Social Research, Semester A 2005 Kim Lee

Lecture 1: The Nature of Social Research

The Nature of Social Science
1. Science requires a set of systematic rules of procedure. According to the
ncyclopedia !ritannica, science is referred to "any system of #no$ledge that is
concerned $ith the physical $orld and its phenomena and that entails un%iased
o%ser&ations and systematic e'perimentation(.
2. Social science is referred to "any discipline or %ranch of science that deals $ith
human %eha&ior in its social and cultural aspects(.
). *he researcher must %egin $ith a research question first, the accessi%ility of the
data second, and $hether the data are or are not quantified third.
+. Scientific procedure is composed of t$o different %ut intimately connected
phases,
a. -ure, descripti&e, %asic or theoretical analysis, in $hich the desired product is
the understanding of phenomena.
%. Applied, engineering, normati&e, or practical analysis, in $hich the desired
product is the control of phenomena.
5. *he research process includes .see the attached diagram for the $hole research
process/,
a. Literature re&ie$, searching for the e'isting research findings a%out the
research question you are interested in.
%. 0eri&ing hypotheses from the literature re&ie$
c. Research design
d. 0ata collection
e. 0ata analysis
f. 0ra$ing implications for the theories concerned
Conditions in Support of Causal Theories .also see te't pp.15211/
1. 3o&ariation, $e must o%ser&e &ariations in the dependent &aria%le associated
$ith different &alues of the independent &aria%le.
a/ 4f co&ariation or correlation %et$een an independent and a dependent
&aria%le e'ists, then $hen the &alue of the independent &aria%le changes, the
corresponding &alue of a dependent &aria%le $ill also change.
%/ 5hen the &alue changes for %oth independent and dependent &aria%les are in
the same direction, $e call it a positi&e co&ariation or correlation. 5hen the
&alue changes are in opposite direction, then it is a negati&e co&ariation or
correlation.
c/ 5hy is co&ariation or correlation a necessary condition for causality6 .7or
ans$er, see supplement handout 1./
2. 3ausal 0irection, $e must o%ser&e that it is not possi%le to change the &alue of
the independent &aria%le %y changing the supposed dependent &aria%le.
a/ *he idea is that the effect cannot e'ist prior to the cause.
). 8on2spuriousness, $e must o%ser&e that there are not other &aria%les in the
en&ironment $hich might cause changes in the %oth dependent and independent
&aria%les.
a/ &en $hen a co&ariation does e'ist %et$een the suspected independent and
dependent &aria%les, and their temporal sequence has %een correctly
demonstrated, the relation is still possi%ly not causal, %ecause there may %e
some third &aria%les or control &aria%les responsi%le for the co&ariation
%et$een the suspected independent and dependent &aria%les.
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Social Research, Semester A 2005 Kim Lee
%/ 5hen a co&ariation %et$een t$o &aria%les is actually caused %y a third
factor, $e call this co&ariation a spurious one, $hich means it apparently
seems to %e a real co&ariation, %ut actually false.
c/ 7or e'ample, $e suspect that li&ing density is correlated $ith crime rate. !y
e'amining different districts in 9ong Kong, $e find that there is a
correlation %et$een li&ing density and crime rate. *hat means districts $ith
higher li&ing density are associated $ith higher crime rate. 9o$e&er, this
relation may %e spurious.
d/ As $e #no$n, the po&erty of a district may affect %oth its li&ing density and
crime rate. 4n other $ords, a poorer district $ill ha&e higher li&ing density
and higher crime rate, and there may %e no direct relationship %et$een li&ing
density and crime rate.
e/ 9o$ can $e #no$ $hether there e'ists a direct relationship %et$een li&ing
density and crime rate $hich is not caused %y po&erty6 5e ha&e to use a
technique called control.
f/ 3ontrol refers to holding all the suspected third &aria%les constant e'cept the
suspected independent and dependent &aria%les. 5hen all the third &aria%les
are held constant, that means they don:t ha&e any effect upon the suspected
independent and dependent &aria%les. As a result, $e can e'amine $hether
there is a genuine co&ariation %et$een our concerned &aria%les.
g/ 5hat is the meaning of holding &aria%les constant6 4n our e'ample, suppose
that districts are classified into different po&erty rate categories, say high,
medium and lo$. !y holding po&erty rate constant, $e e'amine the
correlation %et$een li&ing density and crime rate for those districts in the
same po&erty rate category.
h/ 4n other $ords, $e are totally trying to e'amine three correlations %et$een
li&ing density and crime rate $ith respect to the high, medium and lo$
po&erty rate districts. 4f $e find that the correlations disappear once the
po&erty rate is controlled, $e can say that the correlation $e originally
disco&ered %et$een li&ing density and crime rate is spurious, that is, caused
%y po&erty rate. 9o$e&er, if $e find that all correlations still hold, then $e
can conclude that the correlation %et$een the concerned &aria%les is non2
spurious.
i/ ;ou may as# ho$ many third &aria%les one should control in order to
esta%lish a non2spurious causal relationship. 4n principle, there are numerous
third &aria%les that may simultaneously cause the apparent correlation
%et$een our concerned &aria%les, thus one may say it is quite impossi%le to
esta%lish a "true( causal relationship. 9o$e&er, $hen $e do our o$n
research, some important &aria%les may ha&e %een discussed in some
pre&ious researches< these pre&ious studies may %e useful for us to identify
our o$n control &aria%les. 5e $ill go through this $hen $e discuss
"literature re&ie$(.
Rules for Constructing Causal Theories
3ausal theories are designed to sho$ the causes of a phenomenon or set of
phenomena. A theory includes an interrelated set of causal hypotheses. ach
hypothesis specifies a posited relationship %et$een &aria%les that creates o%ser&a%le
implications, if the specified e'planatory &aria%les ta#e on certain &alues, other
specified &alues are predicted for the dependent &aria%les.
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Social Research, Semester A 2005 Kim Lee
Inductive and Deductive Theories .see te't pp.)+2)= > 5)2=5< also see supplement/
1 4nducti&e Reasoning,
a. ?o&es from the particular to the general
%. 7rom a set of specific o%ser&ations to the disco&ery of a pattern that represents
some degree of order among all the gi&en e&ents.
2 0educti&e Reasoning,
a. ?o&es from the general to the specific.
%. 7rom a pattern that might %e logically or theoretically e'pected to
o%ser&ations that test $hether the e'pected pattern does occur.
) 4nducti&e reasoning is often associated $ith qualitati&e methods, $hile deducti&e
reasoning is often associated $ith quantitati&e methods.
+ *he 5heel of Science.
Qualitative and Quantitative Researches:
1. Research methods can %e grouped into t$o main types, qualitati&e and
quantitati&e.
2. @ualitati&e research methods include ethnography, case studies, field studies,
grounded theory, document studies, naturalistic inquiry, observational studies,
interview studies, and descriptive studies.
). @ualitati&e research is multimethod in focus, in&ol&ing an interpretati&e,
naturalistic approach to its su%Aect matter, i.e. studying things in their natural
settings, attempting to ma#e sense of, or interpreting, phenomena in terms of the
meanings people %ring to them.
+. @uantitati&e research often falls under the category of statistical studies, including
experimental studies, survey, and other quasi-experimental studies.
5. 4t is frequently referred to as hypothesis testing. 4t %egins $ith statements of
theory from $hich research hypotheses are deri&ed. *hen an e'perimental design
is esta%lished in $hich the dependent &aria%les are measured $hile controlling for
the effects of selected independent &aria%les.
=. @ualitati&e and quantitati&e researches are interrelated. *he attached diagram
sho$s their relationships.
9ypotheses
A%stract
*heories
3oncrete
B%ser&ations
mpirical
CeneraliDation
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Social Research, Semester A 2005 Kim Lee
The differences between quantitative and qualitative research methods are shown
in the following table.
Differences between quantitative and qualitative research methods
Quantitative Research Methods Qualitative Research Methods
Approach:
?ostly quantitati&e researches are
deducti&ely oriented.
?ostly qualitati&e researches are inducti&ely
oriented.
9ypothesis testing is the maAor aim. 4nterpretation .i.e. capturing and disco&ering
the meaning/ is the main concern.
3oncepts are transformed into distinct
&aria%les.
3oncepts are disco&ered in terms of themes,
motifs, generaliDations, and typologies.
Data and Results:
*he procedures for designing and
implementing the research are quite
standardiDed. *herefore, it is easier for
researchers to follo$. 9o$e&er, since
e&erything has to %e planned %eforehand, it is
less fle'i%le during implementation.
*he research is more intensi&e and more
fle'i%le, allo$ing the researcher to pro%e
since sEhe has greater latitude to do so
0ata collection is pre2planned. 0ata collection is quite ad hoc and
situational.
*he research can usually %e replicated or
repeated.
*he research can usually not %e replicated or
repeated.
*he data is usually gathered using more
structured research instruments
*he data is usually gathered using less
structured research instruments
*he results are %ased on larger sample siDes
that are representati&e of the population.
*he results are %ased on smaller sample siDes
and are often not representati&e of the
population.
*he findings can %e generaliDed to the
population, %ut the results pro&ide less detail
on %eha&iours, attitudes and moti&ation.
*he findings are more in2depth< thus, the
results pro&ide much more detail on
%eha&iours, attitudes and moti&ation.
Analsis:
*he analysis of the results is more o%Aecti&e. *he analysis of the results is much more
su%Aecti&e.
Analysis proceeds %y using statistics, ta%les,
or charts.
Analysis proceeds %y e'tracting themes or
generaliDation from e&idences collected in the
field.
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Social Research, Semester A 2005 Kim Lee
The steps of quantitative research:
1. Literature review: searching for the existing research findings about the research
question you are interested in.
2. Deriving hypotheses from the literature review
3. Research design: choosing appropriate quantitative methods (i.e. survey,
experiment etc.)
4. Data collection
5. Data analysis: statistical testing of the hypotheses
6. Drawing implications for the theories concerned
The steps of qualitative research:
1. Specific observations: selecting some typical or deviant cases for detailed
examination.
2. Detecting the patterns from the data (i.e. your observations)
3. Analysis and Interpretation
4. Drawing implications to the existing theoretical debates
5. Formulating new hypotheses and theory
In the diagram below, the path A to E represents the research process of qualitative
research and it also represents an inductive approach which aims at discover some
theoretical insights from some concrete observations. The path 1 to 6 indicates the
research process of quantitative research and a deductive approach that test the
credibility of the theory concerned. Thus we may say that the cycle of research is
completed by both induction and deduction as well as by both quantitative and
qualitative researches.
From the diagram you should also notice the relationship between theory and
research. The cycle of research implies our pursuit of knowledge about individual and
society is a never ending story. We continuously test, review and revise our social
science theories through concrete observations. In other words, through continuously
using our empirical data to challenge our existing theories, our understanding of
individual and society is enhanced in an accumulative way. The major links between
theory and data are the quantitative and qualitative researches.
The inductive qualitative path (A to E) aims at discovering new insights for
developing theories. However, the theories developed by induction may be wrong or
simply only applicable to limited cases. Thus, social science researchers go through
the deductive quantitative path (1 to 6) to test the theories. If the theories cannot
withstand the test, researchers will examine the probable problems of the theories.
Armed with the new problems, researchers will go through the inductive qualitative
path again so as to gain new insights for refining the theories; and the research cycle
restarts again.
The above discussion seems to suggest the research cycle starts from induction.
Indeed, one can start from deduction. By examining existing theories, a researcher can
test these theories, and then make corresponding qualitative works to improve their
explanatory power. In other words, social science researches can start from either
theory or data, though the decision may affect the methods you employ.
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Social Research, Semester A 2005 Kim Lee
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