The Nature of Social Research
Research means a reliable systematic approach that is approved by a community of social researchers, to extend our knowledge of the outside world. It aims to create new ideas and understandings.The fact that social research involves people at both ends is what differentiates it from other kinds of research. The research object is a person(single person or a group or society) in social research, and there is an interaction between the person and the object. A proper research design(explaining the research problem) has to consider this fact carefully to be accurate. The one advantage of this fact is the researcher’s prior insight of the research object. This type of research is used in various disciplines such as psychology, sociology, history, politics, accountancy, nursing, medicine, and subjects involving people. Design is the key to systematic approach, and it has to start with a research question. Strategy and method has to be decided based on the research question.
Research Strategy
According to Catherine Hakim, design deals with aims and plans within practical constraints such as time, money and staff availability. It is also about style(different styles that researchers prefer and each produces a different result. Two philosophies of research are positivist approach and interpretive approach. Positivist approach relies on scientific evidence and tries to emulate or copy the methods of natural sciences. It uses experiments and survey. It is scientific, hypothetico-deductive(deducing consequences from policies that can be tested), quantitative, and extensive. Interpretive approach is concerned more about language and meanings, and interpreting the world by studying humans as social animals. It does not treat beings independently rather studies human experiences and contexts. It is ethnographic, explanatory, hermeneutic(works by humans that can be interpreted), qualitative, and intensive. It uses case study, participant observation, and interviews. In real world, the research is either positivist or interpretive. However, one can collect a mixture of both data.
Types of Research Strategies
Survey: It is collection of information in standardized form from groups of people. Here, a sample of population is studied to determine its characteristics. Then, it is inferred from the study that the population has similar characteristics. One can either select samples from known population or survey everyone on a smaller scale. Data from each individual is collected through a questionnaire or structured interview(same for all). The practice of distributing questionnaires in person or web questionairres are common methods, and however, the usage of questionairres is not compulsory. Examples include studying diet habits of teenagers, taste preference surveys etc.
Case Study: It involves complete observation of a social unit. It is usually an in depth study about a single complex object, or of a small number of related objects. It emphasizes on individual events. Robert Yin suggests that a wide range of research is best understood as case studies. It sometimes involves direct participation and study documents to relate an event to a broader issue or aspect, or social context. Examples include case study of E commerce business in India, case study investigating the process of planning and implementing a service in Primary Care Organisations etc.
Experiment: Alteration of one variable can lead to different results, and new relationships. Experimentation measures the effect of manipulating one variable on another. It is done to test hypotheses and discover new relationships. It involves selection of representative samples from known population(rare). Then, it is allocated randomly to different conditions. The next step involves introducing planned changes(manpulation of a variable like trying it with different age groups or people in different conditions), and its effect on the population is measured. Examples include employee skill evaluation, evaluating teaching methods etc.
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