jac_methods_Ch01

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Chapter 1
Approaches to Methods
Winston Jackson and Norine Verberg
Methods: Doing Social Research, 4e
Key Methodological Approaches
The positivist approach

Research is a tool for uncovering general laws
of cause and effect in social behaviour
The interpretive approach

Research is a tool for understanding the reality
experienced by people
The critical approach

Research is a tool that should be used to
improve the conditions of the oppression
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Positivist Approach
 Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
 Use natural science model to study social
regularities
 Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
 Social facts: “ways of acting, thinking, feeling,
external to the individual”
 Focus on patterns
 e.g., the “fact” that males are four times more
likely to commit suicide is a social pattern
 Social facts cannot be explained by individual
psychology
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Characteristics of Positivist Approach
 Predominantly quantitative
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“Number crunchers”
 Advocate an “objective” approach
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Remove individual opinion/bias
 Emphasis on having reliable knowledge of
social relations; can make predictions

Based on consistent empirical results
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Positivism: Assumptions
i.
ii.
iii.
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vi.
vii.
All behaviour is naturally determined
Humans are part of the natural world
Nature is orderly and regular
All objective phenomena are eventually
knowable
Nothing is self-evident
Truth is relative
Knowledge comes from experience
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Positivism: Role of Values in Research
 Should be value-free
 Put personal preferences aside
 Test alternative explanations
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Positivism: Research Designs
 Quantitative methods of data collection
 Social variables assigned numbers
 Illustrate social patterns using statistical terms
 E.g., average income, fertility rate, divorce rate
 Predict the relationship among variables
 Females more likely to be a nurse than males;
males more likely be engage in high risk
behaviour
 Common methods of data collection
 Experiments, surveys, secondary data analysis
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Criticisms of Positivism
 Value-free goal is unattainable
 Bias can enter research (e.g., racism, sexism)
 Conservative bias in social research

research supports the status quo
 Subjective element missed – how people
experience and shape the social world
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Interpretive Approach
 Max Weber (1864-1920) placed importance
on people’s understanding of their actions
 To understand social patterns requires
empathetic or interpretative understanding —
Verstehen
 Key figures: Mead, Goffman, Becker, Glaser
and Strauss
 Emphasis on how people make sense of their
lives and how their sense of self develops in
interaction with others
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Interpretative Approach: Assumptions
 Reject the positivist notion that people are
completely shaped by social factors
 Assumes behaviour is influenced by the
meanings people attach to events and actions
 Schools: symbolic interactionism, ethnography,
and grounded theory
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Interpretative Approach: Role of Values
 Values should be relative

What constitutes appropriate or inappropriate
behaviour depends upon socialization and
may shift over time and across cultures and
societies
 Researchers should try to understand and
explain the values of cultural actors

No place for judging behaviour and people’s
beliefs
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Interpretive Approach: Research Designs
 Data collection and data analysis are cyclical,
connected activities (see Chapter 6)
 Typical methods of data collection
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Participant observation
In-depth interviews
Focus groups
 Typical methods of data analysis
 Ethnographic analysis
 Grounded theory (constant comparison
method)
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Criticisms of the Interpretive Approach
 Positivists reject the goals and assumptions
of the interpretative approach
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Over-emphasis on subjectivity
Replication problem
Knowing more and more about less and less
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Critical Approach
 Karl Marx (1818-1883): social relations are
rooted in the struggle between owners and
workers
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Advocated equality
 Conflict schools: conflict perspective, critical
theory, Marxism, feminism
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Share a belief that oppressive relations are
rooted in power struggles and that social
change can bring about equality
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Critical Approach: Assumptions
 Powerful groups attempt to enhance their
interests at the expense of less powerful
groups
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Emphasis on conflicting interests
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e.g., Marxism: owner/worker relations
e.g., Feminism: male/female relations
 Research should expose oppressive relations
and promote empowerment of oppressed
groups
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Critical Approach: Role of Values
 Moral absolutes: some issues such as social
justice or equality are not negotiable.
 Research only judged to be valid if it leads to
an improvement in condition of humanity.
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Critical Approach: Research Methods
 Use a broad range of methods
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Historical method
Comparative method
Secondary analysis of existing data
 Emphasize macrovariables (i.e., properties of
societies)
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Criticisms of the Critical Approach
 Absolute moral values deemed unscientific
 Tendency to report desired outcomes only
 Do not try to disprove critical assumptions
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Some Important Distinctions
1. Quantitative versus qualitative research
2. Descriptive versus explanatory research
3. Pure versus applied research
4. Units of analysis: individuals/aggregations
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Quantitative Versus Qualitative
Quantitative Research
 Use numbers, statistics, emphasis on measurement,
precision, prediction
Qualitative Research
 Emphasis on verbal descriptions
 Reflect the world as seen by the participant
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Focus on the “lived experience” of participant
 Use word-for-word quotations when reporting findings
 Typically employs small samples
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Descriptive Versus Explanatory
Descriptive: goal is to describe some aspect of society
 Census - description of entire population
 Sample - a small portion of the population who are
selected to represent the population
 E.g., what are the differences between females
enrolled in traditional vs. nontraditional programs
Explanatory: goal is to explain relationships
 E.g., why is it that females who select gender nontraditional careers come from higher socioeconomic
backgrounds
 Test alternative explanations
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Pure Versus Applied Research
Pure Research: tries to produce an
understanding of patterns of social behavior
Applied Research: tries to solve a problem or
bring about certain changes in society
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Units of Analysis
Individual level: data that describe the attitudes or
characteristics of individuals
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More researchers employ individual level
E.g., explain variations in women’s length of
hospitalization following childbirth
Aggregate level: data that describe a characteristics of
a group, community, or nation
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Implies a grouping beyond the individual level
E.g., compare hospitals on average length of hospital
stay for women following childbirth
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Types of Variables
 Dependent variables
 Independent variables (also called the
treatment variable in experimental design)
 Control variables
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Intervening variables
Conditional variables
Source of spuriousness variables
Confounding variables
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Dependent Variable
 The variable being “explained”
 The “effect” in the cause/effect relationship
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E.g., a study examining factors explaining why
females choose gender-traditional versus nontraditional programs
Dependent variable: program of study
 Indicated as the letter Y:
XY
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Independent Variable
 The “cause” in a cause-effect relationship
 E.g., gender, age, socioeconomic status
 Possible factors influencing preference for
gender nontraditional program of study:
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Urban/rural home community
Types of games/activities preferred in childhood
Parents’ socioeconomic status
 Indicated as the letter X in a formal statement:
XY
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Control Variables
 A control variable is a variable taken into
account when exploring the relation between
an independent variable and a dependent
variable
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Goal: Control for the effects of other factors
 Three types of control variables:
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Intervening
Conditional
Source of spuriousness
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A. Intervening Variable
 An intervening variable links an independent
variable (X) to a dependent variable (Y)
 Thus, a change in X causes a change in I,
which in turn causes a change in Y.
>X  > I >Y
 Example: Exposure to women who have nontraditional careers “intervenes” to explain why
those of higher SES are more likely to choose
nontraditional program of study
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B. Conditional Variable
 A conditional variable is a variable that
accounts for a change in the relationship
between an independent (X) and dependent
(Y) variable when general conditions change
 Example: Investigate the relationship between
socioeconomic status and attitudes toward
capital punishment:
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Want to find out if the pattern between X and Y
is fundamentally altered (or is entirely different)
for each gender
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Conditional Variable (cont’d)
 Would test for males and females: do males and
females have similar attitudes or are attitudes
conditional upon one’s gender
 Hence, gender would be the conditional variable
 To graph a conditional variable model, present the
relationships separately for the conditional variable
Males
XY
Females
XY
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C. Source of Spuriousness Variable
 A source of spuriousness variable (S/S) is a
variable that is viewed as having a possible
influence on both the independent (X) and
dependent (Y) variable, in such as way that it
accounts for the relationship between them.
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Called a confounding variable in experimental
research — found to be systematically
influencing the experiment’s outcome
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Source of Spuriousness (cont’d)
 Example: When exploring the relationship between
socioeconomic background and choice of nontraditional
program by female students, consider the possibility that
rural/urban background is the source of spuriousness.
 Does coming from a urban vs. rural background
influence parents’ socioeconomic status as well as
university program preferences
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