GS/PPAL 6200 3.00 Section N
Research Methods and Information
Systems
January 27, 2015
Professor Brenda Spotton Visano
Office: 130 McLaughlin
Voice Mail: (416) 736-2100 ext. 20470
E-mail: spotton@yorku.ca
Agenda
• Guest speaker: David Northrup, Institute for
Social Research, York University
• Review of last class
• Methods of Knowing
• Mill’s methods of knowing
• Sampling and Measurement – precursor to
causal inference
Review of Last Class
• Introduction to Information Ethics
– explore the advantages and disadvantages of privacy dilemma of
public records on the internet
– What are the benefits of the “public record” and publicly available
information? (A critical question in a world of e-government as the
electronic provision of information via the internet): public sector
accountability, increased civic participation, increased public security
– What are the negative consequences of publicly available personal
information? Identity theft, vulnerable groups at risk of discrimination,
safety risks, justice only for those who can afford costly challenges
• Principles of Access and Privacy per Ontario Privacy Commissioner
• FYI - “Public Records on the Internet: The Privacy Dilemma” Beth
Givens (2006) https://www.privacyrights.org/ar/onlinepubrecs.htm
Review of Last Class (cont’d)
• Introduction to Research Ethics
Scope (Protection of human and animal subjects,
Biosecurity, Collection, use and interpretation of data,
Reporting and reviewing research plans, findings,
Relationships between researchers (authorship,
collaboration), researcher and subject/those affected by
research, conflicts of interest, whistleblowing, Means of
responding to disputes)
• Relationship between York University Research
Ethics Policy, Tri-Council Policy, Information Ethics
Sample Questions to which we might
seek an Answer
Physical Phenomenon
• How do we know ice is cold?
• How could we test a hypothesis that states “all
things frozen are cold”?
Social Phenomenon
• How could we test a hypothesis that states
“minimum wage policies cause
unemployment”?
Methods of Knowing
http://poli.haifa.ac.il/~levi/method.html
• “Ice is cold” - How do we “know” this?
• Common "ways of knowing“ include…?
• Alternative Hypothesis: All things frozen are cold (onetail or two-tail hypothesis?)
• and the Null Hypothesis?
– All things frozen are warm (not cold) or
– Not all things frozen are cold (some are warm, some are
cold)
• Implied causality: Freezing causes cold.
• Sampling for generalizibility
Causality
• David Hume (1711-1776) A Treatise of Human
Nature, 1738; Hume’s Causality:
• Precedence (X precedes Y in time)
• Contiguity (X and Y are contiguous in time and space)
• Constant Conjunction (X and Y always co-occur)
• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), A System of Logic, 1843
– Methods of (1) Agreement, (2) Difference, (3) Joint
Agreement and Difference, and (4) Concomitant Variation
Method of Direct Agreement
(Symbolic representations from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill%27s_Methods)
– A B C D occur together with w x y z
– A E F G occur together with w t u v
– Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, of w
• Example of test for “ice is cold”?
• Example of test for minimum wage causes unemployment?
• Assumes:
– There is a unique cause
– That cause is included in the set of possibilities
investigated
– Invariance in patterns investigated
– Correlation implies causation
Method of Difference
– A B C D occur together with w x y z
– B C D occur together with x y z
– Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, or a part of
the cause of w.
• Example of test for “ice is cold”?
• Example of test for minimum wage causes
unemployment?
Joint Method of Agreement and
Difference
– A B C occur together with x y z
– A D E occur together with x v w
– also B C occur with y z
– Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, or a part of
the cause of x.
• Example of test for “ice is cold”?
• Example of test for minimum wage causes
unemployment?
Method of concomitant variations
– A B C occur together with x y z
– A± B C results in x± y z.
– Therefore A and x are causally connected
• Example of test for “ice is cold”?
• Example of test for minimum wage causes
unemployment?
What Cases are Looking at?
•
•
•
•
Representative – typical of category?
Prototypical? – expected to become typical?
Deviant? – an exception to the norm?
Crucial? – tests the hypothesis in the least
favorable conditions
• Archetypical? – creates a category?
Strategies for selecting cases to study
(i.e., a sample)
Probability sampling:
• Random Sampling – easy to do and explain,
but not the statistically efficient, and may not
be a good representation of sub-groups
• Stratified Random Sampling – take a simple
random sample from subgroups of the
population
• Systematic random sampling – take every kth
unit where k = N/n
Strategies for selecting cases to study
(i.e., sample)
Non-probability Sampling
• Convenience sampling – representative of the
population?
• Purposive sampling – reaches a target
population
• Expert sampling – convene a panel of experts
• Snowball sampling – first respondents
recommend others to be included
Cases versus variables
http://poli.haifa.ac.il/~levi/res/case3.htm
• Variables: any entity that can take on different values
• Cases: specific individual or specific context - Are cases
made or are they found? Are cases objects or are they
conventions?
• Is a social class a case or a variable?
• Is an analysis of United States census data a study of many
cases (individuals) or one case (the United States)?
• Are case designations specific (e.g., the "authoritarian
personality" or the "anti-neocolonial revolution") and
developed in the course of research (e.g., through in-depth
interviews or historical research) or are they general (e.g.,
individuals, families, cities, firms) and relatively external to
the conduct of research?