Transcript Introduction to Research Methods

Soc 3306a
Lecture 2
Overview of Social Enquiry
Choices Facing the Researcher
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What is the problem to be investigated?
What questions should be answered?
Which strategy will be used?
What will the researcher’s stance be?
What paradigm will direct the
investigation?
The Problem
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The fundamental first choice
A statement of what will be studied and
how the area will be delimited
The Research Question
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A statement of what will actually be
investigated
Three main types:
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What = description
Why = understanding, explanation
How = intervention, problem solving
‘What” questions usually come first, but a
research project will usually encompass
‘why’ and ‘how’ questions too
Research Strategies
(from Blaikie, 2007)
Research Strategies (cont.)
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Underlying logic of the research inquiry
 Inductive: linear, bottom up process
 Deductive: also linear but top down
 Retroductive: spiral, more complex, top
down, moves from model to real world
 Abductive: complex bottom up process
from real world to generalizations and
theory
The Researcher’s Stance
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Other choices to be made in research:
Will the researcher function as
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An outsider or insider
An expert or a learner?
Will research be done on, for, or with
people?
What are the implications of these
choices?
Research Paradigms and their Ontological
and Epistemological Assumptions
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Paradigm is the theoretical framework within
which the research takes place
Paradigms differ by their ontology and
epistemology
Each paradigm has a different way of
connecting ideas (concepts and theory) to
every day social experience and to social
reality (the material world)
Ontological Assumptions
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What is the nature of social reality?
Major ontological (philosophical)
assumptions tend vary on a continuum
from extreme realism to idealism
(relativism)
Epistemological Assumptions
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How do we gain knowledge of the world around us?
What can be known?
What type of knowledge is legitimate?
 Empiricism: use the senses to “know” the world
 Rationalism: common thought structures shape
knowledge
 Falsificationism: cautious search for tentative truth
 Neo-realism: search for underlying causal structures
 Constructionism: reality socially constructed
 Conventionalism: reality a human creation
Links between Ontology and
Epistemology
Each epistemology is linked to certain ontological
assumptions…
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Empiricism, Rationalism, Falsificationism, and Neorealism are linked to varying degrees of ontological
realism
Constructionism is tied to idealism (relativism)
Conventionalism an alternative epistemology that tries
to overcome weaknesses of above
 Recognition that reality is a social construction but
that it is possible to use empirical methods to search
for commonalities among structures.
What is a paradigm?
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Each paradigm is guided by specific ontology
and epistemology, and has its own “rules”
A paradigm is a fundamental image of the
knowledge and subject matter within a science
Includes theoretical and methodological “rules”
for working within that particular paradigm
Sociology is a multi-paradigmic science
Theoretical traditions include structuralfunctionalist theory, conflict theory, social
exchange theory, symbolic interactionist theory
and more…
A paradigm….
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is the broadest unit of consensus within a science
serves to differentiate one scientific community
from another
defines
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what should be studied
what questions should be asked
how they should be asked
what rules should be followed in interpreting the
answers obtained
Relationship between theory
and research
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The relationship is defined by the paradigm
according to its theoretical underpinning
The theory tells us what "social facts" are
worthy of social research
Theory enables organization of research
findings and conclusions
Theory helps determine gaps in scientific
knowledge and provides suggestions for further
research investigation
Theory makes it possible to impute causality to
the relationships between concepts
Furthermore…
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Theory can extend empirical
generalizations
Theory creates confidence in the value
of new evidence and its ability to
extend knowledge in the area
Theory provides a rationale for the
research and grounds for future
prediction
Major paradigms and theoretical
traditions in sociology
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Positivism
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Interpretivism
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Symbolic interactionism
Social exchange
Critical
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Structural functionalism
Conflict theory
Realism
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Postmodernism
Questions:
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What constitutes knowledge?
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Is it possible to find social “truth”?
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If so, how can “truth” be discovered?