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Chapter 3: The Research Process - Coggle Diagram
Chapter 3: The Research Process
Paradigms of Social Research
Paradigms: mental models or frames (belief systems). Paradigms was popularized by Thomas Kuhn, where he examined the history of natural sciences to identify patterns of activities that shape the progress of science.
Post-positivism: argues that one can make reasonable inferences about a phenomenon by combining empirical observations with logical reasoning.
Ontology: our assumptions about how we see the world (ex. does the world consist mostly of social order or constant change.)
Epistemology: our assumptions about the best way to study the world (ex. should we use an objective or subjective approach to study social reality.)
Functionalism: using standardized data collection tools like surveys.
Interpretivism: interviewing different participants and reconciling differences among their responses using their own subjective perspectives
Radical Structuralism: researchers seek to understand or enact change using an objectivist approach.
Racial Humanism: researchers wish to understand social change using the subjective perspectives of the participants involved.
Overview of the Research Process
Observation: researchers observe a natural or social phenomenon, event, or behavior that interests them.
Rationalization: researchers try to make sense of or the observed phenomenon, event, or behavior by logically connecting the different pieces of the puzzle that are observed, which in some cases, may lead to the construction of a theory.
Validation: researchers test the theories using a scientific method through a process o data collection and analysis, and in doing so, possibly modify or extend our initial theory.
Exploration: includes exploring and selecting research questions for further investigation, examining the published literature in the area of inquiry.
Research Questions: specific questions about a behavior, event, or phenomena of interest that you wish to seek answers for in your research.m
Literature Review: 3-fold - 1) survey the current state of knowledge in the area of inquiry. 2) identify key authors, articles, theories, and findings in that area. 3) identify gaps in knowledge in that research area.
Theories: help identify which of the constructs is logically relevant to the target phenomenon and how.
Research Design: creating a blueprint of the activities to take in order to satisfactorily answer the research questions identified in the exploration phase.
Operationalization: the process of designing precise measures for abstract theoretical constructs.
Common Mistakes in Research
Insufficiently motivated research questions: does not generate new knowledge or insight about the phenomenon being investigated.
Pursuing Research Fads: pursuing "popular" topics with limited shelf life.
Unresearchable Problems: some research problems may not be answered adequately based on observed evidence alone, or using currently accepted methods and procedures
Favored Research Methods: researchers recast a research problem so that it is amendable to their favorite research method.
Blind Data Mining: researchers collect data first and then figure out what to do with it.
Overview of Research Process (2)
Research Method: methods researches wish to employ for collecting data to address their research questions of interest.
Sampling: strategy to select a sample from a population.
Research Proposal: detailing all the decision made in the preceding stages of the research process and the rationale behind each decision.
Research Execution: the researcher decides who to study, what to measure, and how to collect data. This includes pilot testing the measurement instruments, data collection, and data analysis.
Pilot Testing: helps to detect potential problems in your research design and/or instrumentation, and to ensure that the measurement instruments used in the study are reliable and valid measures of the constructs of interest.
Data Analysis: data is analyzed and interpreted for the purpose of drawing conclusions regarding the research questions of interest.
Research Report: documenting the entire research process and its findings in the form of a research paper, dissertation, or monograph.