Citizendia
Your Ad Here

Social research refers to research conducted by social scientists (primarily within sociology and social psychology), but also within other disciplines such as social policy, human geography, political science, social anthropology and education. Research is defined as Human activity based on Intellectual application in the investigation of Matter. The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including Anthropology, Communication studies Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Social psychology is the study of how people and groups interact Social policy relates to guidelines for the changing maintenance or creation of living conditions that are conducive to human welfare. Human geography is a branch of Geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with the environment with particular reference to Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems Social anthropology is the branch of Anthropology that studies how currently living human beings behave in social groups Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency Sociologists and other social scientists study diverse things: from census data on hundreds of thousands of human beings, through the in-depth analysis of the life of a single important person to monitoring what is happening on a street today - or what was happening a few hundred years ago. This article provides a list of sociologists and major contributors to Sociology (even if they did not primarily work as sociologists A census is the procedure of acquiring information about every member of a given population

Social scientists use many different methods in order to describe, explore and understand social life. Social Life is the second LP by Vagrant Records recording artist Koufax. Social methods can generally be subdivided into two broad categories. Quantitative methods are concerned with attempts to quantify social phenomena and collect and analyse numerical data, and focus on the links among a smaller number of attributes across many cases. Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation of Quantitative properties and Phenomena and their relationships The objective of quantitative Social phenomena include all Behavior which influences or is influenced by Organisms sufficiently alive to respond to one another Qualitative methods, on the other hand, emphasise personal experiences and interpretation over quantification, are more concerned with understanding the meaning of social phenomena and focus on links among a larger number of attributes across relatively few cases. Qualitative research is a field of inquiry that crosscuts disciplines and subject matters. While very different in many aspects, both qualitative and quantitative approaches involve a systematic interaction between theories and data. Social theory is an essential tool used by scholars in the analysis of society through the use of theoretical frameworks social structures and phenomena are analyzed and placed in context Debt AIDS Trade in Africa (or DATA) is a Multinational non-government organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2 's

Common tools of quantitative researchers include surveys, questionnaires, and secondary analysis of statistical data that has been gathered for other purposes (for example, censuses or the results of social attitudes surveys). Statistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population A questionnaire is a Research instrument consisting of a series of Questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection analysis interpretation or explanation and presentation of Data. Commonly used qualitative methods include focus groups, participant observation, and other techniques. A focus group is a form of Qualitative research in which a group of people is asked about their attitude towards a product service concept advertisement idea or packaging Participant observation is a set of Research strategies which aim to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious occupational

Contents

Ordinary human inquiry

Before the advent of sociology and application of the scientific method to social research, human inquiry was mostly based on personal experiences, and received wisdom in the form of tradition and authority. Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem acc of traditio which means "a giving up delivering up surrendering" and is used in a number of In Politics, authority ( Latin Auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to Potestas and Imperium Such approaches often led to errors such as inaccurate observations, overgeneralisation, selective observations, subjectivity and lack of logic. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference.

Foundations of social research

Social research (and social science in general) is based on logic and empirical observations. Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. A central concept in Science and the Scientific method is that all Evidence must be empirical, or empirically based that is dependent on evidence Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a Human) which senses and assimilates the Knowledge of a Phenomenon, or the recording of data Charles C. Ragin writes in his Constructing Social Research book that "Social research involved the interaction between ideas and evidence. Charles C Ragin is an American sociologist and Professor of Sociology and Political Science at the University of Arizona. Ideas help social researchers make sense of evidence, and researchers use evidence to extend, revise and test ideas". Social research thus attempts to create or validate theories through data collection and data analysis, and its goal is exploration, description and explanation. The word theory has many distinct meanings in different fields of Knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. Data collection is a term used to describe a process of preparing and collecting Data - for example as part of a Process improvement or similar project Data analysis is the process of looking at and summarizing Data with the intent to extract useful Information and develop conclusions An explanation is a description which may clarify causes context, and Consequences of a certain object and a phenomenon such as a process, a It should never lead or be mistaken with philosophy or belief. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Social research aims to find social patterns of regularity in social life and usually deals with social groups (aggregates of individuals), not individuals themselves (although science of psychology is an exception here). Social Life is the second LP by Vagrant Records recording artist Koufax. In Sociology, a group can be defined as two or more Humans that interact with one another accept expectations and obligations as members of the group and share a Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Research can also be divided into pure research and applied research. Basic Research is an Herbal supplement and cosmetics manufacturer based in Salt Lake City, Utah that distributes products through a large number of Applied research: is Research accessing and using some part of the research communities' (the Academy 's accumulated theories knowledge methods and techniques Pure research has no application on real life, whereas applied research attempts to influence the real world.

There are no laws in social science that parallel the laws in the natural science. The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including Anthropology, Communication studies In Science, the term natural science refers to a naturalistic approach to the study of the Universe, which is understood as obeying rules or law of A law in social science is a universal generalization about a class of facts. In Set theory and its applications throughout Mathematics, a class is a collection of sets (or sometimes other mathematical objects that can be unambiguously Generally a fact is defined as something that is true something that actually exists or something that can be verified according to an established standard of evaluation A fact is an observed phenomenon, and observation means it has been seen, heard or otherwise experienced by researcher. A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a Human) which senses and assimilates the Knowledge of a Phenomenon, or the recording of data A theory is a systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular aspect of social life. Concepts are the basic building blocks of theory and are abstract elements representing classes of phenomena. The term "concept" is traced back to 1554–60 ( l conceptum - something conceived but what is today termed "the classical theory of concepts" is the theory of Aristotle Axioms or postulates are basic assertions assumed to be true. In traditional Logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be either self-evident, or subject In traditional Logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be either self-evident, or subject Propositions are conclusions drawn about the relationships among concepts, based on analysis of axioms. In Logic and Philosophy, proposition refers to either (a the content or Meaning of a meaningful Declarative sentence Hypotheses are specified expectations about empirical reality which are derived from propositions. A hypothesis (from Greek) consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon (an event that is observable or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible A central concept in Science and the Scientific method is that all Evidence must be empirical, or empirically based that is dependent on evidence Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist" Social research involves testing these hypotheses to see if they are true. A statistical hypothesis test is a method of making statistical decisions using experimental data

Social research involves creating a theory, operationalization (measurement of variables) and observation (actual collection of data to test hypothesized relationship). Operationalization is the process of defining a Fuzzy concept so as to make the concept measurable in form of Variables consisting of specific Observations Measurement is the process of estimating the magnitude of some attribute of an object such as its length or weight relative to some standard ( unit of measurement) such as A variable (ˈvɛərɪəbl is an Attribute of a physical or an abstract System which may change its Value while it is under Observation. Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a Human) which senses and assimilates the Knowledge of a Phenomenon, or the recording of data Debt AIDS Trade in Africa (or DATA) is a Multinational non-government organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2 's

Social theories are written in the language of variables, in other words, theories describe logical relationships between variables. A variable (ˈvɛərɪəbl is an Attribute of a physical or an abstract System which may change its Value while it is under Observation. Variables are logical sets of attributes, with people being the 'carriers' of those variables (for example, gender can be a variable with two attributes: male and female). Gender comprises a range of differences between men and women extending from the biological to the social Male (♂ refers to the sex of an organism or part of an organism which produces small mobile Gametes called spermatozoa. Female (♀ is the Sex of an Organism, or a part of an organism which produces ova (egg cells Variables are also divided into independent variables (data) that influences the dependent variables (which scientists are trying to explain). Dependent variables and independent variables refer to values that change in relationship to each other Dependent variables and independent variables refer to values that change in relationship to each other For example, in a study of how different dosages of a drug are related to the severity of symptoms of a disease, a measure of the severity of the symptoms of the disease is a dependent variable and the administration of the drug in specified doses is the independent variable. Researchers will compare the different values of the dependent variable (severity of the symptoms) and attempt to draw conclusions.

Types of explanations

Explanations in social theories can be idiographic or nomothetic. Nomothetic and idiographic are terms coined by Kantian philosopher Wilhelm Windelband to describe two distinct approaches to knowledge each one corresponding to a Nomothetic literally means "proposition of the law" (Greek derivation and is used in both Philosophy (see also Nomothetic and idiographic) and in Psychology An idiographic approach to an explanation is one where the scientists seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a particular condition or event, i. Idiosyncrasy, from Greek ιδιοσυγκρασία idiosunkrasia, "a peculiar temperament" "habit of body" ( idios "one's own" e. by trying to provide all possible explanations of a particular case. Nomothetic explanations tend to be more general with scientists trying to identify a few causal factors that impact a wide class of conditions or events. For example, when dealing with the problem of how people choose a job, idiographic explanation would be to list all possible reasons why a given person (or group) chooses a given job, while nomothetic explanation would try to find factors that determine why job applicants in general choose a given job.

Types of inquiry

Social research can be deductive or inductive. Deductive reasoning is Reasoning which uses deductive Arguments to move from given statements ( Premises to Conclusions which must be true if the Induction or inductive reasoning, sometimes called inductive logic, is the process of Reasoning in which the premises of an argument are believed The inductive inquiry (also known as grounded research) is a model in which general principles (theories) are developed from specific observations. In deductive inquiry specific expectations of hypothesis are developed on the basis of general principles (i. e. social scientists start from an existing theory, and then search for proof). For example, in inductive research, if a scientist finds that some specific religious minorities tend to favor a specific political view, he may then extrapolate this to the hypothesis that all religious minorities tend to have the same political view. In deductive research, a scientist would start from a hypothesis that religious affiliation influenced political views and then begin observations to prove or disprove this hypothesis.

Quantitative / qualitative debate

There is usually a trade off between the number of cases and the number of their variables that social research can study. A variable (ˈvɛərɪəbl is an Attribute of a physical or an abstract System which may change its Value while it is under Observation. Qualitative research usually involves few cases with many variables, while quantitative involves many phenomena with few variables.

There is some debate over whether "quantitative research" and "qualitative research" methods can be complementary: some researchers argue that combining the two approaches is beneficial and helps build a more complete picture of the social world, while other researchers believe that the epistemologies that underpin each of the approaches are so divergent that they cannot be reconciled within a research project. Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation of Quantitative properties and Phenomena and their relationships The objective of quantitative Qualitative research is a field of inquiry that crosscuts disciplines and subject matters. Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge

While quantitative methods are based on a natural science, positivist model of testing theory, qualitative methods are based on interpretivism and are more focused around generating theories and accounts. In Science, the term natural science refers to a naturalistic approach to the study of the Universe, which is understood as obeying rules or law of Positivism is the Philosophy that the only authentic knowledge is knowledge that is based on actual sense experience Positivists treat the social world as something that is 'out there', external to the social scientist and waiting to be researched. Interpretivists, on the other hand believe that the social world is constructed by social agency and therefore any intervention by a researcher will affect social reality. Social reality is distinct from Biological Reality or Individual Cognitive Reality, and consists of the accepted social Tenets Herein lies the supposed conflict between quantitative and qualitative approaches - quantitative approaches traditionally seek to minimise intervention in order to produce valid and reliable statistics, whereas qualitative approaches traditionally treat intervention as something that is necessary (often arguing that participation can lead to a better understanding of a social situation).

However, it is increasingly recognised that the significance of these differences should not be exaggerated and that quantitative and qualitative approaches can be complementary. They can be combined in a number of ways, for example:

  1. Qualitative methods can be used in order to develop quantitative research tools. For example, focus groups could be used to explore an issue with a small number of people and the data gathered using this method could then be used to develop a quantitative survey questionnaire that could be administered to a far greater number of people allowing results to be generalised. A focus group is a form of Qualitative research in which a group of people is asked about their attitude towards a product service concept advertisement idea or packaging
  2. Qualitative methods can be used to explore and facilitate the interpretation of relationships between variables. For example researchers may inductively hypothesize that there would be a positive relationship between positive attitudes of sales staff and the amount of sales of a store. Induction or inductive reasoning, sometimes called inductive logic, is the process of Reasoning in which the premises of an argument are believed In Mathematics and Statistics, a positive or direct relationship is a relationship between two Variables in which they both increase or decrease However, quantitative, deductive, structured observation of 576 convenience stores could reveal that this was not the case, and in order to understand why the relationship between the variables was negative the researchers may undertake qualitative case studies of four stores including participant observation. Deductive reasoning is Reasoning which uses deductive Arguments to move from given statements ( Premises to Conclusions which must be true if the This might abductively confirm that the relationship was negative, but that it was not the positive attitude of sales staff that led to low sales, but rather that high sales led to busy staff who were less likely to be express positive emotions at work![1]

Quantitative methods are useful for describing social phenomena, especially on a larger scale. Abduction, or inference to the best explanation, is a method of Reasoning in which one chooses the hypothesis that would if true best explain the relevant evidence Qualitative methods allow social scientists to provide richer explanations (and descriptions) of social phenomena, frequently on a smaller scale. By using two or more approaches researchers may be able to 'triangulate' their findings and provide a more valid representation of the social world.

A combination of different methods are often used within "comparative research", which involves the study of social processes across nation-states, or across different types of society. Comparative research is a research methodology in the Social sciences that aims to make comparisons across different countries or Cultures A major problem

Paradigms

Social scientists usually follow one or more of the several specific sociological paradigms (points of view):

Of these, the conflict paradigm of Karl Marx and Max Weber, symbolic interactionism of Herbert Blumer and George Herbert Mead, and structural functionalism of Emile Durkheim are the most well known. Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered Symbolic interactionism is a major sociological perspective that is influential in many areas of the discipline Personal History Herbert Blumer was born March 7, 1900 in St Louis Missouri. George Herbert Mead ( February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American Philosopher, Sociologist and Psychologist Structural functionalism also known as a social systems paradigm is a Sociological paradigm which addresses what Social functions various elements Émile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French Sociologist whose contributions were instrumental

The ethics of social research

Two main assumptions of the ethics in social research are:

See also

Social research organisations

Social research projects

Social research techniques

Notes

  1. ^ Sutton, Robert I. A research method in Social sciences. The term unobtrusive measures was first coined by Webb Campbell Schwartz & Sechrest in a 1966 book titled Unobtrusive methods Nonreactive For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Economic and Social Research Council ( ESRC) is one of the seven Research Councils in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Asia-Pacific or APAC is the area generally regarded as encompassing Littoral East Asia, Southeast Asia and Australasia near the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Institute for Social Research ( German: Institut für Sozialforschung) is a research organization covering topics such as Sociology Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Mass-Observation was a United Kingdom Social research organisation founded in 1937 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (often simply referred to as "The Melbourne Institute" is an Australian economic research For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen was founded in 1969 as Social and Community Planning and Research (SCPR by Professor Roger Jowell The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The National Opinion Research Center (NORC established in 1941 is one of the largest and most highly respected Social research organizations in the United States The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This is about the university in New York; for other uses see New School (disambiguation. The City of New York Haifa (חֵיפָה; حَيْفَا) is the largest City in Northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country with For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The Radio Project was a Social research project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to look into the effects of mass media on society The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A structured Interview (also known as a standardised interview or a researcher-administered survey) is a Quantitative research method commonly Statistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population A questionnaire is a Research instrument consisting of a series of Questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents Content analysis (sometimes called textual analysis) is a Methodology in the Social sciences for studying the Content of Communication Quantitative marketing research is the application of quantitative research techniques to the field of marketing Analytic induction refers to a systematic examination of similarities between various Social phenomena in order to develop concepts or ideas Ethnography ( Greek ethnos = people and graphein = writing is a genre of writing that uses Fieldwork to provide a descriptive A focus group is a form of Qualitative research in which a group of people is asked about their attitude towards a product service concept advertisement idea or packaging Morphological analysis can refer to Morphological analysis (problem-solving or general morphological analysis a method developed by Fritz Zwicky for exploring Participant observation is a set of Research strategies which aim to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious occupational A semi-structured interview is a method of Research used in the Social sciences. Unstructured Interviews are a method of interviews where questions can be changed or adapted to meet the respondent's intelligence understanding or belief Content analysis (sometimes called textual analysis) is a Methodology in the Social sciences for studying the Content of Communication Theoretical sampling is a term coined by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss in 1967 in the context of Social research to describe the & Rafaeli, Anat (1988), Untangling the relationship between displayed emotions and organizational sales: The case of convenience stores. Academy of Management Journal, 31(3): 461-487

References

Appendix:The Sociological Imagination,1959

Charles C Ragin is an American sociologist and Professor of Sociology and Political Science at the University of Arizona.
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic