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A comprehensive overview of key concepts in social research methods, including theory, research approaches, research design, and ethical considerations. It explores deductive and inductive approaches, epistemology, ontology, quantitative and qualitative research methods, and various research designs, including experimental, quasi-experimental, and case study designs. The document also delves into concepts like validity, reliability, and ethical issues in social research.
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Theory - a system of ideas that are used to explain the causes and/or consequences of social phenomena Theory is made up of - Definitions, Descriptions of Phenomena of Interest, Relational Statements Relational Statements: Deterministic - 2 concepts or variables always go together Relational Statements: Probabilistic - 2 concepts regularly but not always go together Grand Theory - all encompassing with regards to time and space, tends to be difficult to link with real world in a directly testable way Middle-Range Theory - more limited in scope and less abstract, tend to refer to more specific time/place Research - a mixture of observations and interpretations that either she light on existing theory and/or help us build new theories Deductive Approach - Theory-->observations/findings 6 Steps in Deductive Approach (The huge duck finds himself pale) - Theory, Hypothesis, Data Collection, Findings, hypothesis confirmed/ rejected, possible revision of theory Inductive Approach - Observations-->theory 3 Steps in Inductive Approach (Give Mom Donuts) - Gather data, make statements and generalizations, derive explanatory theory from these statements Epistemology - What is knowledge? We construct and define as human beings, we socially decide what is acceptable. How do we come to know something? It comes from experience and authority Positivism - Explanation of social behaviour, evidence based on the senses, knowledge in the social sciences should be gathered in the same way as in the natural sciences
Interpretivism - Empathetic understanding of social behaviour, studying people and social life is fundamentally different than subject matter in the natural sciences Ontology - What is the nature of being? Reality? Existence? Ontology Debate 1: Do social phenomenas have an objective reality independent of our perceptions (Objectivist) - Yes they have an objective social reality Ontology Debate 1: Do social phenomenas have an objective reality independent of our perceptions (Hard Constructionist) - No facts, only interpretations Ontology Debate 1: Do social phenomenas have an objective reality independent of our perceptions (Soft Constructionist) - What we see is different from what is actually out there Ontology Debate 2: Structure vs. Agency (Objectivist) - the social world is out there- something that we act within and have little control over Ontology Debate 2: Structure vs. Agency (Constructionist) - social world is created and reacted out of everyday actions Quantitative - mostly use numbers as descriptions, deductive approach is most common, positivist model, social reality is external to the people in it Qualitative - mostly uses words as descriptions, inductive approach most common, try to determine how people interpret their social world, see social reality as an "emergent" property of peoples social constructions Reflexivity - understanding how you as a researcher are affected by your values and how they impact your social research Nomothetic Research Design - (quantitative) attributions of cause and effect, expressed in broad generalization and applied to people who were not actually in the study and those who were Ideographic Research Design - (qualitative) a rich description of person/ group, cause and effect relations are focused on interpretations/ meanings and usually meant to apply only to the person/ group under the study Replicability -
Ethical Issues - deception of participant vs. informed consent, psychological/ physical harm, confidentiality, anonymity, fair payment, bribery, taking advantage Critical Case Study Design - illustrates the conditions under which a certain hypothesis holds or does not hold (higher external validity, closer to quantitative approach) Extreme Case Study Design - illustrates the unusual cases, which help in understanding the more common ones (no external validity) Revelatory Case Study Design - examines a case or context never before studied, and previously inaccessible to study Cross Sectional Designs - observations made at only one point in time, no manipulation of the independent variable, 2 or more variables are measured in order to detect patterns of association- weak internal validity, high external validity, strong replicability Longitudinal Designs - provide information about time/ order in certain variables, cases are examined at a particular time and again at later times- very high internal validity Concepts - ideas or mental representations of reality that serve as basic building blocks of theory Nominal - describes the concept in words, much like a dictionary definition Operational - describes how the concept is to be measured Operationalization - move from the conceptual level (nominal) to the direct observation (operational)