Thinking Methodologically : Basic Principles of Social Research Design and Evaluation

by Donileen R. Loseke

• ISBN13: 9781412997201
• ISBN10: 1412997208
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-01
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

Thinking Methodologically: Basic Principles of Social Research Design focuses on the underlying logic of social research and encourages students to understand research methods as a way of thinking. In this book author Donileeen Loseke provides an overview of the basic principles of social research, including the foundations of research (data, concepts, theory), the characteristics of research questions, the importance of literature reviews, measurement (conceptualization and operationalization), data generation techniques (experiments, surveys, interviews, observation, document analysis) and sampling. Relationships among these components of research are stressed, and the repeated, explicit lesson throughout these pages is that it is not possible to argue that one or another form of research is better than any other and that good researchers understand the differences among-and appreciate the capabilities of-different tools.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Exploring the World of Social Research Design	p. 1
Defining Social Research	p. 3
Social Research and Other Ways of Knowing	p. 4
Evaluating Social Research	p. 5
The Study of Social Research Design	p. 6
Basic Principles of Methodological Thinking	p. 7
Think Critically	p. 7
Treat All Knowledge as Tentative	p. 8
Understand the Importance of Each Element of Research Design	p. 9
Think Both as a Scientist and as an Artist	p. 9
Know the Appropriate Uses of Social Research Tools	p. 10
Understand the Characteristics and Consequences of Methodological Diversity	p. 11
Planning the Study of Research Design	p. 11
Methods in Theory and in Practice	p. 13
Foundations	p. 15
The Components of Social Research: Data,
Concepts, and Theories	p. 15
Data	p. 15
Variations in Data Content: Thinking/Feeling and Behavior	p. 15
Variations in Data Origins: Researcher
Produced and Naturally Occiuring	p. 16
Variations in Data Form: Words and Numbers	p. 16
Concepts	p. 17
Theories	p. 18
Direction of Reasoning Between Data and Concepts/Theories	p. 18
Deductive Reasoning	p. 19
Inductive Reasoning	p. 19
Logic and Research Design Decisions	p. 20
Models of Social Life and Models of Social Research	p. 21
Positivist Perspectives	p. 21
Positivist Perspective Assumptions About Social Life	p. 91
Positivist Perspective Assumptions About Social Research	p. 93
Positivist Perspective Assumptions About Social Researchers	p. 23
Interpretive Perspectives	p. 23
Interpretive Perspective Assumptions About Social Life	p. 94
Interpretive Perspective Assumptions About Social Research	p. 24
Interpretive Perspective Assumptions About Social Researchers	p. 24
Critical Perspectives	p. 25
Critical Perspective Assumptions About Social Life	p. 25
Critical Perspective Assumptions About Social Research	p. 25
Critical Perspective Assumptions About Social Researchers	p. 25
Research Design Decisions and Models of Social Life	p. 26
Continuing Debates in Social Research Design	p. 28
Natural Science Versus Humanities	p. 28
Qualitative Versus Quantitative Design	p. 29
Foundations and Research Design	p. 30
Suggestions for Further Reading on Foundations of Social Research Design	p. 30
Research Questions	p. 32
Identifying Research Questions in Published Research	p. 33
Constructing Research Questions	p. 34
Assessing the Appropriateness of Research Questions	p. 38
Thinking About Researchers	p. 38
Research and Personally Meaningful Topics	p. 38
Research and Personal Perspectiveson Social Life	p. 39
Research and Working Styles	p. 40
Thinking About Research Participants	p. 40
Thinking About Practicalities	p. 41
Reconstructing Research Questions	p. 42
Modifying Questions to Reflect Particular Views of Social Life	p. 42
Modifying Questions to Reflect Practicalities	p. 46
Evaluating Research Questions	p. 46
Research Questions and Research Design	p. 47
Literature Reviews	p. 48
Defining the Literature	p. 48
Existing Knowledge as a Tool for Research Design	p. 50
Previous Studies Define the Foundation for New Studies	p. 50
Previous Studies Define What New Research Is Needed	p. 51
Previous Studies Offer Guidelines for Research Design	p. 51
Defining the Relevant Literature	p. 54
Defining Boundaries for the Inclusion of Topics	p. 55
Defining Boundaries of Abstraction	p. 57
Thinking About the Review Task	p. 58
Where to Look	p. 59
How to Read	p. 60
What to Read for	p. 61
The Contents and Form of Literature Reviews	p. 61
Literature Reviews and Research Design	p. 62
Examples of Social Research Article Databases	p. 63
Measurement	p. 65
Conceptualization and Conceptual Definitions	p. 66
Identifying and Writing Conceptual Definitions	p. 67
Operationalization and Operational Definitions	p. 69
Types of Operationalizations in Social Research	p. 69
Operationalizations as Criteria for Classifying Tilings People Say	p. 69
Operationalizations as Criteria for Classifying Behavior	p. 70
Operationalizations as Criteria for Classifying the Content of Documents or Other hysical bjects	p. 71
Operational Definitions and Research Logic	p. 75
Operationalizations in Deductive Research	p. 75
Operationalizations in Inductive Research	p. 75
Measurement Problems in Social Research	p. 76
The Problem of Meaning	p. 77
The Problem of Multidimensionality	p. 77
The Problem of Interconnectivity	p. 77
The Problem of Measurement Imprecision	p. 78
Evaluating Measurement	p. 78
Evaluating Measurement Validity in Positivist Research	p. 78
Evaluating Measurement Trastworthiness in Interpretive Research	p. 79
Problems in Evaluating Measurement	p. 80
Conceptualization and Operationalization and Research Design	p. 80
Data Generation Techniques	p. 82
Research Questions and Data	p. 82
Research Questions and Data Content	p. 82
Research Questions and Data Form	p. 84
Data Generation Techniques	p. 85
Experiments	p. 86
Fixed-Question Surveys	p. 86
In-Depth Interviews	p. 87
Observation	p. 88
Document Analysis	p. 88
Variations in Data Generation Techniques	p. 89
Variations to Match Research Questions	p. 89
Variations to Match the Current State of Knowledge	p. 92
Variations to Match Models of Research	p. 92
Variations to Match Practicalities	p. 93
Assessing the Appropriateness of Data Generation Techniques	p. 93
Danger to Research Participants	p. 93
Danger to Researchers	p. 95
Problems From Practicalities	p. 95
Data Generation Techniques and Research Design	p. 97
Samples	p. 98
Populations and Samples in Social Research	p. 98
The Concept of Population in Social Research	p. 98
Conceptualizing Populations in Research Design	p. 99
The Concept of Sample in Social Research	p. 101
The Importance of Samples in Social Research	p. 102
Types of Samples	p. 103
Probability Samples	p. 103
Nonprobability Samples	p. 104
Sampling and Sample Problems in Social Research	p. 105
Problems in Probability Sampling	p. 105
Problems in Non probability Samples	p. 107
Practical Problems in All Sampling	p. 111
Samples and Research Design	p. 112
Summary: Writing and Evaluating Social Research Design	p. 114
Foundations of Research Design and Evaluation: Methodological Thinking	p. 115
Barriers to Critical Thinking	p. 116
Variations in Criteria for Evaluating Reports of Research Design	p. 118
Variations From Types of Research	p. 118
Variations From Foundational Characteristics	p. 118
Variations From Data Generation Techniques	p. 119
Variations From Report Purposes and Audiences	p. 120
Quality Within Variations	p. 121
Writing Research Design: Characteristics of High-Quality Reports	p. 122
Containing Appropriate Contents	p. 123
Containing Adequate Information on Design Characteristics	p. 123
Demonstrating the Logical Coherence of Design Components	p. 124
Endings and Beginnings	p. 125
Suggestions for Further Reading on Writing and
Evaluating Social Research Design	p. 125
Appendix: Articles Used as Examples	p. 126
Exploring the Bases of Partisanship in the American Electorate: Social Identity vs. Ideology	p. 127
Ethnography of Racial Identities in Paris: Public Indicators of Social Hierarchy. A Research	p. 134
The Digital Identity Divide: How Technology Knowledge Impacts College Students	p. 142
Fitting In but Getting Fat: Identity Threat and Dietary Choices Among U.S. Immigrant Groups	p. 150
Addicts' Narratives of Recovery From Drug Use: Constructing a Non-Addict Identity	p. 157
Unassailable Motherhood, Ambivalent Domesticity: The Construction of Maternal Identity in Ladies' Home Journal in 1946	p. 164
Smoking Identities and Behavior: Evidence of Discrepancies, Issues for Measurement and Intervention	p. 174
Gang-Related Gun Violence: Socialization, Identity, and Self	p. 179
Index	p. 188
About the Author	p. 194ÿþ
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