Chapter 1: Why Do Research?

1. MAN-10 Research Methods Instructor Erlan Bakiev, Ph. D. Chapter 1: Why Do Research?

2. What is social life? • Social science research is pervasive, and it affects daily life, family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers • Appear on broadcast news programs, in magazines and newspapers, and on many Web sites and blogs. • Cover dozens of topics and fields: law and public safety, schooling, health care, personal and family relations, political issues etc. (Ex: Child care)

3. Methodologyand Methods • Methodologymeans understanding the entire research process—including its social-organizational context, philosophical assumptions, ethical principles, and the political impact of new knowledge from the research enterprise. • Methodsrefer to the collection of specific techniques we use in a study to select cases, measure and observe social life, gather and refine data, analyze data, and report on results. The two are closely linked and interdependent.

4. Doing Social Research • Doing social science research requires: • persistence, personal integrity, tolerance for ambiguity, interaction with others, and pride in doing top-quality work. • logical thinking, carefully following rules, and repeating steps over and again. In the research process, we join theories or ideas with facts in a systematic way. • We also: • use our creativity • must organize and plan • select research methods appropriate to a specific question • must always treat the study participants in an ethical or moral way. • communicate to others how we conducted a study and what we learned from it.

5. Non-Scientific Production of Knowledge • Personal Experience and Common Sense (Ex: study of 300 women, ages 27 to 65, beauty crème fear astray) • Five main mistakes: 1. Overgeneralization -Statement that goes far beyond what can be justified based on the data or empirical observations that one has (Ex: blind people). 2. Selective Observation -Process of examination in a way that reinforces preexisting thinking rather than in a neutral and balanced manner (Ex: fat person vs thin person). 3. Premature Closure -Act of making a judgment of reaching a decision 4. Halo Effect -Occurrence that allows the prior reputation of persons, places, or things to color one’s evaluations rather than evaluating all in a neutral, equal manner. 5. False Consensus -A tendency to project one’s way of thinking onto other people. In other words, the person assumes that everyone else thinks like he or she does.

6. Non-Scientific Production of Knowledge • Experts and Authority • Someone in power says so..(Research Centers, diet) • Popular and Media messages • Window into a distorted reality • Road Rage • Holiday Havoc • Ideological beliefs and values • “it’s the way things have always been”

7. What Research Involves:A Scientific Approach • Enlightenment • Industrial Revolution • Science • Natural Sciences vs. Social Sciences • Social Theory • A system of interconnected ideas that condenses and organizes the knowledge about the social world and explains how it works. • Data - Numerical (quantitative) and non-numerical (qualitative) information and evidence that have been carefully gathered according to rules or established procedures • Empirical -Description of what we can observe and experience directly through human senses (e.g., touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste) or indirectly using techniques that extend the senses.

8. What Research Involves:A Scientific Approach • Pseudoscience • A body of ideas or informationclothed in the jargon and outward appearance of sciencethat seeks to win acceptance but that was not createdwith the systematic rigor or standards required ofthe scientific method. • Junk Science • A public relations term used to criticizescientific research even if it is conducted properly thatproduces findings that an advocacy group opposes • Scientific Community A collection of people who share a system of attitudes, beliefs, and rules that sustains the production and advance of scientific knowledge. - Innumeracy • A lack of quantitativeliteracy and nothaving an ability to reason with numbers and othermathematical concepts. - Scientific Literacy • The capacity to understand and apply scientific knowledge, concepts, principles, and theories to solve problems and make decisions based on scientific reasoning and to interact in a way that reflects the core values of the scientific community.

9. What Research Involves: Norms of the Scientific Community • Universalism Regardless of who conducts research(e.g.male or female) and of where itwas conducted (e.g., US, France), the research is to be judgedonly on the basis of scientific merit. • Organized Skepticism Scientists should not acceptnew ideas or evidence in a carefree, uncritical manner.The purposeof their criticism is not to attack the individualbut to ensure that the methods used in research canstand up to close, careful examination. • Disinterestedness Scientists must be neutral, impartial,receptive, and open to unexpected observationsand new ideas. They should not be rigidlywedded to a particular idea or point of viewand honestly accept allfindings based on high-quality research. • Communalism Scientific knowledge must be shared with others; it belongs to everyone. Creating scientific knowledge is a public act, and the findings are public property, available for all to use. • Honesty This is a general cultural norm Norms of the scientific community: Informal rules,principles, and values that govern theway scientistsconduct their research.

10. What Research Involves:A Scientific Approach • Scientific method It is a collection of ideas, rules, techniques, and approaches used by the scientific community. It grows out of a consensus formed within the community. • Scientific attitude It is the way people have of looking at the world. • Scientific orientation It tends simultaneously to be precise and logical, adopt a long-term view, be flexible and open ended, and be willing to share information widely • Journal articles • Blind review • Transformative process The social scientific research process essentially transforms our ideas, theories, guesses, or questions into a “finished product” with real value: new knowledge.

11. Quantitative Approach Steps in the Research Process

12. Quantitative Example 1Lowery and colleagues (2007) • Select a topic • Priming and academic performance • Focus the question • Do students who are primed improve academic performance • Design the study • experiments • Collect the data • Collected data from social psychology courses • Analyze the data • Statistical analysis employed • Interpret the data • Students who were primed scored higher on exams • Inform others • Published in Applied Social Psychology

13. Qualitative Approach Steps in the Research Process

14. Qualitative Example 1McCammon and colleagues (2008) • Select a topic • Women gaining full citizenship • Socio-cultural context/ Adopt perspective • Women gained citizenship differently in different states • Design the study • State archives, local newspapers and magazines, legal and political documents • Collect and analyze data • Analysis of when and how women gained citizenship in each state • Interpret the data • Inform others • American Journal of Sociology

15. Varieties of Social Research Quantitative • Objective observation • Focus on variables • Reliability • Separation between theory and data • Generalizable • Large N • Statistical analysis

16. Approaches to Social Research Qualitative Cultural meanings Focus on events Authenticity Merging between theory and data Situational Small N Thematic analysis