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Summary Bryman: Social Research Methods
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H1 to H4, H6 to H8, H17, H26 from the book Social Research Methods, Bryman.
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H1. The nature and process of social researchSocial research: academic research on topics relating to questions relevant to the social scientific fields. Why do
social research? To answer questions in the course of reading literature or to fill a gap in this knowledge, to
understand. Factors form part of the context within which social research and its methods operate: 1) theories:
influence/interpretation. 2) existing knowledge, literature. 3) The researcher’s views about the nature of the
relationship between theory and research, forming of the hypothesis. 4) assumptions about the nature of social
phenomena infl uence the research process. 5) values of the research community: ethical issues. 6) what is the
research for, implications for practise. 7) political context, suches as funding. 8) training and personal values of
the researcher.
Elements of the process of social research
1. Literature review. • what is already known about the topic; • what concepts and theories have been
applied to the topic; • what research methods have been applied to the topic; • what controversies about
the topic and how it is studied exist; • what clashes of evidence (if any) exist; • who the key
contributors to research on the topic are → demonstrating the credibility and contribution of your
research.
2. Concepts and theories. Concepts are the way that we make sense of the social world. Important to
organize and signal to intended audiences our research interests. Concepts help reflect and organize
collected data.
3. Research questions. Explicit statement of what the researcher wants to know about, has to be: a
question, interrogatory. Types (Denscombe, 2010): 1. Predicting an outcome (does y happen under
circumstances a and b?). 2. Explaining causes and consequences of a phenomenon (is y affected by x or
is y a consequence of x?). 3. Evaluating a phenomenon (does y exhibit the benefi ts that it is claimed to
have?). 4. Describing a phenomenon (what is y like or what forms does y assume?). 5. Developing
good practice (how can we improve y?). 6. Empowerment (how can we enhance the lives of those we
research?) (difference of opinion) 7. Comparison (do a and b differ in respect of x?). Research
questions are narrowing down and focusing more precisely on what it is that you want to know about.
Research questions are crucial because they: • guide your literature search; • guide your decisions about
the kind of research design to employ; • guide your decisions about what data to collect and from
whom; • guide your analysis of your data; • guide your writing-up of your data; • stop you from going
off in unnecessary directions; and • provide your readers with a clearer sense of what your research is
about.
4. Sampling cases. Content analysis (collecting data from newspaper, television instead of from people →
saves time and money). Representative samples: surveys etc., sample that can represent a wider
population.
5. Data collection. Research question: a question designed to indicate what the purpose of an investigation
is; a questionnaire question is one of many questions that are posed in a questionnaire that will help to
shed light on and answer one or more research questions. Participant observation and semi-structured
interviewing: so that the researcher can keep more of an open mind about the contours of what he or
she needs to know about, so that concepts and theories can emerge out of the data (inductive).
6. Data analysis: the application of statistical techniques to the data that have been collected. Raw data
has to be managed (checked for obvious flaws). Coding is a process whereby the data are broken down
into their component parts and those parts are then given labels. → data reduction. Primary (the
researcher or researchers who were responsible for collecting the data conduct the analysis) or
secondary data (when someone else analyses such data).
Literature review A critical examination of existing research relating to
the phenomena of interest and of relevant theoretical
, ideas.
Concepts and theories The ideas that drive the research process and that
shed light on the interpretation of the resulting
findings. These findings contribute to the ideas.
Research questions A question that provides an explicit statement of
what it is the researcher wants to know about.
Sampling cases The selection of cases (in this case people) who are
relevant to the research questions.
Data collection Gathering data from the sample so that the research
questions can be answered.
Data analysis The management, analysis, and interpretation of the
data.
Writing up Dissemination of the research and its findings.
H2. Social research strategies
Deductive approach: whether theory guides research. Inductive approach: whether theory is an outcome of
research. Epistemological issues: that is, ones to do with what is regarded as appropriate knowledge about the
social world; one of the most crucial aspects is the question of whether or not a natural science model of the
research process is suitable for the study of the social world. Ontological issues—that is, ones to do with
whether the social world is regarded as something external to social actors or as something that people are in the
process of fashioning.
Theory: important, provides a backcloth and rationale, a framework. Theories of the middle range (Merton
1967), and grand theories, which operate at a more abstract and general level.
Empiricism: knowledge gained through experience, Naive empiricism: a belief that the accumulation of ‘facts’
is a legitimate goal in its own right. Goffman: stigma, Hochschild: emotional labour.
Deductive theory:
Induction:
Epistemological considerations: An epistemological issue concerns the question of what is (or should be)
regarded as acceptable knowledge in a discipline.
Positivism entails elements of both a deductive approach and an inductive strategy. The role of research is to test
theories and to provide material for the development of laws.
1. Only phenomena and hence knowledge confirmed by the senses can genuinely be warranted as
knowledge (the principle of phenomenalism).
2. The purpose of theory is to generate hypotheses that can be tested and that will thereby allow
explanations of laws to be assessed (the principle of deductivism).
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