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social research methodology notes
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Social research methodology notesTable of Contents
Social research methodology notes .................................................................................... 1
Week 1............................................................................................................................... 2
Knowledge clips 1 ..........................................................................................................................................2
Lecture 1........................................................................................................................................................4
Knowledge clips 3 ..........................................................................................................................................8
Week 2............................................................................................................................. 11
Knowledge clips 1 ........................................................................................................................................11
Knowledge clips 2 ........................................................................................................................................15
Lecture 2......................................................................................................................................................17
Week 3............................................................................................................................. 19
Lecture 1......................................................................................................................................................19
Knowledge clips week 1 ..............................................................................................................................20
Week 4............................................................................................................................. 27
Knowledge clips ...........................................................................................................................................27
Lecture 2......................................................................................................................................................31
Week 5............................................................................................................................. 35
Lecture 1 ................................................................................................................................... 35
Knowledge clips ........................................................................................................................ 42
Week 6............................................................................................................................. 47
Lecture 2 ................................................................................................................................... 47
Knowledge clips ........................................................................................................................ 53
,Week 1
Knowledge clips 1
Steps/cycle in the research process
1. Research ques6on
2. Literature review & theory
3. Research design
4. Data collec6on
5. Data analysis
6. Evalua6on & write report
Process is oEen repeated
Research ques6ons
- Mo6va6on and relevance
o Scien6fic puzzle or focus on prac6cal implica6ons for society or stakeholders
- Types of ques6ons
o Exploratory
§ Inventory: e.g. which kind of issues are defined as mental health
problem, which concerns exist about students’ wellbeing?
§ When you don’t know much about the topic yet
o Descrip6ve
§ E.g. How many first-year students in the Netherlands suffer from
mental health problems, how do students perceive their own
wellbeing?
§ You have clear defini6on already on mental health e.g.
o Explanatory (‘why’?)
§ E.g. Which factors have a posi6ve or nega6ve impact on students
mental health? Why are some students stressed and other not
o Evalua6ve (‘how effec6ve’?)
§ E.g. How effec6ve are mindfulness courses to improve mental health
among students, What are the advantages and disadvantages of
different interven6ons?
§ Goes further aEer you know the ‘why’ and can design a program to
improve situa6on and then ask the evalua6ve ques6on
- The research ques6on influences all other phases of the research process
o Which literature?
o Type of research?
o Which analyses?
o Conclusions and recommenda6ons
Difference between ‘everyday’ research vs scien6fic research
- Scien6fic research is systema6c, you follow planning and different steps and think
about why you take these steps which contrast a more intui6ve ‘everyday’ approach
as it could lead to confirma6on bias (selec6vely seeking informa6on confirming your
ideas)
, - Scien6fic research is transparent, you write down in detail what you did and how you
arrived to certain evidence. Following from transparency is that you’re open to
cri6cism
- Scien6fic research is all about empirical evidence (the ‘data’), it ul6mately decides vs
specula6on, personal ideas and beliefs. Contrast between empiricism (gathering
knowledge via senses/observa6ons) and ra6onalism (gathering knowledge through
reasoning/thinking
Social research oEen messy, e.g. you analyze data and then you want adjust the design of
your research because of what you saw in the data.
Direc6on of theory-development
- Deduc6on
o Derive concrete hypotheses from general theory
o E.g. the more 6me students spend on studying, the higher the grade they will
achieve. Socrates spends more 6me studying for SRM than Plato, conclusion
Socrates has a higher chance to achieve a high grade for SRM than Plato.
- Induc6on
o Outcomes of observa6on/research guide theory
o E.g. Boris studied for a long 6me and achieve a high grade, Donald did not
study as long as Boris and got a lower grade. Conclusion: the more 6me
students spend on studying the higher the grade they will achieve
, Itera6ve strategy
- Weaving back and forth between data and theory
- Itera6on= repe66on
- Grounded theory
o Start with empirical data (observa6ons) and go to theory (induc6ve process)
and then collect data (deduc6ve) again
Lecture 1
Ontology
- What is the fundamental nature of reality? What characterizes the (social) world?
Does it actually exist? What are the characteris6cs of ‘being’
- Field within philosophy which studies nature of being, the most natural abstract
ques6on, the reality
Two contras6ng views
- ‘whether social en66es can and should be considered objec6ve en66es that exist
separately to social actors -> objec6vism
- ‘whether they can and should be considered social construc6ons built up from the
percep6ons and ac6ons of social actors -> construc6vism
Epistemology (‘the study of knowledge’)
- What is the source and nature of knowledge? How can we (and should we) acquire
acceptable, jus6fied knowledge about the world around us?
- How to obtain knowledge
Thomas Kuhn vs. Karl Popper
- Popper
o In line with objec6vism, we are able to compare different theories with each
other. We can test them against ‘the facts’ and eliminate theories that are
wrong
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