainment, labor
force status, and other characteristics, as well as by
weekday and weekend day.
Which topic is more important?
Impact of the Court Process on Sexually
Abused Children in North Carolina, 19831986 - examines how sexual abuse and the
subsequent judicial processes affect the mental
health functioning of child victims by assessing the
impact of (1) additional harm to victims from out-ofhome placement, (2) criminal prosecution of the
offender/family member, (3) subject testimony in
juvenile or criminal court, and (4) family and
professional support for the children.