Social Research Methodology
Module 1: the research process
Ch1: The nature and process of social research.
Ch4: Planning a research project and formulating research questions. From this chapter, only the section “Formulating suitable
research questions” (pp.74-78)
‘Social’ research = research conducted by social scientists (sociology, politics, criminology..)
- SR is essential for understanding contemporary social life & new knowledge.
Context of social research methods
1. Theory: group of ideas that aims to explain something (the social world). An idea
about how or why things happen in a certain way. An explanation for particular
events or patterns that have been noticed (observed regularities).
a. Quantitative research: theoretical reflections/ideas - testing a hypothesis
b. Qualitative research: exploring a research question
2. Existing research literature: knowledge about the area in which the researcher is
interested. You must be familiar with it so you can build on it and not repeat work
that’s already been done.
3. Epistemological & ontological questions
a. Epistemological = views about how knowledge should be produced and
whether a certain scientific approach is the right one.
b. Ontological = views about the nature of the social world, and social
phenomena (observed facts, events or situations).
4. Values, ethics & politics: certain kinds of research (involving children/vulnerable
people) require careful planning and consideration of ethical implications.
Steps in research process (cycle)
1. Research question: guiding your literature search, research designs, data collection,
analysis, writing up etc.
a. Sources of research questions: personal interest, theory, research literature,
replication, puzzles, new developments or social problems.
b. Qualitative research tends to be more open-ended than quantitative research.
It is recommended to formulate some research questions beforehand that you
can adjust later in the process.
c. Type of questions:
i. Exploratory study: you don’t know much about the topic yet
ii. Descriptive study: you know about the topic (what, where, when, who,
how).
iii. Explanatory: “why…” giving an explanation (why, how).
iv. Evaluative study: “how effective”
d. Question influences all other phases of research process
i. Which literature are you going to search for?
ii. Research design?
iii. Which analysis?
iv. Conclusions and recommendations
2. Literature review: sharing knowledge about the topic with your readers. It’s not a
summary of the literature, but critical rather than simply descriptive.
, a. Is your question already studied in literature? What’s already known? What
concepts and theories have been applied? What research methods were
used? What controversies exist about the topic and how it is studied? What
contradictions of evidence exist? Who are the key contributors to the topic?
What are the implications of the literature for our own research?
3. Concepts and theory: the way we make sense of the social world (labels)
a. Plays a role during the whole process
b. Concepts are key ingredients of theories.
c. Deductive & inductive approaches
d. Identifying concepts will structure your work.
4. Selection of research units (= sampling cases), research design
a. Sampling: it’s unlikely to include every individual appropriate to our research
and include content of every publication relating to the topic.
i. Sampling applies to a variety of types of investigation.
b. Research designs: What, when, who, where, why
i. Interviews: how long, how often
ii. Experiment: impact of an intervention
iii. Longitudinal: social change over time
iv. Case study: particular communities, organisations or groups
v. Cross-sectional design: describing current attitudes/behaviours at a
single point in time
5. Data collection: doing your research
a. Structured approach: researcher establishes roughly what they want to find
out about in advance and designs the research collection tool accordingly.
Such as self-completion questionnaires and structured interviews.
b. Other methods of data collection are more flexible, such as participant
observation and semi-structured interviewing.
6. Data analysis: applying statistical techniques to data that have been collected. (Many
types of data are not suitable for statistical analysis)
a. Managing raw data: checking it to establish whether there are any obvious
flaws, like hearing difficulties in audio recordings.
b. Making sense of data: identifying themes within it by breaking down the data
into component parts and giving those parts labels (coding). The analyst
searches for instances of these sequences of coded text within and across
cases. And they also look for links between different codes.
c. Interpreting data: trying to link the analysis of it with the research questions
and relevant background literature. Data reduction: reducing a large body of
information so that they can make sense of it.
7. Writing up report, evaluation: most research work includes;
a. Introduction: outlines the research area and its significance, and research
questions.
b. Literature review: sets out what is already known about the research area and
examines it critically.
c. Research methods: presents the research methods being used (sampling
strategy, methods of data collection, methods of data analysis) and justifies
those choices.
d. Results: presents the findings.
, e. Discussion: examines the implications of the findings in relation to the
literature and research questions.
f. Conclusion: emphasises the significance of the research.
Difference between social-scientific and ‘everyday’ research
- Systematic: deliberate planning, following a clear research process.
- Transparent: verifiable, controllable, being open for criticism: clarification and
reflection about how one has established certain knowledge. Detailed writing on how
you’ve come to conclusions etc.
- Empirical evidence: the data ultimately decides (vs. speculation, personal ideas and
beliefs).
Social research can be chaotic, especially in qualitative research. Because social-scientific
research is a cyclic process, you may have to switch between phases and steps.
- Reflexivity is the hallmark of a good social science researcher.
Role of theory in research
Deductive approach: using theory as a basis for a research (theoretical claims)
and test them.
- Based on logical reasoning
- Hypothesis (including concepts/variables) to be tested
- Commonly used in quantitative research
- Revision of theory: movement in opposite of deduction (induction).
Researchers reflect on the implications of their findings for the theory that
prompted the whole exercise. New findings are fed back into the existing
body of knowledge in the area being studied.
- Not every deductive research follows this exact sequence. Sometimes a
researcher’s view of theory or literature changes when they analyse
collected data. Or new theoretical ideas may be published by others
before the researcher has generated their findings.
Inductive approach: theory is the outcome of research and is formed by drawing
generalizable inferences out of observations..
- Observations/findings -> theory
- Basing a conclusion on the observations.
- Commonly used in qualitative research. But some qualitative research doesn’t
generate theory, and theory is often used as a background to qualitative
investigations.
- Going from interpreting and analysing data to inform others on conclusions
- You can’t build a logically valid theory on inductive research.
Iterative strategy: weaving back and forth between data and theory (deductive-inductive)
- Iteration = repetition. After some theoretical reflection about data and evidence, the
researcher is gathering more data to refine or retest the theory.
- Often used in Grounded Theory within this approach, one starts with Empirical
(observations).
, - Once the researcher has carried out some theoretical reflection on a set of data, they
may want to collect further data in order to establish the conditions in which a theory
will and will not hold.
Module 2: Research strategies: understanding and explaining
Ch2: Social research strategies
Theory = group of ideas that aims to explain something (the social world). An idea about how
or why things happen in a certain way. An explanation for particular events or patterns that
have been noticed (observed regularities). Theory can be divided into two categories:
1. Middle range theories: attempt to understand and explain a particular aspect of the
social world. More likely to be the focus of empirical enquiry. Middle range theories
operate in a limited domain, vary in terms of how widely they can be applied
2. Grand theories: operate at a more abstract level. Grand theories don’t contain many
clues as to how researchers might use them to guide or influence the collection of
empirical evidence. It’s so abstract that it’s difficult to make links with the real world to
test an aspect of a theory.
Ontology: the study of being
What is the fundamental nature of reality? What characterises the social world? Does it
exist? Ontological assumptions and commitments feed into the ways in which research
questions are formulated and research is carried out.
There are two views:
1. Objectivism: whether social entities can and should be considered objective entities
that exist separately to social actors. Focus on facts and causal models.
- Social phenomena confront us as external facts that are beyond our reach or
influence. The social entity comes across as something external to the actor
and as having an almost tangible reality of its own.
- Organisations are tangible objects: they have rules, procedures, hiëarchy. It
has a reality that is external to the individuals who inhabit it.
- Cultures can be seen as repositories of widely shared values and customs
into which people are socialised so that they can function as full participants.
2. Constructivism: whether they can and should be considered social construction built
up from the perceptions and actions of social actors = constructivism. Everything is in
your mind. Focus on perspectives and stories. Social constructs have a specific
meaning in a particular context.
- Organizations and cultures are pre-given, external realities that social actors
have no way of influencing.
- In organizations rules are more like general understanding instead of
commands. If we only focus on the formal properties of an organisation, then
we neglect the degree to which order in these entities have to be
accomplished in everyday interaction.
- Culture is a continuously created construction and reconstruction by people.
- Categories we use in the social world are social products (created through
discourse). Intersectionality = everyone occupies positions within numerous
social categories (gender, class, sexuality, race) and these can’t be
considered in isolation from each other.
Module 1: the research process
Ch1: The nature and process of social research.
Ch4: Planning a research project and formulating research questions. From this chapter, only the section “Formulating suitable
research questions” (pp.74-78)
‘Social’ research = research conducted by social scientists (sociology, politics, criminology..)
- SR is essential for understanding contemporary social life & new knowledge.
Context of social research methods
1. Theory: group of ideas that aims to explain something (the social world). An idea
about how or why things happen in a certain way. An explanation for particular
events or patterns that have been noticed (observed regularities).
a. Quantitative research: theoretical reflections/ideas - testing a hypothesis
b. Qualitative research: exploring a research question
2. Existing research literature: knowledge about the area in which the researcher is
interested. You must be familiar with it so you can build on it and not repeat work
that’s already been done.
3. Epistemological & ontological questions
a. Epistemological = views about how knowledge should be produced and
whether a certain scientific approach is the right one.
b. Ontological = views about the nature of the social world, and social
phenomena (observed facts, events or situations).
4. Values, ethics & politics: certain kinds of research (involving children/vulnerable
people) require careful planning and consideration of ethical implications.
Steps in research process (cycle)
1. Research question: guiding your literature search, research designs, data collection,
analysis, writing up etc.
a. Sources of research questions: personal interest, theory, research literature,
replication, puzzles, new developments or social problems.
b. Qualitative research tends to be more open-ended than quantitative research.
It is recommended to formulate some research questions beforehand that you
can adjust later in the process.
c. Type of questions:
i. Exploratory study: you don’t know much about the topic yet
ii. Descriptive study: you know about the topic (what, where, when, who,
how).
iii. Explanatory: “why…” giving an explanation (why, how).
iv. Evaluative study: “how effective”
d. Question influences all other phases of research process
i. Which literature are you going to search for?
ii. Research design?
iii. Which analysis?
iv. Conclusions and recommendations
2. Literature review: sharing knowledge about the topic with your readers. It’s not a
summary of the literature, but critical rather than simply descriptive.
, a. Is your question already studied in literature? What’s already known? What
concepts and theories have been applied? What research methods were
used? What controversies exist about the topic and how it is studied? What
contradictions of evidence exist? Who are the key contributors to the topic?
What are the implications of the literature for our own research?
3. Concepts and theory: the way we make sense of the social world (labels)
a. Plays a role during the whole process
b. Concepts are key ingredients of theories.
c. Deductive & inductive approaches
d. Identifying concepts will structure your work.
4. Selection of research units (= sampling cases), research design
a. Sampling: it’s unlikely to include every individual appropriate to our research
and include content of every publication relating to the topic.
i. Sampling applies to a variety of types of investigation.
b. Research designs: What, when, who, where, why
i. Interviews: how long, how often
ii. Experiment: impact of an intervention
iii. Longitudinal: social change over time
iv. Case study: particular communities, organisations or groups
v. Cross-sectional design: describing current attitudes/behaviours at a
single point in time
5. Data collection: doing your research
a. Structured approach: researcher establishes roughly what they want to find
out about in advance and designs the research collection tool accordingly.
Such as self-completion questionnaires and structured interviews.
b. Other methods of data collection are more flexible, such as participant
observation and semi-structured interviewing.
6. Data analysis: applying statistical techniques to data that have been collected. (Many
types of data are not suitable for statistical analysis)
a. Managing raw data: checking it to establish whether there are any obvious
flaws, like hearing difficulties in audio recordings.
b. Making sense of data: identifying themes within it by breaking down the data
into component parts and giving those parts labels (coding). The analyst
searches for instances of these sequences of coded text within and across
cases. And they also look for links between different codes.
c. Interpreting data: trying to link the analysis of it with the research questions
and relevant background literature. Data reduction: reducing a large body of
information so that they can make sense of it.
7. Writing up report, evaluation: most research work includes;
a. Introduction: outlines the research area and its significance, and research
questions.
b. Literature review: sets out what is already known about the research area and
examines it critically.
c. Research methods: presents the research methods being used (sampling
strategy, methods of data collection, methods of data analysis) and justifies
those choices.
d. Results: presents the findings.
, e. Discussion: examines the implications of the findings in relation to the
literature and research questions.
f. Conclusion: emphasises the significance of the research.
Difference between social-scientific and ‘everyday’ research
- Systematic: deliberate planning, following a clear research process.
- Transparent: verifiable, controllable, being open for criticism: clarification and
reflection about how one has established certain knowledge. Detailed writing on how
you’ve come to conclusions etc.
- Empirical evidence: the data ultimately decides (vs. speculation, personal ideas and
beliefs).
Social research can be chaotic, especially in qualitative research. Because social-scientific
research is a cyclic process, you may have to switch between phases and steps.
- Reflexivity is the hallmark of a good social science researcher.
Role of theory in research
Deductive approach: using theory as a basis for a research (theoretical claims)
and test them.
- Based on logical reasoning
- Hypothesis (including concepts/variables) to be tested
- Commonly used in quantitative research
- Revision of theory: movement in opposite of deduction (induction).
Researchers reflect on the implications of their findings for the theory that
prompted the whole exercise. New findings are fed back into the existing
body of knowledge in the area being studied.
- Not every deductive research follows this exact sequence. Sometimes a
researcher’s view of theory or literature changes when they analyse
collected data. Or new theoretical ideas may be published by others
before the researcher has generated their findings.
Inductive approach: theory is the outcome of research and is formed by drawing
generalizable inferences out of observations..
- Observations/findings -> theory
- Basing a conclusion on the observations.
- Commonly used in qualitative research. But some qualitative research doesn’t
generate theory, and theory is often used as a background to qualitative
investigations.
- Going from interpreting and analysing data to inform others on conclusions
- You can’t build a logically valid theory on inductive research.
Iterative strategy: weaving back and forth between data and theory (deductive-inductive)
- Iteration = repetition. After some theoretical reflection about data and evidence, the
researcher is gathering more data to refine or retest the theory.
- Often used in Grounded Theory within this approach, one starts with Empirical
(observations).
, - Once the researcher has carried out some theoretical reflection on a set of data, they
may want to collect further data in order to establish the conditions in which a theory
will and will not hold.
Module 2: Research strategies: understanding and explaining
Ch2: Social research strategies
Theory = group of ideas that aims to explain something (the social world). An idea about how
or why things happen in a certain way. An explanation for particular events or patterns that
have been noticed (observed regularities). Theory can be divided into two categories:
1. Middle range theories: attempt to understand and explain a particular aspect of the
social world. More likely to be the focus of empirical enquiry. Middle range theories
operate in a limited domain, vary in terms of how widely they can be applied
2. Grand theories: operate at a more abstract level. Grand theories don’t contain many
clues as to how researchers might use them to guide or influence the collection of
empirical evidence. It’s so abstract that it’s difficult to make links with the real world to
test an aspect of a theory.
Ontology: the study of being
What is the fundamental nature of reality? What characterises the social world? Does it
exist? Ontological assumptions and commitments feed into the ways in which research
questions are formulated and research is carried out.
There are two views:
1. Objectivism: whether social entities can and should be considered objective entities
that exist separately to social actors. Focus on facts and causal models.
- Social phenomena confront us as external facts that are beyond our reach or
influence. The social entity comes across as something external to the actor
and as having an almost tangible reality of its own.
- Organisations are tangible objects: they have rules, procedures, hiëarchy. It
has a reality that is external to the individuals who inhabit it.
- Cultures can be seen as repositories of widely shared values and customs
into which people are socialised so that they can function as full participants.
2. Constructivism: whether they can and should be considered social construction built
up from the perceptions and actions of social actors = constructivism. Everything is in
your mind. Focus on perspectives and stories. Social constructs have a specific
meaning in a particular context.
- Organizations and cultures are pre-given, external realities that social actors
have no way of influencing.
- In organizations rules are more like general understanding instead of
commands. If we only focus on the formal properties of an organisation, then
we neglect the degree to which order in these entities have to be
accomplished in everyday interaction.
- Culture is a continuously created construction and reconstruction by people.
- Categories we use in the social world are social products (created through
discourse). Intersectionality = everyone occupies positions within numerous
social categories (gender, class, sexuality, race) and these can’t be
considered in isolation from each other.
