SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH---------------------------STEPS AND METHODS.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
Research methodology is more of a strategy for formulation a research design and
its philosophy and rational. Therefore, the concept of research methodology may
be interpreted as decision regarding the entire essential for a research study.

RESEARCH:
Research is human activity based on intellectual investigation and aimed at
discovering, interrupting and revising, increasing human knowledge on different
aspects of the world. Research can use the scientific method but no need to do
so. The term research also used to describe an entire collection of information
about a particular subject.

(Trochim W.M.K, 2006)

Social research:
Social research refers to a research conducted by scientist (primarily within
sociology and social psychology), but also within other discipline such as social
policy, human geography, political science, social anthropology and education.
Sociologists and other social scientists study diverse things from census data on
hundred 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.
Any academic subject requires a methodology to reach its conclusions. It must have ways of producing
and analyzing data so that theories can be tested, accepted or rejected.

ACCORDING TO RED MAN AND MOORE: A systemized effort to gain knowledge is we call as research.

ACCORDING TO SLENSINGER AND STEPHENSEN: The main aim of every research is to add to knowledge
of human beings about the problem to be investigated.
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Planning the research design is a key step in any sociological study. When entering a particular social
environment, a researcher must be careful. There are times to remain anonymous and times to be
overt. There are times to conduct interviews and times to simply observe. Some participants need to be
thoroughly informed; others should not know they are being observed.

Emile Durkheim was one of the first Person (Sociologist) to use scientific method to study human
behavior.

Prof. Richard T Scheafer: He described the following steps in the sociological research.

1. define problem.
2. Theoretical framework.
3. Review of the literature.
4. Formulating a Hypothesis.
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5. Selection of a research design.

a. correlation
b. observation
c. experiments
d. case study
6. Collection of data
7. Analyze data.
8. Draw conclusions.
9. Replicate the study.
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Step 1: Identify and Develop Your Topic

State your topic idea as a question. For example, if you are interested in finding out about use of
alcoholic beverages by college students, you might pose the question, "What effect does use of
alcoholic beverages have on the health of college students?"

Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question. In this case they are alcoholic
beverages, health, and college students.
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Step 2: Find Background Information

Once you have identified the main topic and keywords for your research, find one or more
sources of background information to read. These sources will help you understand the broader
context of your research and tell you in general terms what is known about your topic. The most
common background sources are books and review articles.

Tip: Exploit Bibliographies:

Read the background information and note any useful sources (books, journals, etc.) listed in
the bibliography at the end of the chapter or article. The sources cited in the bibliography are
good starting points for further research.

Formulate a Hypothesis:A hypothesis is an assumption about how two or more variables

are related; it makes a conjectural statement about the relationship between those
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variables. It is an “educated guess” because it is not random but based on theory,

observations, patterns of experience, or the existing literature. The hypothesis formulates
this guess in the form of a testable proposition.
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CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH METHODS:

In social research, it is usual to distinguish between primary and secondary data and qualitative
and quantitative data:
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Quantitative data refers to information that appears in numerical form, or in the form of
statistics.

Qualitative data refers to information that appears in written, visual or audio form, such as
transcripts of interviews, newspapers and web sites. (It is possible to analyse qualitative data and
display features of it numerically!)
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Secondary data is data that has been collected by previous researchers or organisations such as
the government. Quantitative sources of secondary data include official government statistics and
qualitative sources are very numerous including government reports, newspapers, personal
documents such as diaries as well as the staggering amount of audio-visual content available
online.

Primary data is data collected first hand by the researcher herself. If a sociologist is conducting
her own unique sociological research, she will normally have specific research questions she
wants answered and thus tailor her research methods to get the data she wants. The main
methods sociologists use to generate primary data include social surveys (normally using
questionnaire), interviews, experiments and observations.

The major primary research methods

Social Surveys – are typically structured questionnaires designed to collect information from
large numbers of people in standardised form.

 Experiments – aim to measure as precisely as possible the effect which one variable has
on another, aiming to establish cause and effect relationships between variables.

According to David Papenoe: THE EXPERIMENT IS THE CLASSIC SCIENTIFIC

TECHNIQUE FOR STUDYING CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIPUNDER
CAREFULLY CONTROLLED CONDITIONS.
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 Experiments typically start off with a hypothesis – a theory or explanation made on the
basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation, and will typically
take the form of a testable statement about the effect which one or more independent
variables will have on the dependent variable. A good experiment will be designed in
such a way that objective cause and effect relationships can be established, so that the
original hypothesis can verified, or rejected and modified.

There are two types of experiment – laboratory and field experiments –

A laboratory experiment takes place in a controlled environment, such as a laboratory,

Field experiment takes place in a real-life setting such as a classroom, the work place or even
the high street.

 Naturalistic observation is a research method commonly used by psychologists and

other social scientists. This technique involves observing subjects in their natural
environment. This type of research is often utilized in situations where conducting lab
research is unrealistic, cost prohibitive or would unduly affect the subject's behavior.

How Does Naturalistic Observation Work?

In many instances, people might not behave the same way in a lab setting that they might in a
more natural environment.

For this reason, behaviors sometimes need to be observed as they happen "in the wild" so to
speak. By watching how people respond to certain situations and stimuli in real-life,
psychologists can get a better idea of how and why people react.

Naturalistic observation differs from structured observation in that it involves looking at a

behavior as it occurs in its natural setting with no attempts at intervention on the part of the
researcher.

For example, researchers interested in looking at certain aspects of classroom behavior, such as
interactions between students or even the dynamics between the teacher and students, might opt
to use naturalistic observation as part of their research.

Performing such research in a lab would be difficult since it would involve recreating a
classroom environment, and would likely influence the behavior of the participants, making it
difficult to generalize the observations.

By observing the subjects in their natural setting (the classroom where they work and learn each
and every day), the researchers can get a better look at the behavior of interest as they occur in
the real-world.
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1. Naturalistic Observation

Naturalistic observation involves observing and recording the variables of interest in the natural
environment without interference or manipulation by the experimenter.

Advantages of Naturalistic Observation:

 Gives the experimenter the opportunity to view the variable of interest in a natural setting.
 Can offer ideas for further research.
 Might be the only option if lab experimentation is not possible.

Disadvantages of Naturalistic Observation:

 Can be time consuming and expensive.

 Does not allow for scientific control of variables.
 Experimenters cannot control extraneous variables.

 Subjects may be aware of the observer and may act differently as a result.

Participant Observation – involves the researcher joining a group of people, taking an active
part in their day to day lives as a member of that group and making in-depth recordings of what
she sees.

Participant Observation may be overt, in which case the respondents know that researcher is
conducing sociological research, or covert (undercover) where the respondents are deceived
into thinking the researcher is ‘one of them’ do not know the researcher is conducting research.

Ethnographies and Case Studies

Ethnographies are an in-depth study of the way of life of a group of people in their natural
setting. They are typically very in-depth and long-term and aim for a full (or ‘thick’), multi-
layered account of the culture of a group of people. Participant Observation is typically the main
method used, but researchers will use all other methods available to get even richer data – such
as interviews and analysis of any documents associated with that culture.

Case Studies involves researching a single case or example of something using multiple
methods – for example researching one school or factory. An Ethnography is simply a very in-
depth case study.

CORRELATION RESEARCH:
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A correlation refers to a relationship between two variables. Correlations can be strong or

weak, as well as positive or negative. In other cases, there might be no correlation at all between
the variables of interest.

Correlational studies are a type of research often used in psychology as a preliminary way to
gather information about a topic or in situations where performing an experiment is not possible.

The correlational method involves looking at relationships between two or more variables. While
researchers can use correlations to see if a relationship exists, the variables themselves are not
under the control of the researchers.
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The Case Study:

Sometimes a researcher wants to study one specific person or event. A case study is an in-depth
analysis of a single event, situation, or individual. To conduct a case study, a researcher
examines existing sources like documents and archival records, conducts interviews, engages in
direct observation, and even participant observation, if possible. Researchers might use this
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method to study a single case of, for example, a foster child, drug lord, cancer patient, criminal,
or rape victim. However, a major criticism of the case study as a method is that a developed
study of a single case, while offering depth on a topic, does not provide enough evidence to form
a generalized conclusion. In other words, it is difficult to make universal claims based on just
one person, since one person does not verify a pattern. This is why most sociologists do not use
case studies as a primary research method.

However, case studies are useful when the single case is unique. In these instances, a single case
study can add tremendous knowledge to a certain discipline. For example, a feral child, also
called “wild child,” is one who grows up isolated from human beings. Feral children grow up
without social contact and language, elements crucial to a “civilized” child’s development.

A case study involves the in-depth observation of a single individual or group. Case studies can
allow researchers to gain insight into things that are very rare or even impossible to reproduce in
experimental settings. The case study of Genie, a young girl who was horrifically abused and
deprived of learning language during the critical period, is one example of how a case study can
allow social scientists to study a phenomena that they otherwise could not reproduce in a lab.

Projective Techniques in Qualitative Market Research

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Evette JoyceBlog

Qualitative market research is often aimed at increasing understanding of consumers’ thoughts

and feelings toward brands, products, concepts, advertising, social issues and other important
topics. Projective techniques are indirect methods used in qualitative research. These techniques
allow researchers to tap into consumers’ deep motivations, beliefs, attitudes and values. This is
important because psychology has told us for a long time that much of what drives behavior can
be emotional and irrational in nature. To some extent, these emotional drivers of behavior lie
below conscious awareness.

Projective techniques are useful because people tend to have limited understanding of their own
behavior; likewise, people often have difficulty articulating their motivations and desires. While
direct questioning works well most of the time, sometimes market researchers want to investigate
consumers’ deeper values and beliefs. In such cases, projective techniques are typically used in
conjunction with direct questioning in qualitative research.

The Use of Projective Techniques Originated with Clinical Psychologists

Projective techniques and tests are rooted in clinical psychology. The Rorschach Inkblot Test,
probably the most famous projective test, comes from the psychoanalytic branch of clinical
psychology and was popular in the 1960’s. The Rorschach Inkblot Test involves the use of
ambiguous images (inkblots). Individuals are asked to name what they see and responses are
interpreted by a psychologist specifically trained to do the test.Many other traditional projective
techniques have their origins in clinical psychology, too, such as word associations, role-playing
and sentence completion. Projective techniques allow psychologists to uncover deep
associations, emotions and thought processes.
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