Rural Research Methods

Sony Pellissery
 Recap

 What is research?
 Ethics in research
 Stages of research
 How to make transition from topic to
problem and then to researchable
questions.
 What is conceptual mapping and role of
theory
What is a research design?

 A research design provides a framework

for the collection and analysis of data.
– Causal connection between variables
– Generalising the conclusions
– Appreciation for the interconnection of
various social phenomena.
 Framework (design) vs technique (method)
 Design
 “To design is to plan; that is, design is the
process of making decisions before
situation arises in which the decision has to
be carried out. It is a process of deliberate
anticipation directed toward bringing an
expected situation under control” (Ackoff,
1953 in Blaikie)
 What is this causality?

 Trying to explain pattern, regularity.

 Not deterministic in the sense of natural

science laws.

 Ability and power to rule out existing rival

explanations.
 Types of causes
 Necessity
 Sufficient
 Necessary and sufficient
 Contributory
 Errors in assuming causal
relationship

 Reductionism
 Ecological
 Spuriousness
 Teleology
 Tautology
 Hypothesis
 Hypotheses are normally expressed as
statements of relationship between two
concepts.
 So, they are suitable for ‘why’ and ‘how’
questions.
 ‘What’ questions generally does not
require hypotheses.
 Example
 Research question: Is age at marriage associated
with divorce?

 Hypothesis: Lower the age at time of marriage,

the greater the chances that the marriage will end
in divorce.
 Are couples who marry younger more likely to
divorce?
 The smaller the difference between the ages of
marriage partners at the time of marriage, the less
likely that the marriage will end in divorce.
 5 characteristics of Causal
hypothesis
 It has at least two variables
 It expresses a cause-effect relationship
 It can be expressed as prediction
 It is logically linked to research question
 It is falsifiable (capable to be tested against
empirical evidence).
 Ways to state causal relation
 Religious attendance causes reduced divorce
 Religious attendance leads to reduced divorce
 Religious attendance is related to reduced divorce
 Religious attendance is associated with reduced
divorce
 Religious attendance produces reduced divorce
 Religious attendance results reduced divorce
 If people attend religious services, then the
likelihood of divorce will be reduced.
 The higher religious attendance, the lower the
likelihood of divorce.
Designing is making a series of
choices to make a claim on
knowledge
 Divides

First divide: While making a claim what is

the basis of my knowing it
(epistemology).

Second divide: While making the claim

what is my assumption about the world
(ontology)
Social world and natural science
(First cut by Positivism)
 Social world could be studied according to
the principles, procedures and ethos of
natural science.
 Knowledge confirmed by senses only can
be warranted knowledge.
 Knowledge is arrived through collection of
facts to provide basis for laws (induction).
 Theory is to generate hypothesis which
could be tested to assess laws (deduction).
 Investigations must be value-free
Social world and natural science
(Second cut by realism)
 There is a reality out there; But…
 The reality is maya and is exhibited
because of certain underlying structures.
 These structures should be identified with
the help of theory.
 Social world and natural
science
(Final cut by interpretivism)
 There is a fundamental difference between
people and objects of science.

 It is important to recognise the subjective

meaning of human action.
 Second key divide:

While making the claim what is my

assumption about the world (ontology)
 Objectivism  Constructionism

Social phenomena Social phenomena is built

existing independent by perceptions and
actions of actors.
of actors.

Eg. Negotiated
Eg. Organisation organisation

There is no denial of pre-

existence of objects,
but recognition of
active role of
individuals in creating
reality.
 Qualitative-Quantitative
Qua nti ta tive Qua lita tive

Epistemological Natural science Interpretivism

orientation or positivism

Ontological Objectivism Constructionis

orientation m
Approach to Test theory Generate
theory (deduction) theory
(induction)
Bryman, 2001 : Social Research Methods
 Elements Choice s

Topic/proble Basic research

m Applied research
Research What, Why, how
questions Exploration, description,
and explanation, understanding,
objectives prediction, evaluation
Research Inductive, deductive, retroductive
strategies and abductive
Concepts, Most suitable to questions and
theories, those that measures concepts
hypotheses accurately.
and models
 El ement s Choi ce s
Data sources Natural setting, artificial,
Data form semi-natural,
Primary, secondary, data
Quantitative, qualitative
Selection from Population; probability; multi-
data sources stage or single stage?

Data collection Cross sectional, longitudinal,

and timing historical etc.

Data reduction Quantitative or qualitatative

and analysis
Types of research design

 Experimental design
 Cross-sectional design
 Longitudinal design
 Case study design
 Comparative design
 Grounded theory design
 Action research
 Descriptive research
Descriptive Explanatory Interpretativ Action-
study study e study oriented
study
(Experiment (Case study)
(Survey) al) (Action
research)

How does X Which X What is X? How do

vary with Y causes Y? or Or How does people act in
which Y are Y interpret accordance
caused by X? the with
phenomenon knowledge
X in given accumulated/
context Z? disseminated
in the course
of the
research
process?
Experimental Design
 If feedback is given, the employees perform better.

T1 T2

Feedback

Similar performance
E1

Different performance
E1 given

Random Assess perf. Assess perf.

selection
Feedback C2
C2 not given
Advantage and disadvantage

 Highly robust and trustworthy design.

 Little application in social research as
manipulation of human subjects are not
always possible.
 Quasi-experiment is famous for evaluation
research.
Cross sectional design
If feedback is given, the employees perform
better.

 Random selection of large number of

employees.
 They receive different levels of feedback
(0-n).
 Their performance is different (0-n).
 Survey these employees at just one time
shot.
Advantages and disadvantages

 No manipulation of human subjects.

 Easy (one time shot), quantifiable data.
 We are not sure whether performance is
linked with feedback.
 Longitudinal
 Panel
 Cohort
 Case study
 Survey is about many cases and few
variables.
 Case study is about few cases and many
variables.

 Is the purpose of the research to bring out

complexity involved in the issue or
relation?
 Or the purpose is to compress the issue into
manageable one line statement or simple
explanation?
 Comparative
 Using contrasting and similar cases to
explain a phenomenon.

 Eg. Automation experiences in England

and France: worker attitude and
management-worker relationship
 Grounded theory
 Theory created through a constructive
process observing the details of case:

 Eg. Meaning of death (hospital, home…)

 Triangulation
 Theory triangulation
 Methodological triangulation
Validity and Reliability
 Generalisation
 Reliability (internal): replicability. (test-
retest; split-half)
 Reliability (external): agreement among
observers.

 Validity (internal): Match between

researcher’s observation and theory drawn
from it.
 Validity (external): Generalising to larger
population than sample.
 Validity
Face – in judgment of others
Content – captures entire meaning
Criterion – agrees with external source
(Concurrent/Predictive)
Construct – Multiple indicators are
consistent
 A different approach

 Credibility: internal validity

 Transferability: external validity
 Dependability: reliability
 Confirmability: objectivity
 Types of generalisation?
 Statistical generalisation
 Theoretical generalisation
 Naturalistic generalisation
 How do we achieve this?

 Respondent validation
 Intensive-long term involvement
 ‘Rich’ data, surprise element
 Intervention
 Searching for negative case
 Triangulation
 Comparison
 Conclusion

 Research design is a plan of research.

 Choose the design depending on the nature
of research problem, the type of
relationship between variables, and the
logistics.
 No design is better than other, so a mixture
of designs is better.
Thank you