Chapter 3
Researching the Social World
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The Scientific Method
• Sociologists practice empiricism, which
means they gather information using their
senses.
• The scientific method is a way to find
answers to questions about the world.
• The scientific method is a systematic
search for a thorough understanding of the
world.
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The Scientific Method
• The scientific method uses steps.
• Uncover questions in need of answers.
• Review the relevant literature.
• Develop hypotheses (tentative statements
about the relationship between two or more
variables).
• Choose a research method.
• Collect data.
• Analyze the data.
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The Development of Scientific
Knowledge
• The scientific method implies that science
develops gradually and cumulatively.
• Confidence in findings grows as they are
confirmed by additional research.
• All sciences are built on such facts.
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The Development of Scientific
Knowledge
• Thomas Kuhn (1962) proposed a different
model of scientific development in The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
• A paradigm (general model) is accepted by
most practitioners in a field.
• However, scientific revolutions occur when
one paradigm replaces another after a
scientific breakthrough.
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Sociological Research: Qualitative
and Quantitative Research
• Qualitative Research
• A scientific method that does not require
statistical methods for collecting and reporting
data
• Observation and open-ended questions are
two examples.
• Capture descriptive information.
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Sociological Research: Qualitative
and Quantitative Research
• Quantitative Research
• Involves the analysis of numerical data
• Surveys and experiments are two examples.
• Can help us describe and understand social
realities
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Sociological Research:
Observational Research
• Involves systematic watching, listening to,
and recording what takes place in a
natural setting over time
• The most common observational methods
used by sociologists are participant and
nonparticipant.
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Sociological Research:
Observational Research
• Dimensions to any type of observation in
sociology
• Degree to which those being observed are
aware that they are being observed
• Degree to which the presence of the observer
may affect those being observed
• Degree to which the process is structured
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Observational Research
• Participant and nonparticipant observation
• In participant observation the researcher
plays a role in the group or setting being
observed.
• In nonparticipant observation the researcher
plays little or no role in what is being
observed.
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Observational Research
• Ethnography
• The creation of an account of what a group of
people do and the way they live
• Entails much more intensive and lengthy
periods of observation
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Sociological Research:
Interviews
• Information is sought from participants
who are asked a series of questions.
• Types of interviews:
• Prestructured
• Unstructured
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Sociological Research: Surveys
• Questionnaires are self-administered, written
sets of questions.
• Types of surveys
• Descriptive
• Explanatory
• Sampling
• Random
• Stratified
• Convenience
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Sociological Research:
Experiments
• Involves the manipulation of one or more
characteristics of an independent variable
in order to examine the effect of that
manipulation
• Types of experiments
• Laboratory
• Natural
• Field
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Secondary Data Analysis
• Historical-Comparative Analysis
• Goal is to contrast how different historical
events and conditions in various societies led
to different societal outcomes
• Content Analysis
• The systematic and objective analysis of the
content of cultural artifacts
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Issues in Social Research:
Reliability and Validity
• Reliability
• Involves the degree to which a given measure
produces the same results time after time
• Concern is with consistency
• Validity
• Involves whether a researcher is measuring
what he/she claims to be
• Concern is with accuracy
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Issues in Social Research:
Research Ethics
• Ethics is concerned with issues of right
and wrong, the choices that people make,
and how they justify them.
• Research ethics is a balance of potential
knowledge (the goal is to increase
knowledge) and potential harm (the goal is
to minimize or eliminate harm).
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Issues in Social Research:
Research Ethics
• Physical and Psychological Harm
• Physical harm can be an unintended
consequence of sociological research.
• Psychological harm can be caused merely by
asking people about sensitive issues.
• Illegal Acts
• A researcher might witness or even become
entangled in illegal acts during the course of
his/her research.
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Issues in Social Research:
Research Ethics
• Violation of Trust
• Possibility of inadvertently divulging the
identity of respondents even though they were
promised anonymity or confidentiality
• Informed Consent and IRBs
• Institutional review boards are designed to
deal with issues of deception in social
research and potential harm.
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Issues in Social Research:
Objectivity or Value-Free Sociology
• Have researchers been, or can they be,
objective?
• Many argue that value-laden research
jeopardizes sociology as it could destroy its
credibility.
• Others argue that it is appropriate for researchers
to be guided by their values or the values that
predominate their society.
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