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Research Ethics and Structuring Inquiry

Research Ethics and Structuring Inquiry . Ethics and Politics of Research. Ethics deals with methods used in research. Politics deals with representation of research. James Colemen and School Desegregation

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Research Ethics and Structuring Inquiry

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  1. Research Ethics and Structuring Inquiry

  2. Ethics and Politics of Research • Ethics deals with methods used in research. • Politics deals with representation of research. • James Colemen and School Desegregation • Eminent sociologist who found little difference in the academic performance of African-Americans in integrated vs. segregated schools • Instead family and neighborhood mattered most • Controversy and misrepresentation

  3. Ethics in Social Research • Voluntary participation. • No harm to participants. • Voluntary participation is based on a full understanding of possible risks. • Anonymity and confidentiality.

  4. Ethics in Social Research • Deception • Needs to be justified by compelling scientific or administrative concerns. • Debriefing session or procedure • Analysis and Reporting • Researchers must be honest about their findings and research.

  5. Ethics in Social Research • Institutional Review Boards • Review research proposals involving humans so they can guarantee the rights and interests are protected. • Professional Codes of Ethics • Most professional associations have formal codes of conduct that describe acceptable and unacceptable professional behavior.

  6. Ethical Controversy: Tearooms • Study of homosexual behavior in public restrooms • Lied to participants by telling them he was a “watchqueen” • Traced participants to their home and interviewed them under false pretenses • Invasion of privacy? • Deception of respondents?

  7. Ethical Controversy: Milgram • Study of human obedience. • Subjects had role of "teacher" and administered a shock to "pupils". • Pupils were actually part of the experiment. • Act out the effects of progressively higher “shocks” • Two-third continue to the highest level • “teachers” express great discomfort

  8. Group Exercise • Would you use research insights gained from research conducted in violation of ethical guidelines? • Ex., Tuskegee Airman Studies • Ex., Nazi War Experiments • Would you conduct a study that did not get IRB approval if you thought the topic was important? • Ex. Public responses to major news event • Ex. Studying the health effects of an oil spill

  9. Nature of Inquiry • What question are you trying to answer? • Pick the appropriate approach • Do you want to explain one case fully or understand a class of cases? • Different approaches with different goals

  10. Idiographic vs. Nomothetic • Two ends of a continuum of inquiry • The Idiographic Orientation • Unique characteristics of phenomena: • Rich description of “idiosyncratic” features • Intention is to explain one case fully • The Nomothetic Orientation • Generating generalizable principles • Establishing “trans-situational” laws • Intention is to explain a class

  11. Inductive Reasoning • Moves from the particular to the general • Observations lead to generalizations • Exploratory investigation • E.g., Identifying news frames through ethnographic study of newsroom culture and news production practices • Identifying frames as you encounter them

  12. Deductive Reasoning • Moves from the general to the particular • General principles lead to expectations for empirical testing • Theory testing investigation • E.g., Using theories of news production to: • Predict certain frames will occur more frequently • Episodic over thematic framing (Iyengar’s research)

  13. Wallace’s Wheel of Science ABSTRACT Theories INDUCTION DEDUCTION Empirical Generalizations Hypotheses Observations CONCRETE

  14. Creating Explanations • Research often seeks explanations by: • examining relationships between variables • E.g. Is gender related to party preference? • E.g. Is education related to prejudice? • E.g. Is political discussion related to civic participation?

  15. Conditions of Causality: • Covariation • Correspondence between cause and effect • Positive or negative covariation • Time-order • Cause must precede effect • Absence of third variables • Spurious relationships

  16. Spurious Relationships • Situations where X and Y appear to be related: • But are really the function of third variable Z • 1. Antecedent variable • Z causes both X and Y • 2. Intervening variable • X causes Z, Z causes X • Causation is rarely as simple as X causing Y • Multitude of factors cause Y • Contribute in varying amounts

  17. Necessary & Sufficient Causes • Necessary Cause: • For Y to occur, X must occur first • Just because X occurs, doesn’t mean Y will occur • Other factors may have to occur too • To pass the test, you must take the test • Sufficient Cause: • If X occurs, Y will occur • X determines Y, no contingencies • Other factors may also have the effect • If you skip an exam, you fail the exam

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