(Web) lectures Research Design and Methods including case study + ethnography
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Course
Research Methods and Designs
Institution
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR)
Here you will find all web lectures and lectures on Research Design and Methods/Research Design and Methods, taught as a master subject for sociology and public administration students and related studies. The first two weeks are mandatory, followed by the lectures on case study and ethnography. Go...
4.3 Research Design and Methods (Onderzoeksontwerp en Methoden) | Master GVB 2022-2023
Colleges
Research Design and Methods
Content
Week 1 ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
Web lecture I – Philosophical worldviews ......................................................................................... 3
Web lecture II – Research questions .................................................................................................. 5
Web lecture III – Research strategies................................................................................................. 6
Lecture 1 – Worldviews, Questions and Strategies ........................................................................... 8
Week 2 ................................................................................................................................................... 11
Web lecture I – Conceptual framework & operationalization ........................................................ 11
Web lecture II – Validity & Reliability .............................................................................................. 12
Web lecture III – Quantitative and qualitative sampling ................................................................ 14
Lecture 2 – Frameworks, Validity/Reliability & Sampling ............................................................... 16
Week 3 ................................................................................................................................................... 21
Web lecture I – Defining case study ................................................................................................. 21
Web lecture II – Case selection ........................................................................................................ 21
Lecture 3 – Introduction to the landscape of case study design ..................................................... 23
Week 4 ................................................................................................................................................... 26
Web lecture I – Research methods in case study design ................................................................ 26
Web lecture II – Data collection methods ....................................................................................... 27
Lecture 4 – Research methods in case study design ....................................................................... 28
Week 5 ................................................................................................................................................... 32
Web lecture I – Qualitative data analysis and writing .................................................................... 32
Lecture 5 – Qualitative data analysis and writing ........................................................................... 34
Week 6 ................................................................................................................................................... 37
Web lecture I – Introduction to ethnographic research .................................................................. 37
Lecture 6 – Introduction to ethnographic research ......................................................................... 38
Week 7 ................................................................................................................................................... 41
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,4.3 Research Design and Methods (Onderzoeksontwerp en Methoden) | Master GVB 2022-2023
Web lecture I – Ethnographic interviewing ..................................................................................... 41
Lecture 7 – Data generation: ethnographic interviewing ............................................................... 41
Week 8 ................................................................................................................................................... 42
Lecture 8 – Coding & retrieving with Atlas.ti (NOT ON EXAM!) ...................................................... 42
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,4.3 Research Design and Methods (Onderzoeksontwerp en Methoden) | Master GVB 2022-2023
Week 1
Web lecture I – Philosophical worldviews
Background: Positivism
▪ Augustus Comte (1798-1857). ‘Course de philosophie positive’. Father of positivism and
‘sociology’:
- Social phenomena are the same as natural phenomena.
- The techniques of natural sciences are applicable to sociological investigation.
- Goal: search for causal laws in the social world through empirical observation.
▪ Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) follows the same idea. ‘Rules of Sociological Methods’.
- “The first and the most basic rule is: consider social facts as things.”
- “The determining cause of a social fact should be sought among the social facts
preceding it and not among the states of individual consciousness.”
Background: Idealism
▪ Max Weber (1864-1920). ‘The Methodology of the Social Sciences’.
- “Sociology is a science which attempts the interpretative understanding of social action
in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects.”
- “Interpretative sociology considers the individual and his action as the basic unit as/of its
atom.”
I. Postpositivism
▪ Comes after positivism.
▪ 19th century writers (e.g. Comte, Mill, Durkheim, Newton, Locke), also Kantian tradition (e.g.
Weber).
▪ Typically quantitative → also called the scientific method.
▪ Cause and effect: drive to assess the causes that influence outcomes.
▪ Begins with theory (deductive) and data is collected that either supports or refutes the
theory.
▪ Research seeks to develop relevant true statements that can explain or describe phenomena.
▪ Objectivity is essential (even though is does not exist): researchers must examine methods
and conclusions for bias and maintain a standard of reliability and validity in quantitative
research.
II. Constructivism
▪ Typically qualitative.
▪ Researches generate theory through induction.
▪ It is about understanding (‘Verstehen’, Weber).
▪ Social constructivists believe that individuals seek understanding of the world in which they
live.
▪ Meaning is constructed through the lens of individual experiences resulting in many varies
and complex views.
▪ Generation of meaning is social arising out of interaction with a human community.
III. Transformative
▪ Answer to criticism that post-positivism does not address issues of power and social justice
(Marx).
▪ Places central importance on the study of lives and experiences of diverse groups.
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, 4.3 Research Design and Methods (Onderzoeksontwerp en Methoden) | Master GVB 2022-2023
▪ Research focuses on inequities based on gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation
and socioeconomic status and resulting power inequities.
▪ Links political and social action to the inequities.
IV. Pragmatism
▪ Not tied to any one system of philosophy and reality.
▪ Arises out of actions, situations and consequences rather than antecedent conditions.
▪ More concern with applications and solutions to problems.
▪ Lends itself to mixed methods → draws from both quantitative and qualitative assumptions.
▪ Individual researchers choose methods, techniques and procedures that best fit their needs.
▪ Research occurs in social, historical, political and other contexts which may include a
theoretical lens that is reflective of social justice and political aims.
▪ Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914). The founder of American pragmatism.
- “For any statement to be meaningful, it must have practical bearings.”
- Semiology, the study of signs.
Why do we need to know these views?
▪ They affect how we develop and address our research questions.
▪ They are shaped by our training, scholarly community and personal experiences.
▪ Reviewers use them when they evaluate our studies.
▪ They are part of a research approach.
▪ They are interconnected with research designs and methods.
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