SOCI1005B Winter

2019 Class #3:

How Sociologists
Do Research:
An Introduction to
Social Research
Methods

Monday, January 21, 2019

General Overview

 revisiting a few concepts and items of note from last class

 streamlined overview of how quantitative and qualitative
sociologists do research
 (for examples that further develop quantitative methods in particular,
interested students may find it useful to refer to Brym et al Chapter 2; we
won’t need to go into so much detail in this introductory course)
 common to scholarly quantitative and qualitative methods:
 research ethics
 peer-review
 thinking about cultural interpretations of research and data

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 Sociology’s Primary Perspectives
for Understanding Society:

 What is society? How does it work?

 functionalism (e.g. Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons)

 conflict theory (e.g. Karl Marx, C. Wright Mills, Max Weber)
 symbolic interactionism (e.g. Max Weber, George Herbert Mead,
Erving Goffman)

 standpoint perspectives (e.g. feminist/critical race)

 (social) constructionist/post-* theories
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 Social Structures: Objects of Macro- and
Micro- Sociology
 social structures: relatively stable patterns of social relations

 macrostructures: overarching patterns of social relations that

lie outside and above a person’s circle of intimates and
acquaintances (e.g. a socioeconomic class, bureaucratic
organizations, power systems)

 microstructures: patterns of relatively intimate social relations

formed during face-to-face interaction (e.g. families, groups of
friends, and work associations)

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 Sources of Tension in Modernist Explanations
of Success and Failure

Where does our capacity to live well, to act, communicate, and make
decisions come from?
 Popular answers oscillate between two poles/sides with competing
emphases on…
 “individual agency” versus “social structure” (freedom of individual
choice versus collective/institutional constraints and opportunities)
 biological (pre)determination versus social constructionism (nature
versus nurture)

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Sociology as a Science
 What does “doing science” involve? [in-class discussion]

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 Overview of the History of
“Sociology”

 Discipline of sociology originally emerged out of a ‘positivist’ scientific tradition in

the early 19th Century; search for ‘social laws’ was modeled after search for
‘natural laws’ in sciences such as biology and physics
 By mid- to late-1800s, sociology’s theoretical claims were supported by empirical
examples (widespread, concrete observations)
 20th Century sociology & beyond: empirical research grounded in statistics and
population studies; qualitative research and practice-based methodologies focus on
interviews, interpretive and interpersonal dimensions of social experience; mixed
methods; applications, criticisms, and reinventions of traditional social categories
(e.g. race, ethnicity, class, sex, gender, age)

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 (above) a basic contingency table

Quantitative Research Examples

content analysis, population analysis via contingency tables, codification of
surveys, Likert scale tests (all of which can be further subjected to additional
models and testing of relationships between variables – multivariate analysis,
longitudinal analysis, etc. and then presented in graphs, scatter-plots, various
kinds of charts, tables, etc.)
Research Design:
Populations and Population Samples
 A population is the entire group about which the researcher
wants to generalize.

 A sample is the part of the population of research interest that is

selected for analysis.

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Working with Quantifiable Variables

 Quantitative sociologists translate abstract propositions into

testable forms (often through a process of deduction).
 variable: A measure of a concept that has more than one value or
score.
 dependent variable: presumed effect in cause-and-effect relationship

 independent variable: presumed cause in cause-and-effect relationship

 hypothesis: The testable form of a proposition.

 operationalization: The process by which a concept or research
question is translated into variables.

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 Research Design: Validity and Reliability

 validity: the degree to which a measure actually measures what

it is intended to measure
 reliability: the degree to which a measurement procedure yields
consistent results

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 Where Does Data Come From?

 surveys: ask people questions about their knowledge, attitudes,

or behaviour (e.g. in a face-to-face or telephone interview, in a
paper-and-pencil format, online); surveys are the most widely
used sociological research method

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Types of Survey Questions

 Surveys typically contain one or a combination of the

following types of questions:
a closed-ended question provides the respondent with
a list of permitted answers
 an open-ended question allows respondents to answer
in their own words

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 Choosing Samples to Meet the Standards of
Accuracy and Reliability for Representing
Populations

Selecting representative samples when gathering data from

which to base findings is central to scientific survey
reliability.

 probability sample: composed of units that have a

known and nonzero chance of being selected.
 sampling frame: a list of all people in the population of
research interest

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Sample Size and Statistical Significance
 When researchers are confident that sample results accurately
reflect patterns in the larger population, they interpret
findings to be statistically significant.

 As sample size grows, so does the likelihood of finding

statistically-significant results.

 A random sample of 1500 people typically will give

acceptably-accurate results when sampling for the general
population in Canada.
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Understanding Contingency Tables

 One of the most useful tools for analyzing survey data is the
contingency table: a cross-classification of cases by at least two
variables that allows researcher to see how, if at all, variables are
associated.
 allows researchers to examine effects of control variables on
original association.

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 Testing Statistical Relationships
 A relationship between two variables exists
if the value of one variable changes with the value of
the other.

 The strength of a relationship is determined by the

degree to which change in the independent variable is
associated with change in the dependent variable.

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Interpreting Data in Contingency Tables via
Mock Examples (NOT based in actual data)

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No Relationship Between Sex and
Frequency of Traffic Accidents

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Maximum Relationship Between Sex
and Frequency of Traffic Accidents

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 Determining Causes

 Researchers are interested in establishing causal

relationships.
 To establish whether an independent variable causes
change in a dependent variable, researchers must satisfy
three criteria:
1. relationship test
2. sequencing
3. non-spuriousness(third variable that affects both)

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 Using Control Variables to Rule Out
‘Spuriousness’ (False Relationships)
 control variables identify the context for the
relationship between independent and dependent
variables.

 the relationship between an independent variable and a

dependent variable is said to be spurious when a control
variable causes change in both the independent and
dependent variables.

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 Testing for Authentic Relationships
Testing for ‘authenticity’ and ruling out spuriousness involves
adding a control variable to examine the independent–dependent
variable relationship under two conditions:
 when the third variable is allowed to change
 when the third variable is held constant

Evidence of Spurious Relationship Evidence of Authentic Relationship

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 Assessing Causality Between Variables

A causal connection exists between two variables when:

1. the variables systematically change together (meeting the
relationship criterion)
2. the independent variable changed before observed changes in
the dependent variable (meeting the sequencing criterion)
3. the observed relationship is authentic (meeting the non-
spuriousness criterion)

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 Qualitative Research
1) Identify a research question based on experience.
2) Collect or describe evidence from one or more related cases.
3) Analyse cases to identify common patterns or themes.
4) Using sociological concepts and principles, provide an
interpretation of the patterns and themes that stresses context of
experience in practice/situations.

Qualitative Research Examples

• structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews
• case studies, participant observation
• auto-ethnography(describing their own experiences), ethnography(trying to
understand others experiences), institutional ethnography
• discourse analysis, actor-network-theory, feminist approaches
 Qualitative Approaches

 Qualitative methods are used by sociologists who seek a

subjective understanding of social phenomena using the
inductive approach.

 Qualitative research centres on understanding how

people interpret social experience.

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Methodological Case Study:
Participant Observation

 participant observation: researchers take part in the

social group being studied and, while part of the
action, systematically observe what occurs and why.
 goal: experience and understand what it is like to be a
member of a specific community or social group (to
different degrees, depending on the researcher’s role)

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 Research Design Questions

 A qualitative research design involving human participants

must typically take the following into consideration:
1. determining the researcher’s role
2. how to gain access
3. ethics approval
4. identifying key informants
5. assembling field notes
6. constructing a narrative

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 Determining the Researcher’s Role

How involved will the researcher be with the group being studied?
 At one end of the continuum, researchers can be full
participants; at the other end, they are complete observers.
 More frequently, they fall somewhere in between.

Authentic/Reliable Research Challenge: Reactivity

 Reactivity occurs when the presence of a researcher
causes the observed people to conceal certain things or
act artificially to impress the researcher.
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Researcher-as-observer

 less immersed in the social setting

 participants know the researcher’s status and goals

 Until the researcher gains the trust of participants, the

role of researcher-as-observer may be accompanied by
reactivity concerns, but this reduces ethical
breaches.

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Gaining Access to a Community for Research

How will the researcher gain access to the group or

community they wish to study?
 the level of challenge this presents varies
with how ‘open’ or ‘closed’ the group is
 e.g. is it an exclusive club, a group of people with a rare
quality/attribute, a vulnerable population, children,
Indigenous communities (some of these would entail
responding to additional ethical
considerations/questions prior to being granted access)
 gaining access may involve gaining trust of the group’s
‘gatekeepers’ and finding a sponsor

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 Identifying Key Participants

After gaining entry to a community, how do researchers become

anchored/begin to navigate their unfamiliar surroundings?

 key participants are community members who are willing

and able to provide credible information about an
organization’s culture, issues, and activities

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 Assembling Field Notes

How can researchers record and document their observations

of the community?
 Researchers need methods for assembling accurate
“field notes.”
 recording devices are often used so that accurate,
detailed notes may be transcribed at a later time
 analytic memos are field notes that record a
researcher’s initial understanding of witnessed events.

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Constructing a Narrative

How do researchers interpret their field notes, and ultimately

document their findings?
 identifying types of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours
that are common to specific contexts is part of the process
of identifying cultural and structural patterns.

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Qualitative Interviewing

 structured interviews follow carefully crafted

protocols to acquire the respondent’s view on
predetermined subjects.

 unstructured and semi-structured interviews

employ loose, open-ended formats, allowing
respondents to speak their minds.(Do not ask yes or
no questions)

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 Cases and Case Studies

 Cases are used in qualitative research to exemplify how

insiders experience social realities.
 Case studies focus on the rich description of
a single case.

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Assessing Whether Qualitative Research
Meets Standards of Authenticity and Validity

 authenticity is gauged by the extent to which qualitative

investigation captures social realities as experienced by
community insiders

 member validation asks respondents who were observed

and/or interviewed to judge the authenticity of the research
narrative
 a sense of whether this standard is met may be acquired during
participants’ debriefing (whereby the lead researcher follows up to
meet ethics protocols)

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Comparison of Quantitative
and Qualitative Methods

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 Research Ethics
• Research ethics were politicized and regulated within institutions,
especially following Stanley Milgram’s 1961 Shock Experiment and
Phil Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment (two high-profile
research studies deemed to have harmful effects on participants..
of course, not the only cases where research participants had been
deceived or harmed over the course of a research project)
• In Canada, researchers must abide by the “Tri-Council Policy
Statement: Research Ethics Involving Humans”
• Canadian Institute of Health Research
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Common general ethics principles include: informed consent,
anonymity, confidentiality, debriefing
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 What Is “Peer-Review” Research?
 The ‘peer-review’ process for scholarly publications is essential to
maintaining the highest standards within a professional research community
or organization. Prior to considering an article for publication in a scholarly
journal, it would be assessed, usually by at least two editors who are peers
of proven competence or status within the professional field, who will
usually comment and recommend revisions and a resubmission (followed by
second or third round of edits), who may accept the draft as-is (rare), or
who may reject the manuscript altogether – because it didn’t meet the
scholarly standards, the contribution wasn’t deemed significant, or a good
fit for the publication. The goal of publication typically is not profit-driven,
and any research funding must be stated as a possible source of bias.
 blind peer-review: the author who submits their manuscript doesn’t know
the identities of the journal editors (who are usually on rotation)
 double-blind peer review: neither the editors nor the author of the
manuscript are known to each other (the best method to ensure that the
assessment wasn’t based on personal biases and was on the quality of
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research alone – helps avoid nepotism)
Research Out in the World:
Cultural Interpretations of Research and Data

 Despite maximum efforts by scientific researchers to ensure reliability

and authenticity of data in the research process, there is still a
‘selection’ or ‘determination’ bias that is not neutral: the decision to
explore a particular topic in the first place (vs. something else, or
nothing – with some awareness that the chosen research design may
lead to results). Further, the design itself may be ‘biased’ in its focus
– i.e. limited to the current methods/limits of what the research
tools/techniques themselves are capable of producing (i.e. limits
inherent in historical conditions of possibility)

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 Preparing for Next Class: Culture and
Mass Media/Mass Communication

 Read the required reading before class to prep for an in-

class discussion (i.e. Body Ritual Among the Nacerima -
follow link in syllabus to online source)
 Lecture will be relevant to the Popular Culture
Advertisement Analysis Assignment (assignment
instructions are posted on CULearn; it may be useful to
review them before class)
 QUIZ 2 will be posted on CULearn after this week’s class
(in the meantime, remember to complete the first quiz
before the Jan. 22 deadline)
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