CHAPTER 2 DIMENSIONS OF RESEARCH DIMENSION A VARIABLE

CHAPTER 2: DIMENSIONS OF RESEARCH • DIMENSION: A VARIABLE PROPERTY OR QUALITY • FOR EXAMPLE, PHYSICAL OBJECTS HAVE HEIGHT, WIDTH, DEPTH; WEIGHT; MOMENTUM; ETC.

DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH • USE OF RESEARCH: BASIC OR APPLIED • PURPOSE: EXPLORATORY, DESCRIPTIVE, EXPLANATORY • TIME: CROSS-SECTIONAL, LONGITUDINAL, CASE STUDY • DATA COLLECTION: QUALITATIVE, QUANTITATIVE

USE OF RESEARCH • BASIC: GENERATE NEW KNOWLEDGE, THEORY • APPLIED: SOLVE PROBLEMS • IN PRINCIPLE, THEY ARE – C 0 MPLEMENTARY – OVERLAPPING • IN PRACTICE, BASIC RESEARCH IS MORE PRESTIGEOUS

BASIC RESEARCH • DEVELOPS OR TESTS KEY TOOLS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE: – THEORIES – CONCEPTS – METHODS

APPLIED RESEARCH • FOCUS ON SOLVING PROBLEMS • TYPES – SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: WHAT ARE THE LIKELY CONSEQUENCES OF A PLANNED POLICY OR PROGRAM? – EVALUATION: OF A POLICY OR PROGRAM – HOW WELL DOES IT WORK? – ACTION: EMPOWERS MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TO IDENTIFY AND SOLVE PROBLEMS

PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY Engages sociology in conversation with society about values, vision, analysis, direction Types traditional – writing or speaking for broad but thin audience grassroots – working with groups in the community May combine basic and applied

Grassroots Public Sociology and Action Research • Goals are similar: empowerment, social change • Action research often focuses on solving specific problems • Public sociology also creates larger, critical conversations about social vision, values, analysis, and strategies for change

PURPOSES OF A STUDY • EXPLORATORY – LEARN ABOUT A NEW TOPIC OR QUESTION • DESCRIPTIVE – PROVIDE QUALITATIVE AND/OR QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION • EXPLANATORY – DEVELOP OR TEST THEORY SEE BOX 2. 2 ON PAGE 29 NO NEED TO MEMORIZE, BUT BE FAMILIAR WITH BASIC IDEAS OF EACH PURPOSE

THE TIME DIMENSION • CROSS-SECTIONAL - SNAPSHOT • LONGITUDINAL – SERIES OF SNAPSHOTS – TIME-SERIES –SAME “UNITS OF OBSERVATION” EACH TIME – PANEL – SAME INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, ETC. – COHORT – SAME LIFE EXPERIENCES SHARED BY MEMBERS

THE TIME DIMENSION, continued • CASE STUDIES – ‘CONTINUOUS’ VIDEO – EXAMINE A GROUP, EVENT, ORGANIZATION, ETC. OVER TIME – COMPARATIVE CASE STUDIES

DATA COLLECTION • QUANTITATIVE – EXPERIMENTS • IN LAB OR IN ‘REAL LIFE’ • USUALLY INVOLVES COMPARING EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS, BEFORE AND AFTER ‘TREATMENT(S)’ GIVEN TO EXPERIMENTAL GROUP(S)

DATA COLLECTION, CONTINUED • QUANTITATIVE, CONTINUED – SURVEYS • THE MOST COMMON FORM OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH • INVOLVES ADMINISTERING A QUESTIONNAIRE TO A POPULATION OR SAMPLE – CONTENT ANALYSIS – OF ‘SYMBOLIC MATERIAL’ – EXISTING STATISTICS – ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUSLY-COLLECTED DATA

DATA COLLECTION, CONTINUED • QUALITATIVE DATA – FIELD RESEARCH (OR PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION) • GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH • RECONSTRUCTION APPROACH – HISTORICAL-COMPARATIVE RESEARCH • DATA: ARCHIVES (MEETING NOTES, MINUTES, LETTERS, ETC. ), MEMOIRS, BOOKS, NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS, ETC.