These stages include (a) choosing a research topic, (b) conducting a literature review, (c) measuring variables and gathering data, (d) analyzing data, and (e) drawing a conclusion. Depending on the purpose of the study, the population of interest varies widely: it can be the adult population of the United States, the adult population of a particular state or city, all young women aged 13–18 in the nation, or countless other variations. The independent variable must precede the dependent variable in time and/or in logic. Clarke, R. J. 4. What are the eight basic steps in sociological research? The first step in the research process is choosing a topic. Second, the researcher needs to determine how the proposed study will add to what is known about the topic of the study. Third, how sure can the researcher be of the couple’s degree of happiness? As its Web site (http://www.cssny.org/research) states, “research is a critical tool we use to increase our understanding of conditions that drive poverty as we advocate for public policy and programs that will improve the economic standing of low-income New Yorkers.”. For example, on a campus of 10,000 students where 60% of the students are women and 40% are men, a researcher might decide to study 100 students by handing out a questionnaire to those who happen to be in the student center building on a particular day. (1) Selecting a topic, (2) Defining the problem, (3) Review-ing the literature, (4) Formulating a hypothesis, (5) Choos-ing a research method, (6) Collecting the data, (7) Analyzing the results, and (8) Sharing the results. It might well be that the dependent variable is affecting the independent. The “Sociology Making a Difference” box further discusses research of this type. Data gathered through observation and/or intensive interviewing, research designs discussed later in this chapter, are usually qualitative. Sociology refers to social behavior, society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture that surrounds everyday life. If the primary purpose of the project has been to test or refine a particular theory, the conclusion will discuss the implications of the results for this theory. All the features of the research are counted and classified with the help of statistics to explain and analyze the information that has been generated. When prisoners are studied, they constitute a convenience sample, because they are definitely not going anywhere. trailer Statement based on theory of what will happen during experiment. As Chapter 1 “Sociology and the Sociological Perspective” discussed and as this book emphasizes, the roots of sociology in the United States lie in the use of sociological knowledge to achieve social reform, and many sociologists today continue to engage in numerous research projects because of their social policy interests. In sociology, most of these studies are published in journals, but many are also published as books. No better explanation exists for the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. Key Takeaways. As researchers analyze their data, they naturally try to determine whether their analysis supports their hypothesis. The first variable in this hypothesis is gender, whether someone is a woman or a man. The researcher might be able to distinguish people in their 20s or early 30s from those in their 50s and 60s, but age measurement beyond this gross comparison might often be in error. <]>> Using sociological methods and systematic research within the framework of the scientific method and a scholarly interpretive perspective, sociologists have discovered workplace patterns that have transformed industries, family patterns that have enlightened family members, and education patterns that have aided structural changes in classrooms. 0000000616 00000 n ('�%]a0=ݧO�y��gg�����p�����^�K�čv�����%�v�9l�H"m�9r�( �s������;��Bz�?Г��g�g���n�ݿ~ڹQ����^��l�z^>������ . You can use an anecdote, a provocative question, or a quote to begin within the introduction. In “the old days,” researchers would conduct a literature review primarily by going to an academic library, consulting a printed index of academic journals, trudging through shelf after shelf of printed journals, and photocopying articles they found or taking notes on index cards. Test. Tap card to see definition . A specific type of nonrandom sample is the convenience sample, which refers to a nonrandom sample that is used because it is relatively quick and inexpensive to obtain. Exit poll data indicate that 66% of 18- to 24-year-olds voted for Obama in 2008, while only 45% of those 65 and older voted for him. Art History Research Paper Sample (back to top) College Research Paper Example . The effects of an “aging” U.S. population on the nation’s crime rate. brittanyfarrell1996. Literature reviews are still a lot of work, but the time they take is immeasurably shorter than just a decade ago. Explain the difference between an independent variable and a dependent variable. There are times to conduct interviews and times to simply observe. As you might remember from a science class, a hypothesis is a statement of the relationship between two variables concerning the units of analysis the researcher is studying. This means that we can be fairly sure of the attitudes of the whole U.S. population by knowing the attitudes of just 400 people randomly chosen from that population. xref Figure 2.3 Causal Path for the Independent and Dependent Variable. surveys. 0000002739 00000 n Many sociologists choose a topic based on a theoretical interest they may have. These are (1) selecting a topic, (2) defining the problem, (3) reviewing the literature, (4) formulating a hypothesis, (5) choosing a research method, (6) collecting the data, (7) analyzing the results, and (8) sharing the results. Ambitions interest and perseverance are very much required to go on successfully If you ever filled out a questionnaire during a high school or college class, as many students have done, you were very likely part of a convenience sample—a researcher can simply go into class, hand out a survey, and have the data available for coding and analysis within a few minutes. The researcher now analyzes the data according to the plan. Before you can write a clear and coherent sociology paper, you need a firm understanding of the assumptions and expectations of the discipline. For example, Émile Durkheim’s interest in the importance of social integration motivated his monumental study of suicide that Chapter 1 “Sociology and the Sociological Perspective” discussed. In his [Harper’s] position, there is a disjunction between taking a strong political and moral stance on violence on one hand and working towards a deeper, evidence-based unde… These steps are ex-plained on Pp. Describe the different types of units of analysis in sociology. Steffensmeier, D., & Harer, M. D. (1991). the variables? The ways in which random samples are chosen are too complex to fully discuss here, but suffice it to say the methods used to determine who is in the sample are equivalent to flipping a coin or rolling some dice. The sociological theory most closely associated with this approach is Functionalism, which is a development of the positivist origins of sociology. The relationship between number of fire trucks and damage the fire causes is spurious. A third goal of a literature review is to see how prior studies were conducted. A researcher who is doing a study “from scratch” must decide which people to study. However, social scientists pointed to another reason that accounted for the crime rate decrease during the 1980s: a drop in the birth rate some 15–20 years earlier, which led to a decrease during the early 1980s of the number of U.S. residents in the high-crime ages of 15–30 (Steffensmeier & Harer, 1991). What is the relationship among Collect your data and record information. In one notable finding, the South has the highest regional homicide rate. %PDF-1.4 %���� Take the following question, which has appeared in national surveys: “Do you ever drink more than you think you should?” This question is probably meant to measure whether the respondent has an alcohol problem. The second criterion is called the causal order (or chicken-and-egg) problem and reflects the familiar saying that “correlation does not mean causation.” Just because an independent and a dependent variable are related does not automatically mean that the independent variable affects the dependent variable. This worksheet by David Keir explores the phrasing of questions in sociological research. In a random sample, everyone in the population (whether it be the whole U.S. population or just the population of a state or city, all the college students in a state or city or all the students at just one college, and so forth) has the same chance of being included in the survey. If you ever filled out a questionnaire after being approached in a shopping mall or campus student center, it is very likely that you were part of a nonrandom sample. In the example just discussed, age might affect voting preference, but voting preference definitely cannot affect age. The independent variable and dependent variable must be statistically related. Several stages compose the sociological research process. Think of a personal experience you have had that lends itself to a possible research project. • Primary decision in a research process is to select the research area. Which makes more sense, that having a happy marriage leads you to like your job more, or that being satisfied with your work leads you to have a happier marriage? As Chapter 1 “Sociology and the Sociological Perspective” discussed and as this book emphasizes, the roots of sociology in the United States lie in the use of sociological knowledge to achieve social reform, and many sociologists today continue to engage in numerous research projects because of their social policy interests. STUDY. In this example, causal order is not very clear, and thus the second criterion is difficult to satisfy. One of the units of analysis in sociological research is the geographical location. The third variable here is the intensity of the fire: the more intense the fire, the more fire trucks respond to fight it, and the more intense the fire, the more damage it causes. As another example, suppose a researcher hypothesizes that younger couples are happier than older couples. These and other measurement problems in this particular study might be so severe that the study should not be done, at least if the researcher hopes to publish it. Write a brief essay in which you describe the experience and discuss the hypothesis that the research project based on the experience would address. Sociological research consists of several stages. The measurement of variables is a complex topic and lies far beyond the scope of this discussion. An academic paper doesn't have to be boring. The Community Service Society (CSS) of New York City is a nonprofit organization that, according to its Web site (http://www.cssny.org), “engages in advocacy, research and direct service” to help low-income residents of the city. A thorough literature review enhances the methodology of the researcher’s new study and enables the researcher to correct any possible deficiencies in the methodology of prior studies. Psychology Research Paper Sample. 0000003243 00000 n STEPS IN RESEARCH PROCESS FORMULATE A CARRY OUT THE HYPOTHESIS RESEARCH What do you intend to test? This procedure might make the sample of 100 students more representative of all the students on campus than if it were not used, but it still does not make the sample entirely representative of all students. Many researchers who do survey research (discussed in a later section) study people selected for a random sample of the population of interest. Research is often conducted using the hourglass model structure of research. When entering a particular social environment, a researcher must be careful. 0000003320 00000 n Step 1 – Selecting the research topic • Basic Step in research • Research is possible in Marketing, banking insurance, transport, export etc • For e.g. Other researchers use nonrandom samples, in which members of the population do not have the same chance of being included in the study. The fact that specimen of sociological model systems do not circulate has consequences, which we elaborate on: namely, problems for standardisation and for access to the research objects. Typically, a research project must answer at least one of these questions satisfactorily for it to have a chance of publication in a scholarly journal, and a thorough literature review is necessary to determine the new study’s possible contribution. In an unfortunate comment following the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, the then Prime Minister Stephen Harper said “this is not a time to commit sociology.” He implied that the “utter condemnation of this kind of violence” precludeddrawing on sociological research into the causes of political violence (Cohen, 2013). Accordingly, this book discusses many examples of studies motivated by sociologists’ varied theoretical interests. 1. Does this mean that attending college causes worse acne? But some respondents might answer yes to this question even if they only have a few drinks per year if, for example, they come from a religious background that frowns on alcohol use; conversely, some respondents who drink far too much might answer no because they do not think they drink too much. Henslin identifies eight steps in the scientific research model. Sociology by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Once appropriate data are gathered and analyzed, the researcher can then draw appropriate conclusions. NWABR – 2009 Student Fellows – CC BY 2.0. Data can either be quantitative (numerical) or qualitative (nonnumerical). Although this sounds a bit complicated, an example or two should make it clear. Instead of asking couples how happy they are through a questionnaire, the researcher decides to observe couples as they walk through a shopping mall. hޔY˲����+f ���~hg�*ٮ���X����$$�`�K1�����9=�. There are countless topics from which to choose, so how does a researcher go about choosing one? First, the independent variable and the dependent variable must be statistically related. To go back to a point just made, this means that variable measurement must also be as accurate as possible, because even expert analysis of inaccurate data will yield inaccurate results. 7.4 The Get-Tough Approach: Boon or Bust? Chapter 1: Sociology and the Sociological Perspective, 1.3 Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology, Chapter 2: Eye on Society: Doing Sociological Research, 2.2 Stages in the Sociological Research Process, 2.4 Ethical Issues in Sociological Research, 2.5 Sociological Research in the Service of Society, 3.1 Culture and the Sociological Perspective, 4.4 Socialization Through the Life Course, 4.5 Resocialization and Total Institutions, 4.6 Socialization Practices and Improving Society, Chapter 5: Social Structure and Social Interaction, 5.1 Social Structure: The Building Blocks of Social Life, 6.4 Groups, Organizations, and Social Change, Chapter 7: Deviance, Crime, and Social Control, 7.1 Social Control and the Relativity of Deviance. A third unit of analysis in sociology is the geographical location, whether it is cities, states, regions of a country, or whole societies. However, causal order is not as clear in other hypotheses. You need to know your audience, the way they view the world and how they order and evaluate information. 8.4 Economic Inequality and Poverty in the United States, 9.1 The Nature and Extent of Global Stratification, 10.1 Racial and Ethnic Relations: An American Dilemma, 10.5 Racial and Ethnic Inequality in the United States, 10.6 Race and Ethnicity in the 21st Century, 11.4 Violence Against Women: Rape and Pornography, 11.5 The Benefits and Costs of Being Male, 12.1 Gerontology and the Concept of Aging, 12.2 The Perception and Experience of Aging, 12.4 Life Expectancy, Aging, and the Graying of Society, 12.5 Biological and Psychological Aspects of Aging, 13.1 Economic Development in Historical Perspective, 15.1 The Family in Cross-Cultural and Historical Perspectives, 15.2 Sociological Perspectives on the Family, 15.3 Family Patterns in the United States Today, 15.4 Changes and Issues Affecting American Families, 16.1 A Brief History of Education in the United States, 16.2 Sociological Perspectives on Education, 17.2 Religion in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective, 17.3 Sociological Perspectives on Religion, 17.6 Trends in Religious Belief and Activity, 18.1 Understanding Health, Medicine, and Society, 18.2 Health and Medicine in International Perspective, 18.3 Health and Illness in the United States, 18.4 Medicine and Health Care in the United States, Chapter 20: Social Change and the Environment, Chapter 21: Collective Behavior and Social Movements, Chapter 22: Conclusion: Understanding and Changing the Social World. For example, the U.S. crime rate dropped in the early 1980s, and in 1984 the reelection campaign of President Ronald Reagan took credit for this drop. In a questionnaire, for example, a question should be worded clearly and unambiguously. Extensive set of research methods worksheets covering individual, small-group and whole class questions based around this free textbook. Because it is certainly impossible to study everybody, the researcher only studies a sample, or subset of the population of people in whom the researcher is interested. The Unheard Third survey asks respondents their opinions about many issues affecting their lives and also asks them many questions about such matters as their health and health care needs, employment status and job satisfaction, debt, and housing. Did crime rise or fall during the Reagan presidency? Figure 2.5 Diagram of a Spurious Relationship. 0000000959 00000 n 0000019133 00000 n Many sociologists, such as the two pictured here, have a theoretical interest in gender that leads them to investigate the importance of gender for many aspects of the social world. First, how does the researcher know who is a couple? The two variables are thus statistically related, as younger voters were more likely than older voters to prefer Obama. So, for the understanding thoroughly the problem it must have to discuss with colleagues, friend, experts and teachers. Research in Sociology is usually carefully planned, and conducted using well established procedures to ensure that knowledge is objective – where the information gathered reflects what is really ‘out there’ in the social, world rather than ‘subjective’ – where it only reflects the narrow opinions of the researchers. Select a Design 5. Regardless of the type of published study, a literature review has several goals. The news story that began this chapter discussed an important example of this type of research. Many sociologists also choose a topic based on a social policy interest they may have. As a phrase from the field of computer science summarizes this problem, “garbage in, garbage out.” Data analysis can be accurate only if the data are accurate to begin with. If the data are qualitative, researchers analyze their data (what they have observed and/or what people have told them in interviews) in ways again beyond our scope. Assess the various types of surveys and sampling methods used in sociological research, appealing to the concepts of reliability and validity . A variable is any feature or factor that may differ among the units of analysis that a researcher is studying. It was established about 160 years ago and has made many notable accomplishments over the years, including aiding the victims of the Titanic disaster in 1912, helping initiate the free school lunch program that is now found around the United States, and establishing the largest senior volunteer program in the nation. As noted above, when we test a hypothesis, we want to be able to conclude that an independent variable affects a dependent variable. The students who happen to be in the student center on a particular day might be very different in many respects from most other students on the campus. The final criterion of causality is that our explanation for the relationship between the independent and dependent variables is the best explanation. The hourglass model starts with a broad spectrum for research, focusing in on the required information through the method of the project (like the neck of the hourglass), then expands the research in the form of discussion and results. Learn. To satisfy this criterion, the researcher must be sure that the independent variable precedes the dependent variable in time or in logic. Sociologists commonly base their choice of a research topic on one or more of the following: (a) a theoretical interest, (b) a social policy interest, and (c) one or more personal experiences. Many hypotheses in sociology involve variables concerning people, but many also involve variables concerning organizations and geographical locations. 0000000016 00000 n Define the problem 2. Review the evidence. Like other social scientists (and probably also natural and physical scientists), many sociologists have had various experiences during childhood, adolescence, or adulthood that lead them to study a topic from a sociological standpoint. The researcher finally has data to analyze so that the research question can be answered. 8 steps of research model. Suppose we hypothesize that age was related to voting preference in the 2008 presidential election. Data gathered through a questionnaire are usually quantitative. More-specifically, it focuses on the difference between open and closed-ended questions using a range of illustrative material. Step 4# Working Out Research Design: After formulating the research problem, reviewing the related literature and formulating hypothesis, wherever feasible, the researcher reaches the stage of embarking upon working out a design of study as he is guided by the maxim that “work must be planned, if it is to lead to discoveries”. endstream endobj 31 0 obj <> endobj 32 0 obj <> endobj 33 0 obj <>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]/ExtGState<>>> endobj 34 0 obj <> endobj 35 0 obj <> endobj 36 0 obj <> endobj 37 0 obj <> endobj 38 0 obj <> endobj 39 0 obj <> endobj 40 0 obj <> endobj 41 0 obj <> endobj 42 0 obj <>stream You would find this statistical relationship only because a third variable, age, affects both the likelihood of attending college and the likelihood of having acne: young people are more likely than older people to attend college, and also more likely—for very different reasons—to have acne. This handout introduces you to the wonderful world of writing sociology. When we select a title or research statement, then other activities would be easy to perform. 0000002287 00000 n Key Takeaways Key Points. How will the study add to theoretical knowledge of the topic? Three popular social research designs (models) are Cross‐sectional , in which scientists study a number of individuals of different ages who have the same trait or characteristic of interest at a single time An independent variable is a variable we think can affect another variable. The interest in models is not widespread in sociology as it is in the physical sciences, economics and even political sciences, however, more and more research work has been carried on for some time and it appears to be growing .When one compares models used by physicists to models used by sociologists it is clear that sociological models provide a more realistic basis for understanding … The third criterion involves spurious relationships. Formulate Hypothesis 4. If the data are quantitative, the analysis will almost certainly use highly sophisticated statistical techniques beyond the scope of this discussion. (2005) Research Methodologies: 21 Theories, Methods, Domains. Every significant new business initiative starts with a market assessment. After any measurement issues have been resolved, it is time to gather the data. Second, how sure can the researcher be of the approximate age of each person in the couple? Carry out the research 6. 0000001089 00000 n Certainly not. Of course not! 0000001207 00000 n A sociologist who acted in high school plays may choose a dissertation during graduate school that focuses on a topic involving social interaction. Many researchers now use qualitative analysis software that helps them uncover important themes and patterns in the qualitative data they gather. Convenience samples often include students, but they also include other kinds of people. Another common unit of analysis in sociology is the organization. The government and private research organizations also publish reports that researchers consult for their literature reviews.