CHAPTER 4-

The Structure of InquiryResearch Design.

Science- is about ‘finding out’ Making Observations and interpreting

what you’ve observed

Research Design: plan on what you are going to observe, why, and how 1. You have to specify what you are

going to find out 2. The best way to do it

PURPOSES OF RESEARCH

1. EXPLORATION: Conducted to explore a topic- to find out more about something. It is not for the purpose of finding out

causation or detailed explanation It is more of a focused study conducted

for the purpose of

1. Researcher curiosity 2. Test the feasibility of conducting further research 3. To develop methods to be employed in subsequent

studies.

In this type of research, you start from scratch, just having an idea of what it is you want to find out, then you ask and read to find out the relevant variables- the best way to identify variables is to pick the common ones that affect behavior or results like age, gender, etc

Shortcomings of Exploratory Studies

They seldom provide adequate answers to research questions though they hint at possible answers.

2. DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES

Describe situations and events e.g the US census.

Answers the questions what, when, where, how

Careful chronicle of events is also an example of descriptive studies

3. Explanatory Studies

Answers the question “why” Tries to uncover cause of a particular

effect.

The question: Why do some cities have higher crime rates than others?

Nomothetic and Ideographic Explanation

Ideographic- a complete in-depth understanding of a single case. All the causes of a given effect

Nomothetic- A few (not all) that explain the major variation (causes) of a given effect. It is not all or none, it is probabilistic. Other things being equal, x causes y.

CONDITIONS FOR CAUSALITY

1. CORRELATION 2.TIME ORDER 3. NON SPURIOUS

Storks and babies Ice cream and drowning

Causation is probabilistic not complete, the cause explains variation in the effect, does not have to be total variation

Criteria for Nomothetic causation

1. Probabilistic not complete 2. Exceptional cases do not disprove

causation 3. Can be true even if they don’t apply to

the majority of cases e.g supervision and delinquency, even if most unsupervised kids do not become delinquent but the chances for becoming delinquent when unsupervised are greater, the relationship holds.

Necessary and Sufficient Causes

A Necessary Cause is one that must be present in order for the effect to occur e.g. In order to get a degree, you must take college courses etc.

A Sufficient Cause is one that if present guarantees the effect e.g. if you are absent on exam day, you fail the course.

The most satisfying outcome in research is discovering a cause that is at the same time necessary and sufficient

In nomothetic research it is seldom that we uncover sufficient causes. In idiographic research where all the various causes are laid out, it is more likely that a sufficient cause for a particular result will be uncovered.

Units of Analysis What or whom to study are the Units of

Analysis, can be an individual, or a group like family or whole countries etc. Usually when we generalize to groups we

generalize from individuals that have been classified as belonging to a certain group. E.g, Americans, or democrats etc Or we can study groups as individual units e.g Study of gangs or a comparative study of different countries etc.

Units of Analysis are those things we examine in order to create 1. summary descriptions of all such units 2. Examine differences among them

Units of analysis can be individuals, groups, organizations, social artifacts

What are social artifacts?

Social Artifacts are products of social beings and their behavior

Social Interactions also constitute a form of social artifact, eg. Marriages, race riots, traffic accidents etc.

Ecological & Individualistic Fallacy Ecological Fallacy, something about the

larger unit, is true of every single individual Life expectancy- example Voting/Age example.

Individualistic Fallacy is the opposite of the Ecological Fallacy. What is true of the individual is necessarily true of the group. The exception does not disprove the general rule.

REDUCTIONISM

EXPLAINING COMPLEX PHENOMENON IN TERMS FOR A FEW OR NARROW SETS OF CONCEPTS E.g. ECONOMIC REDUCTIONISM.

TIME DIMENSION Time is critical to determining causation Time is also critical to generalizability of results: does

the situation you uncovered today apply to ten years ago or will it apply in the future.

Two types of StudiesTwo types of Studies: Cross-Sectional Studies: observes a cross

section of the population at one point in time.

Longitudinal Studies: Observe phenomenon over time. Three types?

Time Dimension Longitudinal studies have an advantage

over cross sectional studies, they are more accurately generalizable over time However, Cross-Sectional studies can

approximate longitudinal studies by1. Using logic: smoking cigarettes vs. marijuana.2. Logical Inferences when time order is clear:

e.g. college grades affected by type of high school

3. Age difference in phenomenon4. Asking people to recall the past.

Research Design

Interest---- Idea---- TheoryInterest---- Idea---- Theory

ConceptualizationOperationalization

Choice of Research MethodExperimentSurveyField ResearchContent AnalysisExisting Data AnalysisHistorical/Comparative

Population &Sampling

Observations (collecting data)Processing Data (Transforming for analysis)Analysis Application

AcademicPersonalBusiness

Research Proposal elements Problem or objective of your study Lit review related to your problem Who are you going to study (units of analysis

and observation) Measurement variables What methods are you going to use Your analysis- what techniques Time frame Budget Importance of your study