🔎
Introduction to Research
Methods Reading summaries +
Lecture & Module notes Week 1-
7
The summaries are mostly copied from the documents and not paraphrased. Do not
copy and paste from this document on the exam!!
Summaries missing from this are Bryman (2012) chapter 7 and 17, because I couldn’t
find them anywhere.
Some Grønmo chapters didn’t have to be read entirely, so those non-mandatory parts
are also not summarized. In the modules on brightspace you can find the specifics of
each reading.
The structure of a week is as follows:
Week number:
Readings for that week
Module notes
Lecture notes
Etc.
Good luck on the final!!! :))
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 1
, 🔎
Introduction to Research
Methods Reading summaries +
Lecture & Module notes Week 1-
7
Week 1
GrØnmo, S. (2019). Social Research
Methods (1st edition). Chapter 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Chapter 1: How and why we study society
Social science is based on systematic research about phenomena and conditions
in society. Social science consists of the methods that are developed and applied in
this research, as well as the knowledge and theories that are the results of the research.
Social science has been important for our identity and self-understanding, and for
our understanding of interpersonal relations and society as a whole.
What is social science?
Social science deals with human beings in different types of societies.
It is not limited to studies of individuals or groups of individuals. It also includes
research on society as a whole.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 1
, Major subject areas within social science are people’s social background,
attitudes and activities, characteristics of individuals and groups, individuals’
and groups’ relations to one another and to the society, as well as features of
the society at large.
Social science consists of the totality of all social science disciplines.
However, the distinctions between different disciplines in social science are
complicated, because:
1. There are different views on what topics, theories and methods should be most
central in each discipline.
2. The boundaries between different disciplines may be unclear and difficult to
define.
3. The development of some new disciplines, programmes of study or research
fields is based on combinations of perspectives and contributions from several
traditional and basic social science disciplines.
4. Also, the boundaries between these disciplines and other disciplines may
sometimes be unclear and unstable.
Social science and society
Since social science deals with human beings in different types of societies, the
relationship between social science and society is an important topic in the theory of
science.
Participants and observers
One feature of the relationship between social science and society is that social science
is itself a part of the society that it studies.
Thus, social scientists are not only observers of the society. They are also
participants in the society. In this sense, social science may be regarded as quite
different from natural science.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 2
, It is reasonable to argue that the special relationship between researchers and society
has different and more challenging implications in social science than it has in other
scientific fields.
Two major implications of this relationship should be emphasized:
First, the research process may affect individuals or groups that are examined,
so that their behaviour during the study is different from their usual behaviour.
The knowledge
may be biased because of the participants’ reactions to being involved in the
research process.
This methodological problem is called reactivity. It is also referred to as a
control effect.
Second, the researchers’ social background and social experiences may affect
their perceptions and interpretations of the phenomena that are examined. The
knowledge developed by the researchers may not only be a result of how these
phenomena ‘really’ are, but also reflect the researchers’ frame of reference and
way of thinking.
This type of methodological problems is described as reflexivity.
Debate about positivism
Positivism is a position in the theory of science which assumes that social scientific
knowledge is developed through systematic studies of ‘positively given’
empirical facts about existing phenomena in society.
It is argued that these phenomena exist as observable and objective facts, and that
they cannot be influenced or changed by being observed and examined.
One of the arguments against positivism is that phenomena and conditions in society
cannot be regarded as objective and observable facts.
It is not possible to predict how people will behave, and social conditions may at any
time change in unexpected ways.
Furthermore, it is not possible for social science to be outside society.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 3
, Research on society can affect and interfere in people’s actions and society’s
development. Thus, social science will be a part of the context in which people’s
actions have to be understood.
Qualitative and quantitative studies
The distinction between qualitative and quantitative is primarily based on different
characteristics of the data that are collected and analysed.
Quantitative data is expressed as numbers or in other quantity terms.
Qualitative data is expressed as text.
The distinction between qualitative and quantitative data is not a pure dichotomy, but
refers to a scale.
Social phenomena may have both qualitative and quantitative aspects and may,
therefore, be examined by means of both qualitative and quantitative data.
Such studies are referred to as mixed methods research.
Facts and values
The relationship between facts and values is a classical and fundamental issue in the
theory of science.
Empirical and normative studies
Empirical studies emphasize questions about facts (empirical questions).
The purpose of such studies is to examine or clarify what the facts in society are, for
example how the tax system is constructed and how it works.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 4
, Normative studies emphasize questions about values.
The purpose is to refer to specific values and examine how different conditions in
society should be (normative questions). Such studies may, for example, refer to
justice as a value and examine how the tax system should be constructed in order
to obtain justice for different groups.
Basic principles for social science: Ontology, epistemology and
methodology
Ontology is the study of being, existence and reality.
Their principle is that social science is based on truth as a primary value.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, focusing on how knowledge is developed, the
sources of knowledge and the conditions for the development of knowledge.
Their principle is that perceptions of truth in social science are theoretically,
methodologically and contextually founded.
Methodology is the theoretical analysis of the methods applied in a research field,
focusing on the fundamental ways of thinking and understanding that determine the
development and application of different methods.
Their principle is that evaluations of truth in social science are based on rational and
logical criteria.
Chapter 2: Methods and methodologies in
social science
Scientific methods
Scientific methods may be described as a set of guidelines to ensure that scientific
activities are technically sound and carried out with sufficient quality.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 5
, Systematic methods for theoretical discussion and reasoning should be based
on general principles of logic and language use:
1. Precision
2. Validity
3. Completeness
Methods for empirical studies include:
principles and guidelines,
procedures and techniques for formulating research questions,
selecting units of analysis and types of information,
constructing study designs,
collecting and analysing data,
and interpreting results of data analyses
Methodological issues
Methodology covers the basic and fundamental approaches or ways of
understanding that underlie the development and utilization of different methods.
Methodology is about interpretation and understanding of methods.
The relationship between method and methodology can be compared to the relationship
between empirical evidence and theory.
While social science theory refers to various ways of understanding social
phenomena, social science methodology deals with various ways of understanding
how knowledge about such phenomena can be generated.
The choice of specific methods for specific investigations is linked to more fundamental
methodological issues:
1. The relationship between qualitative and quantitative data
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 6
, 2. The relationship between methodological individualism and methodological
collectivism
3. The relationship between idiographic and nomothetic studies.
The basis for knowledge
The question of what can and should be the basis for the knowledge and theories that
are developed in social science studies is central to the relationship between
methodological individualism and methodological collectivism.
Methodological Individualism = Knowledge of society as a whole is established
through the aggregation of information about the individual elements in society.
(Micro-level)
Methodological Collectivism = information about individuals is not sufficient as a
basis for knowledge about social contexts or society at large.
f.e. It is impossible to understand a prison community simply by observing and
aggregating the behaviour of each of the inmates and employees. (Macro-level)
Intermediate positions between these are:
Methodological situationalism = the relevant methodological units are not single
individuals and their individual actions, but rather the interaction between individuals
in certain social situations. (Meso-level)
Methodological relationism = knowledge about social conditions cannot be based
solely on the characteristics of individuals or of structures, but must also consider
the relations between these levels and their distinctive characteristics. (Meso-level)
The scope of the knowledge
The methodological question regarding the scope of social science knowledge is
emphasized in the relationship between idiographic and nomothetic studies.
Idiographic studies focus on individual phenomena or social conditions that are
clearly defined in time and space, such as the Irish banking crisis in 2008–2009 or
the presidential election campaign in the USA in 2016.
Nomothetic studies focus more on more general relationships and patterns that
are not limited to specific historical periods or specific geographical areas.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 7
, What is empirical evidence?
Empirical evidence is information, facts or data about actual conditions in society.
It is experience-based information about actual conditions in society based on
sensory experience.
When empirical evidence is based on sensory experience, it is characterized by the
human senses used in the experience.
This means that it is not always easy to interpret the results of an empirical study.
The empirical evidence collected and recorded in such a systematic manner constitutes
empirical data.
Such data may be qualitative or quantitative.
What is theory?
Social science theory = a set or system of concepts and relationships that are in a
mutual relationship with each other, and which summarize and arrange preconditions,
assumptions and knowledge about society.
A concept is a more or less abstract term for certain clearly defined
phenomena.
Theories consist not only of different concepts, but also of relationships between
the different concepts.
Theories can be expressed in multiple models, like theoretical models or the more
formal mathematical model.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 8
, The relationship between methods, empirical evidence
and theory
Research is often characterized by a switching back and forth between theory and
empirical evidence.
In doing so, the researcher uses different methods to make links between theory
and empirical evidence, depending on whether they are moving from theory to
empirical evidence or vice versa.
Going from theory to empirical evidence is a deductive research design, while going
from empirical evidence to theory is a inductive research design.
Chapter 4: Creating research questions
Research questions are questions to be examined and answered in scientific studies.
Sometimes research questions are formulated as topics, describing what the aim of
the study is, or what the study deals with.
Research questions may also be formulated as hypotheses, which are statements
about expected answers to the research questions or expected outcomes of the
research.
In social science, research questions are questions which:
1. focus on interesting and important phenomena in society.
2. lead to new studies of these social phenomena.
3. point to fruitful approaches for such studies.
4. contribute to further development of the relevant research fields for these studies.
Introduction to Research Methods Reading summaries + Lecture & Module notes Week 1-7 9
