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Copyright Notice
Ethnicity and Nationalism in World Politics
Author: Samih Salah
Published by: International Relations Network
This work is protected by copyright. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written
permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations in reviews or
articles.
Please note that this book has not been assigned an official ISBN number.
All rights reserved © 2024 Samih Salah.
 Introduction to Research Methods Page |3

Copyright

The following chapters have been adapted from Principles of Sociological Inquiry, which was
adapted by the Saylor Academy without attribution to the original authors or publisher,
as requested by the licensor, is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 License.
 Introduction to Research Methods Page |4

International Relations Network

International Relations Network is a comprehensive online resource that

caters to the academic field of international relations. Designed to provide
valuable insights and knowledge, this Platform covers a wide range of
subjects within the field of international relations theory and politics.

Whether you are a student, researcher, or an enthusiast of international

relations, International Relations Network offers a wealth of resources to
enhance your understanding of key topics. I delve into the theory and
politics of globalization, exploring its impact on various aspects of
international relations, including economic interdependence, cultural
exchange, and the dynamics of power.

Another significant area of focus is Ethnicity and Nationalism in world

politics. We analyse the complexities of identity politics, ethnic conflicts,
and nationalist movements, shedding light on their influence on
international relations and global affairs.
For those interested in research methods in the context of international
relations, our platform offers valuable guidance and insights. I provide
comprehensive resources on research methodologies, data analysis
techniques, and approaches to conducting empirical studies in
international relations.
 Introduction to Research Methods Page |5

Moreover, my platform offers an introduction to international relations

theory, providing a solid foundation for newcomers to the field. We
explore various theoretical perspectives, such as realism, liberalism,
constructivism, and critical theories, allowing users to grasp the
fundamental concepts and debates within international relations.
With our user-friendly interface and easily accessible content, our
International Relations Network platform aims to foster a vibrant
community of learners and researchers in the field. We encourage
engagement and dialogue among users, facilitating knowledge sharing and
collaboration.

my interest in Islamic Studies within the realm of international relations

extends to understanding how ethnicity, political philosophy, and
civilizations intersect with Islamic principles in shaping global affairs. I am
intrigued by the complex dynamics between various ethnic and religious
groups, and how their interactions influence political decision-making and
diplomatic relations on an international scale.

Since my time as a political science student at Neelain University in Sudan,

I have dreamed of establishing a platform that integrates my interest in
Islamic studies within the realm of International Relations. My bachelor's
research focused on the evaluation of the Sudanese Islamic movement
from 1989 to 2010, while my master's thesis “Islamic view towards
International Relations ‘’ explored the intersection of ethnicity, political
philosophy, and the influence of Islamic principles in shaping global
affairs.

SAMIH SALAH – founder of International Relations Network .

ALEX.
14/10/2024
 Introduction to Research Methods Page |6

Preface

In late 2019, while serving as a full-time lecturer at the National University

of Sudan, I found myself amidst a significant historical event known as
the December Revolution. This period of socio-political transformation
sparked an idea within me that eventually led to the concept for a book.
Despite my limited experience as a university lecturer at the time, my
passion for a career in academia propelled me forward.
However, due to the demanding nature of my role and the multitude of
subjects I was responsible for, such as Ethnicity and Nationalism in World
Politics, Theory of International Relations, Introduction to International
Relations Concepts and Theory, and Political Terminologies, I was unable
to dedicate sufficient time to writing a complete manuscript.
Nonetheless, the profound impact of the December Revolution and my
experiences at the National University of Sudan have left an indelible
mark on me. I believe that capturing and sharing these experiences
through a book would offer valuable insights, personal reflections, and
historical documentation.
Firstly, the author's personal experience of teaching research methods had
him witnessed student’s struggle to grasp the concepts and relevance of
research is a relatable perspective.
The aim of this book is to address this issue by providing a hands-on
approach that allows students to actively engage with the material. By
encouraging students to participate in practical exercises and mock
research, the book seeks to generate interest and foster a deeper
understanding of research methodologies.
Secondly, the author acknowledges that research methods can be
intimidating and challenging to comprehend. Many existing textbooks
approach the subject matter with a high level of complexity, making it
difficult for beginners to grasp the fundamental concepts.
In contrast, this book takes a simplified and light-hearted approach.
Concepts are explained using examples, and the content is designed to be
accessible to those new to research. By presenting research methods in a
 Introduction to Research Methods Page |7

more approachable manner, the book aims to alleviate fears and facilitate
a more engaging learning experience.
Furthermore, the book recognizes the historical significance of
methodology and its evolution over time.
In summary, this book provides a practical and step-by-step guide to
conducting research, focusing on engaging students and simplifying
complex concepts. It offers a fresh approach to research methods, aimed
at making the subject more accessible and enjoyable for beginners.
Additionally, it acknowledges the historical significance of methodology,
adding depth and context to the content.
The book explores the nature of research as a creative and systematic
endeavor to expand knowledge. It involves collecting, organizing, and
analyzing information to enhance understanding, often building upon
previous work. Research serves various purposes, including exploration,
description, and explanation, catering to the researcher's curiosity and
desire for knowledge.
Social research is described as a systematic attempt to broaden our
understanding of the world using socially accepted methods. It examines
people as both subjects and benefactors, contributing to the development
of knowledge and addressing societal challenges.
The book emphasizes the importance of a methodological strategy,
starting with a research question and making informed decisions
accordingly. It introduces three main research strategies: survey research,
case study, and experimentation.
Survey research involves collecting standardized information from groups
of people, often through questionnaires and structured interviews. Case
study focuses on developing detailed knowledge about complex subjects,
utilizing various data collection techniques and studying cases in their
context. Experimentation measures the effect of one variable on another,
typically involving sample selection, variable control, and hypothesis
testing.
Overall, this book equips readers with practical tools and techniques to
conduct research effectively, while recognizing the historical and
methodological significance behind the process.
SAMIH SALAH.
Khartoum ,2019.
 Introduction to Research Methods Page |8

Content

Chapter I
Introduction to Research Methods
1.1 What are the Research Methods?
1.2 Basis for political and practical decisions
1.3 qualitative & quotative research
1.4 The process of undertaking Research
1.5 where do research Ideas came from
1.6 Undertaking key Research concepts and terms
1.7 Ontology & epistemology
1.8 Ontology
1.9 Exercise
1.10 Epistemology
1.11 Research paradigms In Social Research
1.12 Inductive Approaches to Research
1.13 Deductive research approaches
Summary
References
Chapter II
Ethics in Research

2.1 Humanistic Approach to Research

2.2 Research on Human Participants: A Historical Look
2.3. Institutional Research Review Boards (IRBS)
2.4 Guiding Ethical Principles
2.5 A final word about the protection of Research Participants
Summary
References

Chapter III
Developing a Research Question

3.1 Normative Versus Empirical Statements

3.2 Exploration, Description, Explanation
3.3 Developing a Researchable Research Question
3.4 Hypotheses
3.5 Quantitative, Qualitative, & Mixed Methods Research Approaches
3.6 Mixed- Methods Research Approaches
Summary
References
 Introduction to Research Methods Page |9

Chapter IV
Measurement and Units of Analysis
4.1 Reliability
4.2 Validity
4.3 Complexities in Measurement
4.4 units of analysis and units of observation
4.5 Independent and development variables
4.6 Extraneous Variables
4.7 Rival Plausible Explanations
Summary
Key Takeaway
References

Chapter V
The Literature Review

5.1 The Literature Review

5.2 What is involved in writing a literature review?
5.3 The five “c”s of writing a literature Review
5.5 The Difference between a Literature Review and an Essay
5.6 The difference between a literature review and an annotated Bibliography
5.7 APA Referencing (from JIBC online library)
References

Chapter VI
Data Collection strategies
6.1 Experiments
6.1.1 Random Assignation
6.2 Nonexperimental Research
6.2.1 Cross-sectional research
6.2.2 Correlational Research
6.2.3 Observational Research
6.3 Quasi-Experiments
6.4 Internal Validity
Summary
References

Chapter VII
Sampling Techniques
7.1 Sampling
7.2 Population versus samples
7.3 Probabilistic and Non-Probabilistic Sampling Techniques
7.4 Who Sampled, How Sampled, and for what Purpose..
Summary
References
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 10

Chapter VIII
Data collection Methods: survey Research.

8.1 Survey Research: What Is it and When Should it Be Used?

8.2 Understanding the Difference between a Survey and a Questionnaire
8.3 Pros and Cons of Survey Research
8.5 Administration of surveys
8.4 Types of Surveys
8.6 Designing Effective Survey Questions
8.7 Response Options
8.8 Designing Effective Surveys
Summary
Reference
Chapter IX
Analysis of Survey Data

9.1 From Completed Survey to Analyzable Data

9.2 Identifying Patterns
Summary
References

Chapter X
Qualitative Data Collections & Analysis Methods

10.1 Interview Research

10.2 When should qualitative data collection be used?
10.3 Conducting Qualitative Interviews
10.4 Other qualitative Data collection methods
10.5 Analysis of Qualitative Interviews Data
10.7 Strengths and Weakness of Qualitative Interviews
Summary
References

Chapter XI
Quantitative Interview Techniques & Consideration.

11.1 conducting Quantitative Interviews

11.2 Analysis of Quantitative Interview Data
11.3 Strength and Weakness of Quantitative Interviews
11.4 Issues to consider for all Interview types
Summary
References
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 11

Chapter XII
Quantitative Interview Techniques & Considerations

12.1 Conducting Quantitative Interviews

12.2 Analysis of Quantitative Interview Data
12.3 Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantitative Interviews
Summary
References

Chapter XIII
Filed Research: A Qualitative Research Technique

13.1 Field Research: What it is?

13.2 Field Research: When is it appropriate?
13.3 the pros and cons of Field Research
13.4 Getting In and choosing a site
Summary
References

Chapter XIII
Unobtrusive Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

13.1 Strengths of Unobtrusive Research

13.2 Weaknesses of Unobtrusive Research
13.3 Unobtrusive Methods
13.4 Analyzing Others’ Data
13.5 Reliability in Unobtrusive Research
13.6 Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
Summary
References

Chapter XIV
The Research Proposal

14.1 What are the Goals of a Research Proposal?

14.2 Writing the Research Proposal
14.3 Components of a Research Proposal
14.4Step Approach to Writing a Research Proposal
Summary
References
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 12

Chapter XV
Sharing Your Research

15.1 Deciding What to Share and With Whom to Share it

15.2 Writing up Research Results
15.3 Disseminating Findings
Summary
References

Chapter XVI
Reading and Understanding Social Research

16.1 Reading Reports of Sociological Research

16.2 Being a Responsible Consumer of Research
16.3 Sociological Research: It is everywhere?
Summary
References
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 13

I
Introduction to Research Methods

I n a world filled with countless questions, we are constantly seeking

answers and striving for improvement. Curiosity and the desire for a
better life drive us to explore and understand the challenges that
surround us. From the knowledge and insights gained through research,
we can address these needs and make meaningful progress.
Research is crucial in satisfying people's needs and addressing their
curiosity. It arises from the recognition of problems and the quest for
knowledge. Whether it's understanding the causes of diseases like malaria,
tackling poverty in African communities, improving education in villages,
becoming proficient academicians, harnessing the power of technology,
or examining the impact of student phone usage in schools, research
allows us to delve deeper into these subjects and find solutions.
This chapter serves as an introduction to the meaning, types, assumptions,
characteristics, importance, and process of research.
Its purpose is to equip students and researchers with a foundational
understanding of research, enabling them to engage with the subsequent
chapters and discussions effectively. By grasping the fundamentals of
research, individuals can embark on a journey of discovery and contribute
to the advancement of knowledge in their respective fields.
Social research is the systematic analysis of research question by using
empirical methods (e.g of tasking, observation, analyzing data). It aims is
to make empirically grounded statements that can be generalized or to test
such statements. Various approaches can be distinguished as can a
number of fields of application (health, education, poverty, etc). various
aims can be pursed, ranging from an exact description of phenomena to
its explanation or the evaluation of intervention or institution.
The most convenient and simple way to understand the concept of
“research” is to deduce it from its etymology, Etymologically, the word
research comes from syllabi: the prefix “Re-” which examines carefully or
tests carefully. We can say briefly that research is “Examining an issue
again and carefully “by asking relevant questions about it in search of
answers.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 14

There are several other advanced definitions of research, especially formal

research. Some of these definitions are the following: first, research is the
systematic search for knowledge about existing phenomena that are
unknown to us. When we When faced with the unknown causes of
malaria, we engage in research to unravel its mysteries. Similarly, when
confronted with the harsh living conditions experienced by African
villagers, we conduct research to uncover the underlying reasons.
Research, therefore, represents a systematic quest for knowledge about
the unknown, enabling us to shed light on various phenomena.
Furthermore, research involves the pursuit of answers to questions that
arise in our daily lives. Many of these questions directly impact our
everyday existence. For scholars, simplistic answers are inadequate;
instead, concrete and well-founded responses are sought. This
necessitates the undertaking of research. Consequently, research can be
seen as a pursuit of convincing answers rather than merely satisfactory
ones to address the inquiries we encounter in our daily lives.
To answer these questions through research, three essential steps are
involved. First, we formulate the question itself, thereby identifying the
problem at hand. Second, we gather data to address the question,
conducting thorough research. Finally, we present the findings obtained
from the collected data in a formal report, disseminating our discoveries.
These three steps hold significance in social sciences and humanities
research, collectively encapsulating the essence of "social research."
Expanding further, Nancy J. Vyhmester, quoting Isaac Felip Azofeifa,
provides a comprehensive definition of research that merits attention.
According to her, research is a systematic search for adequate
information, leading to the acquisition of objective knowledge on a
specific topic. Let us explore some key aspects of this definition.
Why is research considered systematic? As per the aforementioned
definition, research demands diligent efforts from the researcher to be
accomplished. It necessitates rigor and follows clear and logical methods
or procedures. Consequently, research is not an easy endeavor; it requires
time, energy, and a methodical approach to reach its goals.
What is meant by "adequate information"? According to the definition,
adequate information arises from questions or problems that exist within
the community. It is not derived solely from personal thoughts or
conjecture. This assertion implies that one cannot simply sit at a desk,
ponder intriguing questions, devise answers, and present them as research.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 15

While such contemplation is a valuable exercise, it does not constitute

genuine research, and the information derived from it is inadequate in this
context.
In this chapter we begin our journey into research methods. We start by
describing and differentiating basic approaches from applied approaches
to research. Chapter one clarifies key concepts and terms that will be used
in this textbook, and begins

to answer the fundamental question of “what is research?” We conclude

this chapter by examining where research ideas come from.

Research methods encompass a systematic process of inquiry that allows

us to gain knowledge about our social world. The key message in the
previous statement is that conducting research is a systematic process,
meaning there is a correct way or system to approach research.
Understanding how to conduct research correctly is crucial not only if you
plan to undertake a research project but also in any profession you choose
or have chosen to enter. In fact, research is already a part of our everyday
lives. Just think about how often you use Google to search for answers.
Our collective use of Google for searching is one of the reasons why the
company is so successful. Asking questions, trying to understand what is
happening and why things occur the way they do, is an inherent part of
being human. So, if you already engage in research, why take a course on
research methods? Well, while we naturally research things all the time,
there are more formal ways of collecting and sharing knowledge.
Ultimately, research, in its formal sense, involves active engagement and
critical thinking about the world around us. For instance, one might ask,
"What psychological characteristics and factors are associated with an
increased likelihood of survival during an active crisis?" Applied research
can contribute by shaping social life. For instance, a researcher may
undertake a study that assists policymakers in changing or creating new
policies. Research is applied to influence and shape social life. Basic
research can also contribute to sociological theories or knowledge without
having a specific application as a goal. For instance, a researcher might
conduct a study that modifies an existing theory related to post-traumatic
stress disorder. It is important to note, however, that even basic research
may eventually be used for some applied purpose. Similarly, while applied
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 16

research may not directly address a specific real-world social problem, it

can enhance our theoretical understanding of a particular phenomenon.

Based on the definition of research presented earlier, a theory can be

conceptualized as an explanatory framework for an established
phenomenon, idea, or situation. It represents a robust and lasting
explanation that researchers deem to be valid. Fundamentally, a theory
comprises tested hypotheses that form the basis for understanding a
specific phenomenon, idea, or situation. It encompasses an overarching
concept that synthesizes and structures knowledge about the social world.
Moreover, these hypotheses are constructed from interconnected
concepts. Therefore, concepts can be viewed as the fundamental
components of a given theory, providing a basis for analysis and
understanding.

Based on the aforementioned definition of research, theory building

involves the construction of explanations for existing phenomena or
situations using collected data. This process is often referred to as "theory
after," indicating that data is collected first, and then a theory is
systematically developed based on the analysis of the collected data. Many
qualitative researchers employ this approach to build theories from the
data they gather. The question of why a theory is built is indeed significant.
A theory is constructed when there is no satisfactory or convincing
explanation available for a particular topic. In other words, if there already
exists a theory that adequately explains a phenomenon, situation, or issue,
there is no need to develop a new theory. The purpose of theory building
is to fill gaps in understanding and provide a comprehensive framework
for explaining and interpreting empirical observations. It aims to advance
knowledge by offering fresh insights and contributing to the existing body
of theoretical understanding.

Based on the definition of research provided earlier, theory testing

involves evaluating the validity of a specific theory using collected data.
This approach is often referred to as "theory first." In theory testing, the
collected data are utilized to examine the variables that form the
hypothesis of the existing theory, determining whether they remain valid
or if alternative explanations are necessary. Variables can be understood
as operationalized concepts, meaning they represent the measurable
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 17

properties of a specific object or phenomenon. Theory testing allows

researchers to assess whether a theory withstands current advancements,
leading to potential maintenance, modification, or outright rejection of
the theory. One of the key elements in a theory is the presence of variables
that constitute the hypothesis to be tested. The "language of variables,"
which is embedded in the hypotheses, is not exclusive to research; it draws
upon mathematical and statistical concepts. This explains why many
researchers focused on theory testing, typically quantitative researchers,
possess a mathematical and statistical background. Therefore, based on
the aforementioned definition of research, data collection serves the
purpose of either building a theory or testing the validity of an existing
theory.
This section provides an overview of different types of research. The
categorization of research types can vary depending on the preferences of
different research theories. In this book, we categorize research types as
descriptive and analytical. Descriptive research aims to provide
descriptions of a state of affairs, a phenomenon, or an idea as it exists.
The main characteristic of descriptive research is reporting what has
happened in a descriptive form. For example, it can describe the
frequency of shopping, people's preferences, and the causes of existing
events. On the other hand, analytical research focuses on analyzing and
interpreting data. After considering the basic types of research, the next
step is to think about the research methodology. This methodology guides
the overall approach to studying the topic and includes considerations
such as constraints, dilemmas, and ethical choices. It is important to
differentiate between research methodology and research methods.
Research methods refer to the tools used to gather data, such as
questionnaires or interviews. When choosing a research methodology, it
is essential to understand the difference between qualitative and
quantitative research. Qualitative research explores attitudes, behavior,
and experiences through methods like interviews or focus groups. It aims
to gain in-depth insights from participants, involving fewer people but
with longer contact. Under the umbrella of qualitative research, there are
various methodologies that can be explored. Quantitative research, on the
other hand, generates statistics through large-scale survey research using
methods like questionnaires or structured interviews. This type of
research reaches a larger number of people but with shorter contact
compared to qualitative research. The methodological debate in social
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 18

research has revolved around qualitative versus quantitative inquiry, with

discussions on which approach is better or more scientific. Each
methodology has its specific strengths and weaknesses, and it is important
for researchers to acknowledge and address them. It is crucial not to fall
into the trap of thinking that one methodology is inherently better than
the other. Both qualitative and quantitative research have their merits and
depend on the skills, training, and experiences of the researcher.
Researchers should follow their instincts and choose the approach they
feel comfortable with while considering the preferences of their tutor or
supervisor. Action research is considered a methodology rather than a
research method. In action research, the researcher collaborates closely
with a group of people to improve a particular situation in a practical
setting. The researcher acts as a facilitator, working with the group rather
than conducting research on them. In conclusion, selecting the
appropriate research methodology is crucial for conducting effective
research. Researchers should consider the strengths and weaknesses of
qualitative and quantitative approaches and choose the one that aligns
with their comfort and objectives. Additionally, action research offers a
collaborative approach to improving real-world situations.
The central task of social research is driven by scientific curiosity and the
aim to generate knowledge. When a new phenomenon, such as a disease,
emerges, it is crucial to provide a comprehensive description of its features
based on data and analysis of existing theories. This includes examining
symptoms, progression, frequency, and other relevant factors. The initial
step involves describing the circumstances in which the phenomenon
occurs or analyzing the subjective experiences of individuals affected by
it. This helps in understanding the contextual effects and the meanings
associated with the disease. Subsequently, researchers can search for
concrete explanations and test factors that trigger symptoms or the
disease itself, as well as identify circumstances or interventions that have
specific impacts on its course. Throughout the process of description,
understanding, and explanation, the primary objective remains the
production of new knowledge and advancing the understanding of the
field. The scientific community and scientists themselves are the primary
beneficiaries of the research and its outcomes. There is also a growing
trend of conducting social research in practical contexts, such as hospitals
and schools. In these settings, research questions focus on the practices
within these institutions, such as those of teachers, nurses, or physicians.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 19

Alternatively, they may concentrate on specific work conditions, such as

hospital routines or teacher-student relationships. The results of applied
research in these contexts adhere to the principles of scientific analysis,
but their primary aim is to be relevant to the practical field and contribute
to problem-solving in real-world settings. Participatory action research
represents a special case within practice-oriented research. In participatory
action research, the researcher initiates change in the study field not only
after the completion of the study but also during the research process
itself. For example, in a study of nursing with migrants, participatory
action research would involve immediately engaging with the everyday
routines of the participants. The information gathered during the research
process is then shared back with the participants. This transforms the
relationship between the researcher and the participants from a one-way
communication (where the interviewees share their views and the
researchers listen) to a dialogue (where the interviewees share their views,
the researchers listen, and suggestions are made for changing the
situation). The researcher-participant relationship shifts from a subject-
object dynamic to a relationship between two active subjects. The
evaluation of the researcher and their results is no longer solely focused
on traditional scientific criteria. Instead, the usefulness of the Research
and its outcomes for the participants becomes a primary criterion.
Research becomes not only a process of generating knowledge for the
researchers but also a process of knowledge, learning, and change for both
parties involved.

2.Basis for political and practical decisions

Social research has gained increasing importance as a foundation for
practical and political decision-making since the mid-twentieth century.
Governments frequently commission regular surveys and reports on
various topics such as health, poverty, and the situations of different age
groups. While some monitoring efforts summarize existing research and
findings in the field, additional studies are often conducted to contribute
to these reports, as seen in studies like PISA and HBSC. For instance, the
HBSC study collects representative data on adolescents aged 11 to 15 in
the population, but it also includes purposefully selected case studies. Case
studies are employed when representative data is not available or
expected, as they can provide the necessary data foundation. In practical
and political contexts, social research serves several purposes:
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 20

1. Exploration: It helps to explore issues, fields, and phenomena by

providing initial descriptions and insights.
2. Discovery: Social research enables the discovery of new relationships
by collecting and analyzing data.
3. Theory development: It provides empirical data and analysis as a basis
for developing theories that explain social phenomena.
4. Theory testing: Social research tests existing theories and empirical
knowledge to assess their validity and applicability.
5. Evaluation: It documents the effects of interventions, treatments,
programs, etc., in an empirically grounded manner.
6. Decision-making: Social research provides empirically informed
knowledge, data analysis, and results to support political, administrative,
and practical decision-making processes. However, it is essential to
acknowledge the limitations of social research. It cannot achieve the goal
of developing a single comprehensive theory that explains all aspects of
society and its phenomena while withstanding empirical testing. There is
also no universal method that can be applied to study all relevant
phenomena. Furthermore, social research cannot always provide
immediate solutions to urgent problems. Realistic expectations of social
research should be maintained, and more attainable goals pursued. One
such goal is the development and empirical testing of multiple theories
that can explain specific social phenomena. Researchers can continue
refining and expanding the range of social science methods available.
Social research provides detailed knowledge and insights into
relationships that can be utilized to develop solutions for societal
problems.
3. Qualitative & Quotative Research
Qualitative Research: Qualitative research focuses on developing theories
and understanding phenomena. The theory is not tested but rather serves
as a starting point for exploration. Case selection is based on the
theoretical relevance of the case. Data collection is open-ended, and the
analysis of data is interpretative. Generalization is done in a theoretical
sense. Quantitative Research: Quantitative research starts with a concept
that is theoretically spelled out and then tested empirically. Hypotheses
are formulated and tested using standardized data collection methods.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 21

The emphasis is on statistical analysis, and generalization is done in a

statistical sense to the population. Common Aspects: Both qualitative and
quantitative research involve systematic empirical methods, aim at
generalizing findings to other situations and participants, and pursue
research questions using planned approaches.
Advantages and Disadvantages: Quantitative research allows for the study
of a large number of cases in a relatively short time and provides results
that are generalizable. However, it may overlook relevant aspects for
participants and the contextual meanings. Qualitative research, on the
other hand, provides in-depth understanding but is time-consuming and
limited in generalizability. Online Research: With the development of the
internet, both qualitative and quantitative research methods can be
adapted to online research. This opens up new possibilities for studying
virtual communities and conducting research collaboratively. Benefits of
Research Methods: Learning and applying research methods can provide
new insights, challenge prejudices, and offer concrete links between
theory and real-life problems. Working with others and technical devices
can be enriching, and empirical research allows for sustained focus on an
issue. In summary, qualitative and quantitative research approaches have
distinct characteristics and advantages. Both approaches contribute to the
understanding of social phenomena and offer opportunities for learning
and professional development.

4. The Process of Undertaking Research

Step one: formulating a research problem

The first and most crucial step in the research process is the formulation
of a research problem. The research problem serves as your guiding
destination, informing both yourself, your research supervisor, and
readers about the intended goal of your study. The greater the specificity
and clarity in formulating the research problem, the better. This is
because everything that follows in the research process, including study
design, measurement procedures, sampling strategy, data analysis, and
the writing style of your dissertation or report, is significantly influenced
by how you formulate the research problem. Consequently, it is essential
to thoroughly, carefully, and critically examine it.
The primary purpose of formulating a research problem is to determine
the specific aspect you aim to investigate. This section provides detailed
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 22

insights into various aspects of formulating a research problem. It is

crucial to evaluate the research problem considering factors such as the
availability of financial resources, time constraints, and your own expertise
and knowledge, as well as that of your research supervisor, in the field of
study. Additionally, it is important to identify any gaps in your
understanding of the relevant discipline, including statistical knowledge
required for analysis. Furthermore, consider whether you possess
sufficient knowledge of computers and software if you plan to utilize
them in your research.
Step two: conceptualizing a research design
The use of appropriate methods is an exceedingly important aspect of
research. Research involves a systematic, controlled, valid, and rigorous
exploration and description of unknowns, establishing associations and
causation that enable accurate outcome predictions under specific
conditions. It also entails identifying gaps in knowledge, verifying existing
knowledge, and recognizing past errors and limitations.
The primary function of research design is to elucidate how you will
address your research questions. It outlines the specific details of your
inquiry, including the study design itself and the logical arrangements you
propose to undertake, the measurement procedures, the sampling
strategy, the framework for analysis, and the time-frame. It is crucial not
to confuse study design with research design. Study design pertains to the
design of the study itself, whereas research design encompasses other
components that constitute the research process.
The selection of an appropriate research design is pivotal in enabling valid
findings, comparisons, and conclusions in any investigation. A flawed
design leads to misleading findings and is tantamount to wasting human
and financial resources. Within scientific circles, the strength of empirical
investigation is primarily assessed based on the adopted research design.
Therefore, when selecting a research design, it is important to ensure its
validity, feasibility, and manageability.
There is an enormous variety of study designs and you need to be
acquainted with some of the most common ones.
Step three: constructing an instrument for data collection
Anything that becomes a means of collecting information for your study
is called a “research tool’ or a research instrument ‘, for example
observation forms, interview schedules, questionnaires and interview
guides.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 23

The construction of research instrument is the first practical step in

carrying out the study. you will need to decide how you are going to collect
data for the proposed study and then construct research instructed for
data collection.
Step four: Selecting a sample
The accuracy of your findings greatly relies on how you select your
sample. The primary objective of any sampling design is to minimize,
considering cost limitations, the gap between the values obtained from
your sample and those prevalent in the study population.
The fundamental principle in sampling is that a relatively small number of
units, if selected in a manner that genuinely represents the study
population, can provide a significantly high probability of reflecting the
true characteristics of the population being studied.
When selecting a sample, you should strive to achieve two key objectives:
avoiding bias in sample selection and maximizing precision while
optimizing resource allocation.
Sampling designs can be classified into three categories:
random/probability sampling designs, non-random/non-probability
sampling designs, and mixed sampling designs.
Within the first two categories, there are several sampling strategies and
designs. It is important to familiarize yourself with these sampling designs,
understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and identifying the
situations in which they can or cannot be applied. This knowledge will
help you select the most appropriate sampling strategy for your study. The
chosen
sampling strategy will influence your ability to generalize findings from
the sample to the study population and determine the statistical tests
applicable to the data.
In summary, the selection of a sample plays a crucial role in the accuracy
of your findings. Understanding different sampling designs and their
implications will assist you in making informed decisions and conducting
robust research that accurately represents the target population.
Step 5 : writing a research proposal
After completing all the preparatory work, the next step is to consolidate
everything in a comprehensive manner that provides sufficient
information about your research study. This comprehensive plan is
known as a research proposal, and it serves to inform readers, including
your research supervisor and others, about your research problem and
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 24

how you plan to investigate it. Essentially, a research proposal's primary

function is to outline an operational plan for obtaining answers to your
research questions. By doing so, it ensures and reassures readers about the
validity of the methodology used to obtain accurate and objective answers.
It is important to note that universities and other institutions may have
varying requirements regarding the style and content of a research
proposal. Therefore, it is crucial to familiarize yourself with any specific
guidelines provided by your institution. In general, your research proposal
should provide the following information about your study to help you,
your research supervisor, and reviewers understand the project:
1. Introduction: Clearly state the research problem, its significance, and
the rationale behind your study. Explain why it is important to investigate
this problem and how it contributes to the existing body of knowledge.
2. Research Questions and Objectives: Clearly formulate the research
questions that your study aims to answer. Outline the specific objectives
that will guide your investigation.
3. Literature Review: Summarize the relevant literature and studies related
to your research topic. Identify gaps, controversies, or limitations in the
existing knowledge that your study will address.
4. Methodology: Describe the research design, data collection methods,
and analysis techniques you will employ. Justify the appropriateness of the
chosen methods and explain how they will help answer your research
questions.
5. Ethical Considerations: Discuss any ethical considerations related to
your study, such as informed consent, data privacy, and participant
protection. Outline the steps you will take to ensure ethical practices
throughout the research process.
6. Timeline and Resources: Provide a timeline indicating the key
milestones and activities of your research project. Detail the resources,
such as funding, equipment, or access to participants, that will be required
for successful completion.
7. Expected Findings and Contribution: Discuss the potential outcomes
and implications of your study. Explain how your findings will contribute
to the field and address the research problem identified.
8. References: Include a list of references cited throughout the proposal,
following the appropriate citation style.
It is essential to carefully consider each of these components and present
them in a clear and concise manner. A well-written research proposal
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 25

demonstrates your understanding of the research problem, your ability to

design a rigorous study, and your commitment to ethical research
practices.
Reviewing the Literature
The function of the literature review in research
How to carry out a literature search
How to review the selected literature
How to develop theoretical and conceptual framework
How to write a literature review
The place of the literature review in research
One of the essential preliminary tasks when you undertake a research
study is to go through the existing literature in order to acquaint yourself
with the available body of knowledge in your area of interest . Reviewing
the literature review is an integral part of the research process and make a
valuable contribution to almost every operational step. It has value even
before the first step; that is ; when you are merely thinking about a
research question that you may want to find answers to through your
research journey . In the initial stages of research it helps you to establish
the theoretical roots of your study , clarify your ideas and develop your
research methodology . Later in the process, the literature review serves
to enhance and consolidate your own knowledge base and helps you to
integrate your findings with the existing body of knowledge. since an
important responsibility in research is to compare your findings with
those of others, it is here that the literature review plays an extremely
important role. During the write -up of your report it helps you to
integrate your findings with existing knowledge -that is, to either support
or contradict earlier research. The higher the academic level of your
research, the more important a through integration of your findings with
existing literature becomes.
In summary, a literature review has the following functions:
It provides a theoretical background to your study.
It helps you establish the links between what you are proposing to
examine and what has already been studied.
It enables you to show how your findings have contributed to the existing
body of knowledge in your profession. It helps you integrate your research
findings into the existing body of knowledge,
In relation to your own study, the literature review can help in four ways.
It can:
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 26

Bring clarity and focus to your research problem.

Improve your research methodology;
Broaden your knowledge base in your research area; and
Contextualize your findings.

Choose Formulate thee

Review the
A topic Literature problem

Choose Develop The

Gather organization the research
Data Research
Design Question

Interpret
Analyze the Communication
The the finding
data
Data

Figure 1.1
Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 27

Figure 1.2
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 28

5. where do research ideas come from?

The origin of research ideas stems from various sources. Researchers draw
inspiration from a range of places, such as replicating, clarifying, or
challenging previous research, as well as resolving conflicting results. New
technology, like the impact of Facebook or Twitter on society, can spark
research ideas. Serendipitous findings that pique a researcher's curiosity,
anomalies that defy expectations, or the desire to explore further
something commonly believed to be known can also drive research. This
is sometimes referred to as common sense research, where history,
tradition, or the practical needs of a field, such as public safety, provide
researchers with problem-solving opportunities.
Research is ubiquitous, arising from agencies seeking to achieve specific
goals, concerns about policy changes, or individuals making observations
or questioning the world around them. Typically, research begins with
broad "why" or "how" questions, but it undergoes an iterative process
that requires refinement.
As the motivations behind research projects vary, so do the types of
research questions. Research can be exploratory, descriptive, relational,
explanatory, or transformative, each with distinct methods and objectives.
Therefore, it is crucial to identify the research project's objectives to
determine the most appropriate research method. The subsequent step
involves formulating a research question, which will be further explored
in Chapter 2.

6.Understanding Key Research Concepts and Terms

In this textbook you will be exposed to many terms and concepts

associated with research methods, particularly as they relate to the
research planning decisions you must make along the way. Figure 1.1 will
help you contextualize many of these terms and understand the research
process. This general chart begins with two key concepts: ontology and
epistemology, advances through other concepts, and concludes with three
research methodological approaches: qualitative, quantitative and mixed
methods. Research does not end with making decisions about the type of
methods you will use; we could argue that the work is just beginning at
this point. Figure 1.3 does not represent an all-encompassing list of
concepts and terms related to research methods. Keep in mind that each
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 29

strategy has its own data collection and analysis approaches associated
with the various methodological approaches you choose. Figure 1.1 is
intentioned to provide a general overview of the research concept. You
may want to keep this figure handy as you read through the various
chapters.
Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 30

Figure 1.3
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 31

7.Ontology & Epistemology

When contemplating our knowledge and the ways we acquire it, we

encounter questions concerning ontology and epistemology. You may
have come across these concepts in a philosophy class. However, they are
also pertinent to the work of sociologists who engage in research focused
on understanding our social world. As sociologists, we typically possess
some pre-existing knowledge, and we seek to comprehend different
aspects of society. This existing knowledge can be categorized into three
fundamental concepts:
1) what exists in our social world.
2) what can be known about the existing social phenomena.
3) the most effective methods for acquiring knowledge about these
phenomena (Saylor Academy, 2012).
In the following sections, we will delve into the definitions of ontology
and epistemology, providing an illustrative example for each term.

8.Ontology
Ontology, derived from the Greek word meaning "the study, theory, or
science of being," focuses on understanding the nature of reality or "what
is" (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009). It delves into profound and
challenging questions, encompassing topics such as: - The purpose of life:
Ontology explores the fundamental question of why we exist and what
gives meaning to human existence. - Existence beyond our universe: It
investigates the possibility of entities or phenomena that exist outside the
boundaries of our known universe. - Categorization: Ontology explores
the classification and categorization of entities, phenomena, or concepts
based on their inherent characteristics or attributes. - Objective reality: It
examines the concept of whether there is an external reality that exists
independently of our subjective experiences or perceptions. - The
meaning of the verb "to be": Ontology delves into the philosophical and
linguistic implications of the verb "to be" and its role in expressing
existence, identity, and essence. These questions within ontology invite
deep contemplation and philosophical inquiry, acknowledging that they
may not have definitive or universally agreed-upon answers. Ontology is
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 32

comprised of two aspects: objectivism and subjectivism. Objectivism

means that social entities exist externally to the social actors who are
concerned with their existence. Subjectivism means that social
phenomena are created from the perceptions and actions of the social
actors who are concerned with their existence (Saunders, et al., 2009).
Figure 1.2 provides an example of a similar research project to be
undertaken by two different students. While the projects being proposed
by the students are similar, they each have different research questions.
Read the scenario and then answer the questions that follow.
Ana and Robert, both Emergency & Security Management Studies
(ESMS) students, are embarking on their capstone research projects at the
City of Vancouver. However, they encounter a hurdle when they
approach the newly appointed senior staff managers in the Emergency
Management Department (EMD) to request their participation in
separate studies. Ana's research question focuses on understanding the
role of City of Vancouver managers in fostering positive community
relationships within the EMD. She intends to collect data related to the
specific responsibilities and duties of these managers in achieving this
objective. On the other hand, Robert's research question explores the
impact of the City of Vancouver's corporate culture on the ability of EMD
managers to establish positive relationships with the local community. His
data collection will involve gathering perceptions regarding corporate
culture and its influence on facilitating effective community-emergency
management department relationships. However, when Ana and Robert
approach the newly appointed managers to request their involvement in
the studies, the managers express their reluctance. They explain that
despite their specialized academic training and practical work experience
in the department, they feel insufficiently acquainted with their new roles
and therefore, unable to answer the research questions. As a result, they
decline to participate, leaving Ana and Robert concerned about the future
of their research projects. In light of this predicament, Ana and Robert
decide to seek guidance from their supervisors. They approach their
supervisors to discuss the situation and seek advice on the best course of
action to take in response to the managers' refusal to participate.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 33

10. Exercise

Before reading about their supervisors' responses, please answer the

following questions:
1. Does Ana's research question align with an objectivist or a subjectivist
approach?
2. Does Robert's research question align with an objectivist or a
subjectivist approach? 3. Based on your answer to question 1, which
managers could Ana interview for her research study (new, old, or both)?
Why?
4. Based on your answer to question 2, which managers could Robert
interview for his research study (new, old, or both)? Why? Answers: Ana's
supervisor informs her that her research question is framed for an
objectivist approach. The supervisor explains that in her study, the social
entity (the City) exists as a reality external to the social actors (the
managers).
The formal management structure at the City has remained largely
unchanged since the departure of the old managers and the arrival of the
new ones. The procedures remain consistent, regardless of who occupies
the managerial positions. Therefore, Ana, utilizing an objectivist
approach, can argue that the new managers have job descriptions
outlining their responsibilities and that they are part of a formal structure
with a hierarchical reporting system. She can further argue that this
organizational hierarchy, unique to the City, resembles hierarchies found
in similar organizations. Consequently, Ana can assert that the new
managers will be able to provide insights into their role in fostering
positive community relationships. Their responses are likely to be similar
to those of the previous managers because the management structure and
procedures have not changed significantly. Therefore, Ana can approach
the new managers and request their participation in her research study.
Robert's supervisor informs him that his research question is designed for
a subjectivist approach. In his study, the social phenomena (the impact of
corporate culture on the relationship with the community) is created
through the perceptions and subsequent actions of the social actors (the
managers). The corporate culture at the City continuously influences the
process of social interaction, and these interactions shape perceptions of
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 34

the relationship with the community, which undergoes constant revision.

Therefore, Robert, employing a subjectivist approach, can state that the
new managers may have had limited interactions with community
members thus far, and may not fully grasp how the corporate culture
affects the department's relationship with the community. While it is
important to gather the new managers' perspectives, Robert also needs
input from the previous managers to capture their perceptions during
their tenure. This is because the community-department relationship
undergoes ongoing revision, influenced by varying managers' perceptions
of corporate culture and its impact on their ability to establish positive
community relationships. Therefore, Robert can approach the current
managers and request their participation in the study, while also asking the
department to reach out to the former managers to determine their
willingness to participate. As seen in this example, the research question
for each study guides the decision of whether the researcher should adopt
a subjective or objective ontological approach. This decision, in turn,
influences their research study, including the selection of individuals to
interview. Epistemology Epistemology has to do with knowledge.
Rather than dealing with questions about what is, epistemology deals with
questions of how we know what is. In sociology, there are many ways to
uncover knowledge. We might interview people to understand public
opinion about a topic, or perhaps observe them in their natural
environment. We could avoid face-to-face interaction altogether by
mailing people surveys to complete on their own or by reading people’s
opinions in newspaper editorials. Each method of data collection comes
with its own set of epistemological assumptions about how to find things
out (Saylor Academy, 2012). There are two main subsections of
epistemology: positivist and interpretivist philosophies. We will examine
these philosophies or paradigms in the following sections.

11. Research Paradigms in Social Science

A paradigm refers to a framework or set of ideas that helps us understand

and explain a particular subject or phenomenon. It shapes our
perspectives, influences what we know and how we acquire knowledge.
To illustrate this concept, let's consider the topic of abortion, which elicits
different viewpoints. Some individuals perceive abortion as a medical
procedure that should be a personal choice for women facing unwanted
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 35

pregnancies. Others view it as an act of murder and believe that society

should collectively determine when or if abortion is permissible. Each
person operates within their own paradigm,shaped by factors such as
political beliefs, upbringing, or religion. Paradigms play a significant role
in shaping our opinions on various issues. Ethical considerations are
crucial in any research or evaluation project. These considerations should
be addressed throughout the entire project, from planning and data
collection to analysis and dissemination of findings. Two main aspects of
ethics apply to social science research: research integrity and the
protection of participants. Some research projects require approval from
an ethical committee, while others undergo a research governance
process. Many research projects, including those conducted as part of
university courses or internally funded studies, require researchers to write
research proposals. These proposals can be reactive, written in response
to specific prompts or research needs. It is essential to recognize that
research itself is a process that is shaped by the chosen approach. While
research aims to uncover aspects of how the world functions, it is also
influenced by the decisions made regarding what, how, where, and when
to ask questions. In general, research follows a nine-step process.
A paradigm is a way of viewing the world, a set of ideas that is used to
understand or explain something, often related to a specific subject
(“Paradigm,” 2018). It is a way of framing what we know, what we can
know, and how we can know it. To help you understand what a paradigm
is, let us think about the various views on abortion. To some, abortion is
a medical procedure that should be undertaken at the discretion of each
individual woman who might experience an unwanted pregnancy. To
others, abortion is murder, and members of society should collectively
have the right to decide when, if at all, abortion should be undertaken.
Chances are, if you have an opinion about this topic, you are pretty certain
about the veracity of your perspective. Then again, the person who sits
next to you on the bus may have a very different opinion and yet be
equally confident about the truth of his or her perspective. Which of you
is correct? You are each operating under a set of assumptions about the
way the world does—or at least should—work. Perhaps your assumptions
come from your particular political perspective, which helps shape your
view on a variety of social issues, or perhaps your assumptions are based
on what you learned from your parents or from a religion. Paradigms
shape our stances on issues such as this one.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 36

In social science, there are several predominant paradigms, each with its
own unique ontological and epistemological perspective. We will look at
some of the most common social scientific paradigms that might guide
you in starting to think about conducting your research. The first
paradigm we will consider, positivism, is probably the framework that
comes to mind for many of you when you think of science. Positivism is
guided by the principles of objectivity, knowability, and deductive logic.
Deductive logic is discussed in more detail in the section that follows. The
positivist framework operates from the assumption that society can and
should be studied empirically and scientifically. Positivism also calls for a
value-free sociology, one in which researchers aim to abandon their biases
and values in a quest for objective, empirical, and knowable truth. An
Interpretivist paradigm suggests that it is necessary for researchers to
understand the differences amongst humans as social actors. The
emphasis is on conducting research among people, as opposed to objects.
As Saunders et al. observe, the reference to social actors’ bears noting.
They use the analogy of the theatre, where actors interpret, in a specific
way, the parts they play. They relate this to the same way in which people
interpret their social roles in relationship and how they then give meaning
to those roles. Similarly, people interpret the social roles of others in
accordance with their own meanings of those roles. Figure 1.3 provides
an example of two students, each from a difference academic field of
study, and how they might approach their research in their respective
fields.

12. Inductive Approaches to Research

In addition to considering paradigms, researchers must also contemplate

whether they will employ an inductive or deductive approach in their
work. These two approaches have distinct characteristics but can also
complement each other. In the following sections, we will explore the
similarities and differences between these approaches.
An inductive approach to research involves the collection of relevant data
pertaining to the topic of interest.
Once a significant amount of data has been gathered, the researcher takes
a step back from data collection to gain a broader perspective. During this
stage, the researcher examines the data for patterns and works towards
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 37

developing a theory that can explain those patterns. In essence, the

inductive approach involves moving from specific observations to more
general propositions or theories about those observations. It entails
progressing from data to theory, or from the particular to the general .
Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 38

Gather data

Look for patterns

Develop theory

Inductive Reasoning

Figure 1.4
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 39

13. Deductive Approaches to Research

Researchers employing a deductive approach follow a different sequence

compared to inductive research. They begin by selecting a social theory
that they find compelling and relevant to their research topic.
Subsequently, they proceed to test the implications of this theory using
data. In other words, they move from a general level to a more specific
one. The deductive approach is often associated with scientific
investigation, where the researcher examines previous studies and existing
theories related to the phenomenon under study. Based on these theories,
hypotheses are formulated and tested using empirical data .

Theorizing /hypothesis

Analyze the data

Hypothesis
supported or
not.

Figure 1.6
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 40

14.Inductive or Deductive? Two Approaches with Distinctions

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explain the inductive approach to research and provide examples.

2. Elaborate on the deductive approach to research and provide examples.
3. Explore the ways in which inductive and deductive approaches can
complement each other.
The field of sociology relies on theories to guide and shape research
endeavors. Likewise, research serves to structure and enhance theory. For
students new to these subjects, the interplay between theory and research
becomes apparent when examining the relationships within inductive and
deductive approaches. Both approaches heavily depend on theory, yet the
nature of the relationship between theory and research varies. Inductive
and deductive approaches exhibit distinct characteristics, but they can also
mutually reinforce each other. First, let's delve into each approach,
highlighting their differences. Following that, we will explore how they
can complement one another.
Inductive Approaches and Some Examples
Inductive research involves a researcher collecting relevant data pertaining
to their topic of interest. Once a substantial amount of data is gathered,
the researcher pauses data collection and takes a step back to gain a
holistic view of the data. During this phase, the researcher identifies
patterns within the data and aims to develop a theory that can explain
these patterns. In essence, the inductive approach involves moving from
specific observations to more general propositions about those
observations. It entails progressing from data to theory, or from the
particular to the general. Figure 1.6 "Inductive Research" provides an
overview of the steps involved in conducting research using an inductive
approach.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 41

Gather data Develop theory

Look for patterns

Figure 1.7 Inductive Research

One notable example of inductive research is the study conducted by

Katherine Allen, Christine Kaestle, and Abbie Goldberg (2011) on how
boys and young men learn about menstruation. The researchers collected
written narratives from 23 young men, exploring their experiences with
learning about menstruation, their initial thoughts, and their current
perspectives on the subject. By analyzing the patterns and themes across
these narratives, the researchers developed a comprehensive theory
regarding boys' and young men's understanding of menstruation. The
study found that sisters play a significant role in shaping boys' early
comprehension of menstruation, that it creates a sense of separation
between boys and girls, and that young men develop more mature
attitudes towards menstruation as they enter adulthood and form
romantic relationships. This research exemplifies the inductive approach
by starting with specific observations and constructing a general theory
based on the patterns identified in the collected data.
One notable example of inductive research is the study conducted by
Katherine Allen, Christine Kaestle, and Abbie Goldberg (2011) on how
boys and young men learn about menstruation. The researchers collected
written narratives from 23 young men, exploring their experiences with
learning about menstruation, their initial thoughts, and their current
perspectives on the subject. By analyzing the patterns and themes across
these narratives, the researchers developed a comprehensive theory
regarding boys' and young men's understanding of menstruation. The
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 42

study found that sisters play a significant role in shaping boys' early
comprehension of menstruation, that it creates a sense of separation
between boys and girls, and that young men develop more mature
attitudes towards menstruation as they enter adulthood and form
romantic relationships. This research exemplifies the inductive approach
by starting with specific observations and constructing a general theory
based on the patterns identified in the collected data.
Another example of inductive research is the study conducted by Kristin
Ferguson and colleagues (2011) on enhancing empowerment and
leadership among homeless youth in agency and community settings. The
researchers collected
empirical data through focus groups with 20 young people residing in a
homeless shelter. By analyzing the data, they aimed to gain insights into
effectively addressing the needs of homeless youth. Based on their
analysis, Ferguson and her colleagues developed a set of
recommendations for applied interventions targeting this population.
Additionally, they formulated hypotheses that could guide future
investigations on the topic. While the researchers did not test these
hypotheses in their study, their work provided a foundation for further
research and concluded with a set of testable hypotheses, which is typically
where deductive investigations begin. This study exemplifies the inductive
approach by starting with specific data and generating recommendations
and hypotheses for future research.

Deductive Approaches and Some Examples

Researchers who engage in exploratory research are typically in the initial
stages of investigating their topics. Such projects are undertaken when the
researcher wishes to assess the viability of conducting a more
comprehensive study and gain an understanding of the subject matter.
Exploratory research is particularly useful when there is limited prior
research conducted on the subject. In such cases, the researcher may
choose to conduct exploratory work to determine the appropriate data
collection methods, approach research participants effectively, or identify
suitable research questions. Additionally, researchers driven by personal
curiosity about a specific topic may also undertake exploratory research.
Conducting exploratory research is often an essential first step in
satisfying the researcher's curiosity, comprehending the phenomenon
under study, and gaining insights into research participants, all of which
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 43

contribute to the design of a subsequent larger study. For specific

examples, please refer to (1.8 Figure) .

Theorizing Hypothesis
/hypothesize Analyze Data
supported
or not

General level of focus analyses data specific

level of focus .

In a study by Ryan King and colleagues (2009) on US law enforcement

responses to hate crimes, the researchers hypothesized that areas with a
stronger history of racial violence would exhibit less vigorous law
enforcement responses. They developed this hypothesis based on prior
research and existing theories. To test their hypothesis, they analyzed data
on states' lynching histories and hate crime responses. The results of their
study provided support for their hypothesis, highlighting the influence of
historical racial violence on contemporary law enforcement actions.
Another deductive study conducted by Melissa Milkie and Catharine
Warner (2011) focused on the impact of different classroom
environments on the mental health of first-grade children. Drawing from
previous research and theories, the researchers hypothesized that negative
classroom features, including a lack of basic supplies and inadequate
heating, would be associated with emotional and behavioral problems
among children. Through their empirical analysis, they found evidence
supporting their hypothesis, underscoring the importance of considering
children's mental health outcomes alongside academic performance in
educational policymaking.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 44

These deductive studies exemplify how researchers begin with existing

theories and hypotheses derived from prior research, and then proceed to
collect and analyse data to test their hypotheses. The findings from such
studies contribute to our understanding of various social phenomena and
can inform policy and practice in relevant domains.

EXERCISES
1. For a hilarious example of logic gone awry, check out the following clip
from Monty Python and Holy Grail: Do the townspeople take an
inductive or deductive approach to determine whether the woman in
question is a witch? What are some of the different sources of knowledge
(recall Chapter 1 "Introduction") they rely on?
2. Think about how you could approach a study of the relationship
between gender and driving over the speed limit. How could you learn
about this relationship using an inductive approach? What would a study
of the same relationship look like if examined using a deductive approach?
Try the same thing with any topic of your choice. How might you study
the topic inductively? Deductively?
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 45

References
Aylesworth, G. (2015). Postmodernism. In Stanford encyclopedia of
philosophy. Retrieved from
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/ Palys, T., &
Atchison, C. (2014). Research decisions: Quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Toronto, Canada: Nelson
Education. Paradigm. (2018). In Macmillan dictionary. Retrieved from
http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/paradigm Saunders, M.,
Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009). Research methods for business students
(5th ed.). Essex, England: Pearson Education. Saylor Academy. (2012).
Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and quantitative methods.
Retrieved from
https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/textbooks/P
rinciples%20of%20Sociological%20Inquiry.pdf
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 46

II
ETHICS IN RESEARCH

Learning Objectives
• Define the term human participants, in terms of research.
• Explain how history has now defined a moral imperative for ethics in
Research.
• List ethical principles that must underpin all research.
• Describe why ethics review boards came into existence and explain their
role in the research process.
• Discuss the importance and implications of researcher integrity.
The National Council on Ethics in Human Research (NCEHR) is a
Canadian national agency that was established in 1989 with the primary
objective of promoting and enhancing the protection and well-being of
human research participants.
The NCEHR plays a crucial role in ensuring that researchers in Canada
adhere to ethical guidelines and standards when conducting studies
involving human participants. Its overarching goal is to safeguard the
rights, welfare, and dignity of individuals involved in research endeavours.
To achieve its mission, the NCEHR has a range of key objectives:
1. Establishing Ethical Standards: The NCEHR develops comprehensive
guidelines and ethical frameworks that serve as a reference for researchers,
providing them with clear principles and values to guide their research
involving human participants.
2. Reviewing Research Protocols: The NCEHR conducts thorough
reviews of research protocols to assess their ethical implications. Through
this process, the agency ensures that proposed studies meet the necessary
ethical requirements and protect the rights and well-being of participants.
3. Education and Training: The NCEHR offers educational resources,
training programs, and guidance to researchers, ethics review boards, and
other stakeholders involved in research. These initiatives aim to enhance
understanding and compliance with ethical principles in studies involving
human participants.
4. Collaborating with Ethics Review Boards: The NCEHR collaborates
closely with research ethics review boards across Canada to promote
consistency and adherence to ethical standards. This collaborative effort
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 47

ensures that research studies undergo comprehensive ethical review and

receive appropriate approval.
Through its activities and initiatives, the NCEHR contributes to the
ethical conduct of research involving human participants in Canada. By
safeguarding the rights and well-being of individuals who contribute to
scientific knowledge through their participation in research studies, the
agency plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity and trustworthiness
of the research enterprise

2. Research on Human Participants: An Historical Look

It is crucial to reflect on the historical context of unethical research

practices to understand the focus on ethical research today. Throughout
history, there have been instances of disturbing human experiments
conducted without adequate regulation or intervention. One significant
event that led to a heightened awareness of ethical research was the
Nuremberg Trials held in 1946. These trials involved war criminals,
including doctors, who were charged with crimes against humanity for
conducting medical experiments on concentration camp inmates. The
trials resulted in the creation of the Nuremberg Code in 1949, which
established principles to guide research involving human participants. In
the field of psychology, Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments in the
1960s raised ethical concerns. Participants were deceived into thinking
they were administering electric shocks to others, causing emotional
distress. Another example is Laud Humphreys, a sociology graduate
student who conducted research on anonymous sexual encounters in
public restrooms (tearoom trade) without disclosing his identity as a
researcher. He collected personal information from participants and faced
controversy over the ethical implications of his actions. These and other
landmark examples, such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and the case
of Russell Ogden and Simon Fraser University, have contributed to the
ongoing discussions and developments in research ethics. It is important
to learn from these historical cases to ensure that research involving
human participants is conducted ethically and respects the rights and well-
being of individuals involved.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 48

3. Institutional Research Review Boards (IRBs)

Institutions that receive federal support for research, such as universities,

hospitals, and nonprofit research organizations, rely on Institutional
Review Boards (IRBs) to safeguard the rights and well-being of research
participants, including both humans and non-human animals. IRBs
consist of members from diverse disciplines, such as sociology,
economics, education, social work, and communications. They may also
include representatives from relevant community organizations like
prisons, hospitals, or treatment centers.
The membership diversity within IRBs is crucial to ensure a
knowledgeable and experienced panel that can thoroughly consider the
complex ethical issues that may arise in research involving human and
non-human animal participants. Researchers planning studies involving
human participants must submit their research proposals to IRBs for
review and approval before initiating the research. Even student
researchers need to have their proposed work reviewed and approved by
the IRB, with some exceptions made for classroom projects that remain
confined to the classroom and aren't shared outside.
Despite the vital role IRBs play in upholding ethical standards, they aren't
always popular or appreciated among researchers. Some researchers argue
that IRBs primarily focus on reviewing biomedical and experimental
research, which isn't common in sociology. Sociological research,
particularly qualitative research, often has an exploratory and open-ended
nature, posing challenges for IRB review. IRB members typically expect
detailed information in advance regarding the participants, observation
locations and times,

participant recruitment approaches, specific interview questions, and the

researcher's predicted findings. Providing this level of detail, especially for
studies involving long-term participant observation in large and dynamic
groups, can be frustrating or even unfeasible for the researcher.
It is important to note that IRBs do not aim to discourage researchers
from studying controversial topics or utilizing sound data collection
techniques. However, these concerns may unintentionally lead researchers
to avoid certain topics or methods. Rather than eliminating IRBs, which
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 49

serve a necessary and important function in research ethics, the solution

lies in promoting education and awareness among IRB members about
the diverse range of research methods and topics covered by sociologists
and other social scientists. This can foster a better understanding and
appreciation for the specific needs and characteristics of social scientific
research.

4. Guiding Ethical Principles

Apart from IRBs, various institutions have established ethical principles
to guide research involving human participants. While the following
ethical principles originate from the Canadian Institutes of Health
Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada,
and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2005),
they have been widely adopted by researchers across different disciplines
worldwide. These principles encompass a shared set of ethical standards,
values, and aspirations within the global research community

Ethical Principles for Research with Human Participants: 1. Respect for

Human Dignity: This principle serves as the foundation of modern
research ethics. It aims to safeguard the physical, psychological, and
cultural integrity of individuals.
2. Respect for Free and Informed Consent: Individuals are considered to
have the right to make independent and informed decisions. Researchers
have an obligation to ensure that research participants have made
voluntary choices to participate, with full awareness of the research's
nature, and have given informed consent.
3. Respect for Vulnerable Individuals: Researchers are ethically bound to
uphold strong obligations towards vulnerable individuals, such as those
with diminished competence or decision-making capacity (e.g., children,
institutionalized individuals). These obligations encompass human
dignity, compassion, solidarity, fairness, and protection against abuse,
exploitation, or discrimination. Special procedures must be developed to
safeguard the rights of vulnerable individuals. 4. Respect for Privacy and
Confidentiality: Privacy and confidentiality standards are fundamental to
preserving human dignity. These standards protect personal information,
including its access, control, and dissemination. Researchers must
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 50

prioritize the rights of participants to privacy, confidentiality, and

anonymity.
5. Respect for Justice and Inclusiveness: Justice is closely linked to fairness
and equity. It involves ensuring the fair distribution of research benefits
and burdens. On one hand, no segment of the population should bear an
unfair burden from research harms. On the other hand, no segment
should be neglected or discriminated against in terms of benefiting from
research outcomes.
6. Balancing Harms and Benefits: Modern research necessitates that the
potential harms of research do not outweigh the anticipated benefits. 7.
Minimizing Harm: Researchers have a responsibility to avoid, prevent, or
minimize harm to others. Research participants should not be exposed to
unnecessary risks, and their involvement should be essential for achieving
scientifically and socially significant objectives that cannot be attained
without their participation.
8. Maximizing Benefit: Researchers are obligated to maximize overall
benefits for research participants, individuals, and society. In most
research endeavours, this entails generating outcomes that benefit society
and advance knowledge.

These ethical principles provide a framework for conducting research

with human participants, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding
their rights, well-being, and dignity, while ensuring fairness and
maximizing societal benefits.

5. A Final Word about the Protection of Research Participants

While reliability focuses on consistency, validity concerns shared
understanding. When you hear the word "alcoholic," what image comes
to mind? Are you confident that the image you envision aligns with the
image others have in mind? If not, then we may face a validity issue. To
achieve validity, we must ensure that our measures accurately capture the
meaning of our concepts. Let's revisit the first potential measure of
alcoholism discussed in the section on reliability.
Initially, we considered measuring alcoholism by asking research
participants the question: "Have you ever had a problem with
alcohol?" However, we realized that this may not be the most reliable
approach since individuals' responses could significantly vary depending
on their current emotional state. Moreover, this measure of alcoholism
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 51

lacks validity. What exactly constitutes "a problem" with alcohol? For
some, it could be a single regrettable or embarrassing moment resulting
from excessive consumption. For others, the threshold for a "problem"
might be different; perhaps an individual has had numerous embarrassing
drunken incidents but still manages to fulfill daily responsibilities, and thus
does not perceive themselves as having a problem. Due to the substantial
variation in what each respondent considers problematic, our measure of
alcoholism is unlikely to yield useful or meaningful results if our objective
is to objectively understand the prevalence of alcoholism among our
research participants.

Here's another example: Suppose our interest lies in understanding an

individual's commitment to a healthy lifestyle. Many would agree that
engaging in regular exercise is indicative of a healthy lifestyle, so we could
measure it by counting the number of times a person visits their local gym
each week. Initially, this might appear to be a reasonable measure.
However, if the respondent's gym includes activities unrelated to fitness,
such as tanning beds, flirting, or sauna sessions, these activities are not
reliable indicators of healthy living. Therefore, recording the frequency of
gym visits may not be the most valid approach to measure an individual's
dedication to a healthy lifestyle. Using this measure would not provide a
true indication of a person's commitment to healthy living, thus failing to
measure our intended target. In the social sciences, causality is often not
as straightforward as A causing B in classical experiments. Frequently,
other variables may co-occur with A and/or B, causing both A and B.
Therefore, researchers must ensure their studies have internal validity,
meaning they genuinely test the phenomenon they aim to investigate.
There are several threats to internal validity, such as history, maturation,
testing, regression to the mean, selection biases, and instrumentation.
Researchers can control for these threats through experimental design,
including the use of control or comparison groups. Researchers also strive
for external validity, which means they want their study to be applicable
to other situations and contexts beyond the current project. They aim for
their findings to reflect real-world environments where the phenomena
occur and to demonstrate that their results are not due to chance. External
validity does not necessarily depend on the representativeness of the
sample but rather on the nature of the phenomenon under study and the
research objectives.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 52

At its core, validity relies on social agreement. One effective way to ensure
the validity of your measures is to discuss them with others. To illustrate,
think of validity as you would a portrait. Some portraits accurately depict
the person they aim to represent, while others, like caricatures or stick
drawings, are less precise. While a portrait may not capture every detail of
a person's appearance, what matters is how closely it approximates the
intended representation. The same principle applies to the validity of
measures. No measure can be exact, but some measures are more accurate
than others.

6.Summary
Research is serious business. Not only must the conduct of research be
undertaken in a manner such that it abides by society’s ethical standards,
researchers must personally have a strong set of moral standards.
Researchers must ensure that their participants (human and animal) are
treated ethically, and that, in the case of human participants, their
confidentiality is maintained. They must also apply ethical principles in
the design of their studies, as well as the collection, analysis and
presentation of the data. Overall, an ethic of research involving both
human and animal participants should include two essential components:
1) the selection and achievement of morally acceptable ends, and;
2) morally acceptable means to the ends. The first component is directed
at defining acceptable ends in terms of the benefits of the research for a
given set of participants, for associate groups, and for the purposes of
advancing knowledge. The second component is directed at ethically
appropriate means of conducting research.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 53

References

• American Sociological Association. (1999) Code of ethics and policies

and procedures of the ASA Committee. Retrieved from
https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/asa/docs/pd
f/CodeofEthics.pdf
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada. (2005). Tri-Council policy statement: Ethical
conduct for research involving humans, 1998 (with 2000, 2002, 2005
amendments). Retrieved from
http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/273685/publication.html
• Humphreys, L. (1970). Tearoom trade: Impersonal sex in public places.
New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction.
• Humphreys, L. (2008). Tearoom trade: Impersonal sex in public places,
enlarged edition with a retrospect on ethical issues. New Brunswick, NJ:
Aldine Transaction.
• Jaschik, S. (2009, December 4). Protecting his sources. Inside Higher
Education. Retrieved from
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/12/04/protecting-his-
sources
• Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. New
York, NY: Harper & Row.
• National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects in
Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1979). The Belmont report: Ethical
principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research.
Retrieved from
http://humansubjects.stanford.edu/education/2009_05_Belmont.pdf
• National Research Act of 1974, Pub. L. no. 93-348 Stat 88. (1974).
Retrieved from http://history.nih.gov/research/downloads/PL93-
348.pdf
• National Council on Ethics in Human Research. (n.d.). The importance
of research involving humans. Retrieved from http://www.ncehr-
cnerh.org/
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 54

• Ogden, R. (2008). Harm. In L. M. Given (Ed.), The sage encyclopedia

of qualitative research methods (pp. 379–380). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
• Palys, T., & Atchison, C. (2014). Research decisions: Quantitative,
qualitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Toronto, Canada:
Nelson Education.
• Saylor Academy. (2012). Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative
and quantitative methods. Retrieved from
https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/textbooks/P
rinciples%20of%20Sociological%20Inquiry.pdf
• Shuster, E. (1997). Fifty years later: The significance of the Nuremberg
Code. New England Journal of Medicine, 337(20), 1436-1440.
doi:10.1056/NEJM199711133372006
• University of California, Irvine. Office of Research. (2015). Definition
of human subjects’ research. Retrieved from
https://www.research.uci.edu/compliance/human-research-
protections/researchers/activities-irb-review.html#definition
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 55

CHAPTER III
DEVELOPING A RES EARCH QUESTION

Learning Objectives

• Differentiate between normative and empirical knowledge.

• Explain the differences between exploratory, descriptive, and
explanatory research.
• Describe the characteristics of a researchable question.
• Describe a hypothesis.
• Identify the difference between qualitative, quantitative and mixed
methods.
• Explain the concept of triangulation.
It is important to ensure that you choose a research topic that interests
you, because this will make it much easier for you to develop an effective
and researchable research question. In the first part of this chapter, we
will consider aspects you must consider as you think about the research
topic you would like to explore. We will also examine the characteristics
and components of an effective research question. The chapter concludes
by introducing you to the three main methodological approaches to
conducting research: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods.

3.1 Normative Versus Empirical Statements

When it comes to research questions, sociologists emphasize two
important concepts: normative statements and empirical statements.
Normative statements are evaluative and subjective, while empirical
statements are informative and based on facts. Let's examine two
statements and determine which one is normative and which one is
empirical.
1. "Canada has one of the best science programs in the world."
2. "In 2015, Canada ranked 4th overall in science education performance
of 15-year-old high school students in a study conducted by the
Organization for Education Cooperation and Development (OECD,
2015)."
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 56

If you concluded that the first statement is normative and the second
statement is empirical, you are correct. Normative statements express an
opinion or judgment, while empirical statements rely on real-world
observations and data. Although normative statements can underlie or
influence empirical statements, sociologists primarily focus on answering
empirical questions that can be addressed through real-world
experiences.

3.2 Exploration, Description, Explanation

As you can see, there is much to think about and many decisions to be
made as you begin to define your research question and your research
project. Something else you will need to consider in the early stages is
whether your research will be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory.
Each of these types of research has a different aim or purpose,
consequently, how you design your research project will be determined
in part by this decision. In the following paragraphs we will look at these
three types of research.
Exploratory research Researchers conducting exploratory research are
typically at the early stages of examining their topics. These sorts of
projects are usually conducted when a researcher wants to test the
feasibility of conducting a more extensive study; he or she wants to figure
out the lay of the land with respect to the particular topic. Perhaps very
little prior research has been conducted on this subject. If this is the case,
a researcher may wish to do some exploratory work to learn what method
to use in collecting data, how best to approach research participants, or
even what sorts of questions are reasonable to ask. A researcher wanting
to simply satisfy his or her own curiosity about a topic could also conduct
exploratory research. Conducting exploratory research on a topic is often
a necessary first step, both to satisfy researcher curiosity about the subject
and to better understand the phenomenon and the research participants
in order to design a larger, subsequent study.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 57

Sometimes the goal of research is to describe or define a particular

phenomenon. In this case, descriptive research would be an appropriate
strategy. A descriptive may, for example, aim to describe a pattern. For
example, researchers often collect information to describe something for
the benefit of the general public. Market researchers rely on descriptive
research to tell them what consumers think of their products. In fact,
descriptive research has many useful applications, and you probably rely
on findings from descriptive research without even being aware that that
is what you are doing.

3.3 Developing a Researchable Research

Question
After thinking about what topics interest you, identifying a topic that is
both empirical and sociological, and deciding whether your research will
be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory, the next step is to form a
research question about your topic. For many researchers, forming
hypotheses comes after developing one’s research question. However, for
now, we will just think about research questions. So then, what makes a
good research question? Let us first consider some practical aspects. A
good research question is one that:
1. you are interested in;
2. you have resources (money, technology, assistance, etc.) to answer;
3. offers you access to the data you need (human, animal or numerical/
file data);
4. is operationalized appropriately; and
5. has a specific objective (anything from explaining something to
describing something)? A good research question also has some specific
characteristics:
1. It is generally written in the form of a question.
2. It is well-focused. 3. It cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. 4.
It should have more than one plausible answer. 5. It considers
relationships amongst multiple concepts. Generally speaking, your
research question will guide whether your research project is best
approached with quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods, or other1
approaches.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 58

3.4 hypotheses

The passage you provided offers a comprehensive overview of the

process of hypothesis formulation and testing in research. It emphasizes
that researchers may conduct research with or without specific
predictions, and the purpose can be either to explore a topic and generate
hypotheses or to test specific hypotheses. Hypotheses are statements that
describe a researcher's expectations about the anticipated findings, often
focusing on the expected relationship between variables. To develop a
hypothesis, researchers need to understand the distinctions between
independent and dependent variables, as well as units of observation and
units of analysis. Hypotheses are typically derived from theories and
explain how an independent variable is expected to influence one or more
dependent variables. Researchers who take a deductive
approach formulate hypotheses based on the theories that guide their
study.
If the theory accurately represents the phenomenon under investigation,
the hypotheses should align with the observed real-world outcomes.
Researchers may hypothesize that a relationship between variables will
have a specific direction, implying that changes in one variable will cause
corresponding changes in another. For example, in the case of studying
the relationship between age and support for marijuana legalization, the
hypothesis "age is negatively related to support for marijuana legalization"
suggests that as people age, their likelihood of supporting marijuana
legalization decreases. This hypothesis implies an inverse relationship
between age and support for legalization. It's important to note that
researchers rarely claim to have proven their hypotheses. Instead, they use
the term "supported" or "not supported" to describe the alignment
between their findings and the hypotheses. This cautious approach
acknowledges the possibility of new evidence or alternative
interpretations that may emerge. Researchers may also discuss null
hypotheses, which predict no relationship between the variables being
studied. Rejecting the null hypothesis indicates that there is some form of
relationship between the variables. In quantitative research, the focus is
often on empirically testing hypotheses derived from theory. This
involves collecting numerical data and analyzing it statistically to examine
the relationships between variables. On the other hand, qualitative
research takes a different approach. Qualitative researchers may start with
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 59

general expectations or vague ideas but aim to develop or construct

theories rather than test specific hypotheses. Qualitative research can
contribute to theory development, and quantitative researchers can
subsequently test hypotheses drawn from those theories. Both
quantitative and qualitative research approaches are valuable for
understanding the social world and play significant roles in hypothesis
development and testing.

3.5 Quantitative, Qualitative, & Mixed Methods Research Approaches In

the realm of research, qualitative and quantitative approaches stand out as
the most frequently employed methods by researchers. Although these
approaches are often portrayed as mutually exclusive, the reality is far
more intricate. While some researchers may adhere strictly to one
approach or the other, most acknowledge the benefits and utility of
integrating both methods through mixed methods research. By
combining qualitative and quantitative elements, researchers can attain a
more comprehensive understanding of their research questions. In the
upcoming sections, we will delve into quantitative, qualitative, and mixed
methodological approaches to conducting research.

Quantitative Research Approaches In the realm of research, qualitative

and quantitative approaches stand out as the most frequently employed
methods by researchers. Although these approaches are often portrayed
as mutually exclusive, the reality is far more intricate. While some
researchers may adhere strictly to one approach or the other, most
acknowledge the benefits and utility of integrating both methods through
mixed methods research. By combining qualitative and quantitative
elements, researchers can attain a more comprehensive understanding of
their research questions. In the upcoming sections, we will delve into
quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodological approaches to
conducting research. Table 2.3 serves to synthesize and highlight the
disparities between quantitative and qualitative research approaches.
Qualitative Research Approaches On the flip side of research approaches
lies the qualitative approach, which is commonly perceived as the
antithesis of the quantitative approach. Qualitative researchers are often
characterized as phenomenologists or researchers focused on the human
experience. In any research endeavor, it is essential to consider the
fundamental aspects of human existence, such as thoughts, emotions, and
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 60

subjective experiences, as perceived by the participants. Instead of

adopting a realist perspective that posits a singular reality or truth,
qualitative researchers tend to embrace a constructionist perspective that
views knowledge as actively constructed rather than objectively
discovered. This perspective acknowledges the existence of multiple
realities, influenced by individual perspectives. In qualitative research, it is
crucial for the researcher to delve into the reasons behind, the
mechanisms of, and the target audience affected by a particular
phenomenon. These aspects are often unobservable, as they encompass
the internal thoughts, emotions, and experiences of individuals.
Moreover, these aspects are contingent upon personal interpretations
rather than external researcher interpretations. Consequently, the notion
of a neutral or objective outsider, as seen in the quantitative approach, is
challenged. Instead, the qualitative approach tends to prioritize the
understanding of processes. Genuine comprehension, rather than mere
predictive information, is derived from grasping the actions and
interpreting the meaning behind those actions.

3.6Mixed-Methods Research Approaches

Increasingly, researchers combine both approaches, and take a mixed

methods approach. Mixed methods research represents more of an
approach to examining a research problem than a methodology. Mixed
methods are characterized by a focus on research problems that require:
an examination of real-life contextual understandings, multi-level
perspectives, and cultural influences; an intentional application of
rigorous quantitative research assessing magnitude and frequency of
constructs, and rigorous qualitative research exploring the meaning and
understanding of the constructs; and an objective of drawing on the
strengths of quantitative and qualitative data gathering techniques to
formulate a holistic interpretive framework for generating possible
solutions or new understandings of the problem. (from Adjei, n.d.)
Researchers who favour mixed methods believe that the approach can be
the most effective at getting to “the truth” or at least “a truth.” However,
some argue against mixing these approaches. They contend that the
fundamentally different beliefs about knowledge and its creation or
discovery with the various approaches hampers one’s ability to get at the
truth. However, some of the most highly regarded social scientific
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 61

investigations combine approaches in an effort to gain the most complete

understanding of their topic possible. Using a combination of multiple
and different research strategies is called triangulation.

References
Adjei, J.K. (n.d.). Research methods. Retrieved from African Virtual
University website: https://oer.avu.org/handle/123456789/490
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2016). PISA
2015: Results in focus. https://doi.org/10.1787/aa9237e6-en Saylor
Academy. (2012). Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and
quantitative methods. Retrieved from
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 62

CHAPTER IV
MEASUREMENT AND UNITS OF ANALYSIS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
•Differentiate between validity and reliability. • Explain the difference
between internal and external validity. • Examine the difference between
a variable and an attribute.
• Define and provide examples for each of the four level of
measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio.
• Explain the difference between the independent and dependent
variable.
• Describe an extraneous variable and explain how it can threaten
research findings.
• Discuss what is meant by a rival plausible explanation.
• Explain what a hypothesis is and in what situations creating a
hypothesis is a suitable approach.
How can we ensure the quality of our measures? Without some form of
assurance regarding the quality of our measures, we cannot be confident
that our findings hold any significance, or at the very least, that they
convey the intended meaning. In the realm of social science, when
researchers measure concepts, their objective is to attain reliability and
validity in their measures. These two dimensions of measurement quality
are the primary focus of the initial section in this chapter. We will first
delve into reliability and subsequently explore validity. For the purpose of
this section, let's envision that our interest lies in measuring the concepts
of alcoholism and alcohol intake. What are some potential challenges that
may arise when attempting to measure these concepts, and how can we
address and overcome them?
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 63

4.1 Reliability

To begin, let's imagine a scenario where a researcher aims to assess

alcoholism by posing a simple question: "Have you ever had a problem
with alcohol?" At first glance, it might seem reasonable to assume that
individuals who identify as alcoholics would answer affirmatively. So, this
appears to be an effective way to identify the target group, right? Well, not
necessarily. Consider how you or people you know might respond to this
question. Would your answers differ after a night of heavy drinking
compared to the day before? Could a teetotaler's current headache from
a single glass of wine influence their response the following morning?
How would the same person answer before consuming any alcohol? In
each of these instances, if the responses from the same individual vary
under different circumstances, it suggests a potential reliability issue with
our measurement of alcoholism. Reliability in measurement pertains to
consistency. A reliable measure ensures that if the same measure is
consistently applied to the same person, the result will be the same each
time. One common challenge regarding reliability in social scientific
measures is memory. When we ask research participants to recall aspects
of their past behaviors, it is crucial to simplify and streamline the
recollection process for them. Continuing with the topic of alcohol
consumption, if we inquire about respondents' daily intake of wine, beer,
and liquor over the past three months, how likely are we to receive
accurate responses? Unless individuals maintain a journal documenting
their consumption, inaccuracies are bound to occur in their answers.
Conversely, if we ask individuals to report the number of drinks they have
consumed within the past week, we might obtain more accurate
responses. Reliability can still be a concern even when we rely on
individuals to report their behaviors accurately. Let's consider another
example. Suppose a field researcher wishes to observe how alcohol
consumption influences interactions in public settings. She decides to
conduct observations at a local pub, noting the number of drinks patrons
consume and how their behavior changes with varying intake. However,
what if the researcher needs to use the restroom and misses three shots
of tequila consumed by the person next to her during that brief absence?
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 64

The reliability of her measure of alcohol intake, counting the number of

drinks she observes patrons consuming, hinges on her ability to witness
every instance of drink consumption. If she is unlikely to observe each
occurrence, then her method for measuring this concept may lack
reliability.

4.2 Validity

While reliability focuses on consistency, validity concerns shared

understanding. When you hear the word "alcoholic," what image comes
to mind? Are you confident that the image you envision aligns with the
image others have in mind? If not, then we may face a validity issue. To
achieve validity, we must ensure that our measures accurately capture the
meaning of our concepts. Let's revisit the first potential measure of
alcoholism discussed in the section on reliability. Initially, we considered
measuring alcoholism by asking research participants the question: "Have
you ever had a problem with alcohol?" However, we realized that this may
not be the most reliable approach since individuals' responses could
significantly vary depending on their current emotional state. Moreover,
this measure of alcoholism lacks validity. What exactly constitutes "a
problem" with alcohol? For some, it could be a single regrettable or
embarrassing moment resulting from excessive consumption. For others,
the threshold for a "problem" might be different; perhaps an individual
has had numerous embarrassing drunken incidents but still manages to
fulfill daily responsibilities, and thus does not perceive themselves as
having a problem. Due to the substantial variation in what each
respondent considers problematic, our measure of alcoholism is unlikely
to yield useful or meaningful results if our objective is to objectively
understand the prevalence of alcoholism among our research participants.
Here's another example: Suppose our interest lies in understanding an
individual's commitment to a healthy lifestyle. Many would agree that
engaging in regular exercise is indicative of a healthy lifestyle, so we could
measure it by counting the number of times a person visits their local gym
each week. Initially, this might appear to be a reasonable measure.
However, if the respondent's gym includes activities unrelated to fitness,
such as tanning beds, flirting, or sauna sessions, these activities are not
reliable indicators of healthy living. Therefore, recording the frequency of
gym visits may not be the most valid approach to measure an individual's
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 65

dedication to a healthy lifestyle. Using this measure would not provide a

true indication of a person's commitment to healthy living, thus failing to
measure our intended target. In the social sciences, causality is often not
as straightforward as A causing B in classical experiments. Frequently,
other variables may co-occur with A and/or B, causing both A and B.
Therefore, researchers must ensure their studies have internal validity,
meaning they genuinely test the phenomenon they aim to investigate.
There are several threats to internal validity, such as history, maturation,
testing, regression to the mean, selection biases, and instrumentation.
Researchers can control for these threats through experimental design,
including the use of control or comparison groups. We will revisit the
topic of internal validity in Chapter 6. Researchers also strive for external
validity, which means they want their study to be applicable to other
situations and contexts beyond the current project. They aim for their
findings to reflect real-world environments where the phenomena occur
and to demonstrate that their results are not due to chance. External
validity does not necessarily depend on the representativeness of the
sample but rather on the nature of the phenomenon under study and the
research objectives. At its core, validity relies on social agreement. One
effective way to ensure the validity of your measures is to discuss them
with others. To illustrate, think of validity as you would a portrait. Some
portraits accurately depict the person they aim to represent, while others,
like caricatures or stick drawings, are less precise. While a portrait may not
capture every detail of a person's appearance, what matters is how closely
it approximates the intended representation. The same principle applies
to the validity of measures. No measure can be exact, but some measures
are more accurate than others.

4.3 Complexities in Measurement

You should now have an idea about how to assess the quality of your
measures. But measurement is a complex process, and some concepts are
more complex than others. Measuring a person’s political party affiliation,
for example, is less complex than measuring her or his sense of alienation.
In this section we will consider some of these complexities in
measurement. First, we will examine the various levels of measurement
that exist, and then we will consider a couple of strategies for capturing
the complexities of the concepts we wish to measure. Levels of
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 66

measurement When social scientists measure concepts, they sometimes

use the language of variables and attributes. A variable refers to a grouping
of several characteristics. Attributes are those characteristics. A variable’s
attributes determine its level of measurement. There are four possible
levels of measurement; they are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.
At the nominal level of measurement, variable attributes meet the criteria
of exhaustiveness and mutual exclusivity. This is the most basic level of
measurement. Relationship status, gender, race, political party affiliation,
and religious affiliation are all examples of nominal-level variables. For
example, to measure relationship status, we might ask respondents to tell
us if they are currently partnered or single. These two attributes pretty
much exhaust the possibilities for relationship status (i.e., everyone is
always one or the other of these), and it is not possible for a person to
simultaneous occupy more than one of these statuses (e.g., if you are
single, you cannot also be partnered). Therefore, this measure of
relationship status meets the criteria that nominal-level attributes must be
exhaustive and mutually exclusive. One unique feature of nominal-level
measures is that they cannot be mathematically quantified. We cannot say,
for example, that being partnered has more or less quantifiable value than
being single (note we are not talking here about the economic impact of
one’s relationship status— we are talking only about relationship status
on its own, not in relation to other variables). Ordinal measurement
Unlike nominal-level measures, attributes at the ordinal level can be rank
ordered, though we cannot calculate a mathematical distance between
those attributes. We can simply say that one attribute of an ordinal-level
variable is more or less than another attribute. Ordinal-level attributes are
also exhaustive and mutually exclusive, as with nominal-level variables.
Examples of ordinal-level measures include social class, degree of support
for policy initiatives, television program rankings, and prejudice. Thus,
while we can say that one person’s support for some public policy may be
more or less than his neighbour’s level of support, we cannot say exactly
how much more or less. Interval measurement At the interval level,
measures meet all the criteria of the two preceding levels, plus the distance
between attributes is known to be equal. IQ scores are interval level, as
are temperatures. Interval-level variables are not particularly common in
social science research, but their defining characteristic is that we can say
how much more or less one attribute differs from another. We cannot,
however, say with certainty what the ratio of one attribute is in
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 67

comparison to another. For example, it would not make sense to say that
50 degrees is half as hot as 100 degrees. Ratio measurement Finally, at the
ratio level, attributes are mutually exclusive and exhaustive, attributes can
be rank ordered, the distance between attributes is equal, and attributes
have a true zero point. With these variables, we can say what the ratio of
one attribute is in comparison to another. Examples of ratio-level
variables include age and years of education. We know, for example, that
a person who is 12 years old is twice as old as someone who is six years
old.

4.4 Units of Analysis and Units of Observation

Another point to consider when designing a research project, and which
might differ slightly in qualitative and quantitative studies, has to do with
units of analysis and units of observation. These two items concern what
you, the researcher, actually observe in the course of your data collection
and what you hope to be able to say about those observations. Table 3.1
provides a summary of the differences between units of analysis and
observation. Unit of Analysi A unit of analysis is the entity that you wish
to be able to say something about at the end of your study, probably what
you would consider to be the main focus of your study. Unit of
Observation A unit of observation is the item (or items) that you actually
observe, measure, or collect in the course of trying to learn something
about your unit of analysis. In a given study, the unit of observation might
be the same as the unit of analysis, but that is not always the case. Further,
units of analysis are not required to be the same as units of observation.
What is required, however, is for researchers to be clear about how they
define their units of analysis and observation, both to themselves and to
their audiences. More specifically, your unit of analysis will be determined
by your research question. Your unit of observation, on the other hand,
is determined largely by the method of data collection that you use to
answer that research question. To demonstrate these differences, let us
look at the topic of students’ addictions to their cell phones. We will
consider first how different kinds of research questions about this topic
will yield different units of analysis. Then we will think about how those
questions might be answered and with what kinds of data. This leads us
to a variety of units of observation.
If I were to ask, “Which students are most likely to be addicted to their
cell phones?” our unit of analysis would be the individual. We might mail
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 68

a survey to students on a university or college campus, with the aim to

classify individuals according to their membership in certain social classes
and, in turn, to see how membership in those classes correlates with
addiction to cell phones. For example, we might find that students
studying media, males, and students with high socioeconomic status are
all more likely than other students to become addicted to their cell phones.
Alternatively, we could ask, “How do students’ cell phone addictions
differ and how are they similar? In this case, we could conduct
observations of addicted students and record when, where, why, and how
they use their cell phones. In both cases, one using a survey and the other
using observations, data are collected from individual students. Thus, the
unit of observation in both examples is the individual. But the units of
analysis differ in the two studies. In the first one, our aim is to describe
the characteristics of individuals. We may then make generalizations about
the populations to which these individuals belong, but our unit of analysis
is still the individual. In the second study, we will observe individuals in
order to describe some social phenomenon, in this case, types of cell
phone addictions. Consequently, our unit of analysis would be the social
phenomenon. Another common unit of analysis in sociological inquiry is
groups. Groups, of course, vary in size, and almost no group is too small
or too large to be of interest to sociologists. Families, friendship groups,
and street gangs make up some of the more common micro-level groups
examined by sociologists. Employees in an organization, professionals in
a particular domain (e.g., chefs, lawyers, sociologists), and members of
clubs (e.g., Girl Guides, Rotary, Red Hat Society) are all meso-level groups
that sociologists might study. Finally, at the macro level, sociologists
sometimes examine citizens of entire nations or residents of different
continents or other regions. A study of student addictions to their cell
phones at the group level might consider whether certain types of social
clubs have more or fewer cell phone-addicted members than other sorts
of clubs. Perhaps we would find that clubs that emphasize physical fitness,
such as the rugby club and the scuba club, have fewer cell phone-addicted
members than clubs that emphasize cerebral activity, such as the chess
club and the sociology club. Our unit of analysis in this example is groups.
If we had instead asked whether people who join cerebral clubs are more
likely to be cell phone-addicted than those who join social clubs, then our
unit of analysis would have been individuals. In either case, however, our
unit of observation would be individuals. Organizations are yet another
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 69

potential unit of analysis that social scientists might wish to say something
about. Organizations include entities like corporations, colleges and
universities, and even night clubs. At the organization level, a study of
students’ cell phone addictions might ask, “How do different colleges
address the problem of cell phone addiction?” In this case, our interest
lies not in the experience of individual students but instead in the campus-
to-campus differences in confronting cell phone addictions. A researcher
conducting a study of this type might examine schools’ written policies
and procedures, so his unit of observation would be documents.
However, because he ultimately wishes to describe differences across
campuses, the college would be his unit of analysis. Social phenomena are
also a potential unit of analysis. Many sociologists study a variety of social
interactions and social problems that fall under this category. Examples
include social problems like murder or rape; interactions such as
counselling sessions, Facebook chatting, or wrestling; and other social
phenomena such as voting and even cell phone use or misuse. A
researcher interested in students’ cell phone addictions could ask, “What
are the various types of cell phone addictions that exist among students?”
Perhaps the researcher will discover that some addictions are primarily
centred on social media such as chat rooms, Facebook, or texting, while
other addictions centre on single-player games that discourage interaction
with others. The resultant typology of cell phone addictions would tell us
something about the social phenomenon (unit of analysis) being studied.
As in several of the preceding examples, however, the unit of observation
would likely be individual people. Finally, a number of social scientists
examine policies and principles, the last type of unit of analysis we will
consider here. Studies that analyze policies and principles typically rely on
documents as the unit of observation. Perhaps a researcher has been hired
by a college to help it write an effective policy against cell phone use in
the classroom. In this case, the researcher might gather all previously
written policies from campuses all over the country, and compare policies
at campuses where the use of cell phones in classroom is low to policies
at campuses where the use of cell phones in the classroom is high.

In sum, there are many potential units of analysis that a sociologist

might examine, but some of the most common units include the
following: 1. Individuals
51
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 70

2. Groups 3. Organizations 4. Social phenomena. 5. Policies and

principles.

4.5 Independent and Dependent Variables

When one variable causes another variable, we have what researchers call
independent and dependent variables. In the example where gender was
found to be causally linked to cell phone addiction, gender would be the
independent variable (IV) and cell phone addiction would be the
dependent variable (DV). An independent variable is one that causes
another. A dependent variable is one that is caused by the other.
Dependent variables depend on independent variables. If you are
struggling to figure out which is the dependent and which is the
independent variable, there is a little trick, as follows: Ask yourself the
following question: Is X dependent upon Y. Now substitute words for X
and Y. For example, is the level of success in an online class dependent
upon time spent online? Success in an online class is the dependent
variable, because it is dependent upon something. In this case, we are
asking if the level of success in an online class is dependent upon the time
spent online. Time spent online is the independent variable.

4.6 Rival Plausible Explanations

Similar to the threats posed by extraneous variables, a rival plausible

explanation (RPE) is an alternative factor that may account for the results
you observed in your research, other than what you might have been
expecting. Threats to internal validity are considered RPEs. While it is true
that most RPEs can be eliminated through careful research design (Palys
& Atchison, 2014), it is important to acknowledge that some cannot. For
example, imagine that you plan a research project to study a downtown
Vancouver community’s level of satisfaction with a safe injection centre
that has been operating for a year in the community. You carefully design
and plan your research project to eliminate threats to internal validity.
Your research includes a mail-out survey to every community household
registered on the Province of British Columbia’s most recent voters’ list.
You also mail the survey to all community businesses. Shortly after your
survey is mailed out there is a serious violent incident at the safe injection
centre. A client has attacked and seriously injured a staff member at the
clinic, but he was able to disappear from the clinic without being
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 71

apprehended. This individual is still on the loose. How do you think this
incident will affect the members of the community and the local
businesses? How might this incident affect how your survey participants
fill out the survey, as it relates to their feelings related to the centre? How
might their survey answers differ, had the survey taken place before this
incident, when there had been no such incidents? It is quite likely that this
event will impact or “colour” the responses of your participants. In other
words, there is now a strong likelihood that you have an RPE as to why
the research participants have reacted negatively to the safe injection
center. RPEs are serious, and while it is true that careful research design
can eliminate threats to internal validity, the incident as outlined in the
previous paragraph demonstrates how an RPE can sink a research project.
As a researcher you spent a lot of time designing and planning your
research, but essentially the findings are null, in this case, because you are
not getting the true feelings of the community. Their feelings will have
been negatively influenced by this recent incident. The researcher must
decide how significant and how likely it is that the RPE influenced the
results, in order to decide whether or not to scrap the research project.
While the preceding is an example of a blatant RPE, some are less
obvious. Researchers must always consider the likelihood that an RPE
explains the results of their findings when analyzing data. Less blatant
RPEs (i.e. weather, postal strikes, a new government policy, recent media
attention to an incident related to your research) must be discussed in the
limitations section of the research finding.

References
Explore Psychology. (2019). What is an extraneous variable? Retrieved
from https://www.explorepsychology.com/what-is-an-extraneous-
variable/ Palys, T., & Atchison, C. (2014). Research decisions:
Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.).
Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education. Saylor Academy. (2012). Principles
of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and quantitative methods. Retrieved
from
https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Principles%20of%20Sociologic
al%20Inquiry.pdf.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 72

CHAPTER V
THE LITERATURE REVIEW

Learning Objectives

Describe a literature review and explain its purpose.

• Describe the steps in undertaking a literature review.
• Write a literature review.
• Identify acceptable sources to include in your literature review.
• Apply the five ‘C’s of writing a literature review.
• Compare a literature review, an essay and an annotated bibliography.
• Explain the importance of APA referencing and list some of the sources
for getting assistance with APA referencing. In this chapter, we will focus
on writing a literature review. As part of this focus we will concentrate on
four key aspects, as follows:
1. The purpose behind a literature review and where it fits in the research
process;
2. The difference between a literature review, an essay, and an annotated
bibliography.
3. The special aspects that distinguish a literature review from other styles
of academic writing.
4. The way to conduct a literature review and is the importance of
reviewing previous research studies. If you have never written a literature
review, and even if you have, this chapter will provide valuable
information for you.
Understanding how to write a literature review is important because it is
quite likely that you will have to do another one at some point in your
academic and/or professional career.

5.1 What is involved in writing a literature review

Research – to discover what has been written about the topic; Critical
Appraisal – to evaluate the literature, determine the relationship between
the sources and ascertain what has been done already and what still needs
to be done; and Writing – to explain what you have found. Generally
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 73

speaking, it is helpful to think of the literature review as a funnel. One

starts with a broad examination of the research related to the issue,
working down to look at more specific aspects of the issue, which leads
to the gap or the specific issue that your research will address. How to
undertake a literature review The first step in undertaking a literature
review is to conduct a library search of academic research that has been
done on your topic. This can be done electronically, or if you are close to
a library, you can go in and use their computers to find electronic and
print holdings. You can also use Google Scholar for your search. In some
cases, research conducted outside academia can serve as an important
research source for your literature review. Indeed, such research can have
important practical implications, as opposed to academic research which
usually (although not always) tends toward theoretical applications.
However, it is important to understand who funded the research you
review, in addition to the perspective and the purpose of the research.
This is becoming an issue in Canada as universities and colleges
increasingly turn to industry for research funding grants
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ edmonton/transalta-coal-report-
1.4752314. As part of this first step there are a few more some things to
be thinking about as you review the literature: Who are the various
researchers who have studied this topic? Who are the most prolific
researchers/writers on this topic? Has a specific researcher or team of
researchers been identified as pioneers or leaders in this field of study?

How have the various researchers defined key terms that are relevant to
your topic? Have the definitions of any of the key terms evolved over
time? What are the different theories that have been examined and applied
to this topic? How, if at all, have the various theories applied to this topic
evolved over time? What methodologies have been used to study this
topic? Have the methodologies evolved over time? In addition to thinking
about these questions, you should be taking notes during this process. It
canbe helpful to keep these notes in an Excel file, e.g., your notes should
include the following information: If the article is empirical, write down
the results of the research study in one or two sentences of your own
words, e.g., “people who are between ages 18 – 35 are more likely to own
a smart phone than those in an age range above or below.” It is also a
good idea to take note of the methods, research design, number of
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 74

participants, and details of the sample used in the study. Sometimes, you
may even want to write down the names of the statistical procedures used
to analyze the data or even some of the statistics, depending on your
assignment. If the article is a review of previous research, look for the
main points. It may be helpful to read or skim the whole article, look away,
and ask yourself what you felt was the main idea. Write down any
limitations or gaps you notice, anything that seems to contradict
something you read elsewhere, or just anything that you think is important
or interesting (Adjei, n.d.). When reading through your sources, remember
that you are looking for the “big picture,” not a collection of random,
separate articles (an annotated bibliography). You are also not trying to
prove a point (an essay). You are looking for common themes and
patterns in the research as a whole. You are also looking to see how the
various pieces of research are linked, if at all. As part of this process, you
also want to identify research gaps or areas that require further research
related your topic (Adjei, n.d.). In this regard, you cannot be expected to
be an expert on your topic. A suggestion for finding gaps is to read the
conclusion section of the academic journal articles and conference
proceedings your search has uncovered. Researchers often identify gaps
in the research in their conclusion. They may even suggest areas for future
research. However, remember, if a researcher suggested a gap 10 years
ago, it is likely that the gap has now been addressed. To find a gap, look
at the most recent research your literature review has uncovered (within
2-3 years of the current date). At this point in your search of the literature,
you may realize that your research question needs to change or adapt. This
is a fairly common occurrence, since when you first develop a research
question, you cannot be sure what the status of the research area is until
you undertake your review of the literature related to this topic. Finally, it
is worth mentioning that it is very likely you will not include all of the
resources you have read in your literature review. If you are asked to
include 20 resources in your literature review, e.g., expect to read
approximately 30.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 75

5.2 Acceptable sources for literature reviews

Following are a few acceptable sources for literature reviews, listed in

order from what will be considered most acceptable to less acceptable
sources for your literature review assignments:
1. Peer reviewed journal articles.
2. Edited academic books.
3. Articles in professional journals.
4. Statistical data from government websites.
5. Website material from professional associations (use sparingly and
carefully). The following sections will explain and provide examples of
these various sources.

Peer reviewed journal articles (papers)

A peer reviewed journal article is a paper that has been submitted to a
scholarly journal, accepted, and published. Peer review journal papers go
through a rigorous, blind review process of peer review. What this means
is that two to three experts in the area of research featured in the paper
have reviewed and accepted the paper for publication. The names of the
author(s) who are seeking to publish the research have been removed
(blind review), so as to minimize any bias towards the authors of the
research (albeit, sometimes a savvy reviewer can discern who has done the
research based upon previous publications, etc.). This blind review
process can be long (often 12 to 18 months) and may involve many backs
and forth edits on the behalf of the researchers, as they work to address
the edits and concerns of the peers who reviewed their paper. Often,
reviewers will reject the paper for a variety of reasons, such as unclear or
questionable methods, lack of contribution to the field, etc. Because peer
reviewed journal articles have gone through a rigorous process of review,
they are considered to be the premier source for research. Peer reviewed
journal articles should serve as the foundation for your literature review.
The following link will provide more information on peer reviewed
journal articles. Make sure you watch the little video on the upper left-
hand side of your screen, in addition to reading the material at the
followingwebsite:
http://guides.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/c.php?g=288333&p=1922599
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 76

Edited academic books

An edited academic book is a collection of scholarly scientific papers

written by different authors. The works are original papers, not published
elsewhere (“Edited volume,” 2018). The papers within the text also go
through a process of review; however, the review is often not a blind
review because the authors have been invited to contribute to the book.
Consequently, edited academic books are fine to use for your literature
review, but you also want to ensure that your literature review contains
mostly peer reviewed journal papers.

Articles in professional journals

Articles from professional journals should be used with caution for your
literature review. This is because articles in trade journals are not usually
peer reviewed, even though they may appear to be. A good way to find
out is to read the “About Us” section of the professional journal, which
should state whether or not the papers are peer reviewed. You can also
find out by Googling the name of the journal and adding “peer reviewed”
to the search.

Website material from professional associations

Material from other websites can also serve as a source for statistics that
you may need for your literature review. Since you want to justify the value
of the research that interests you, you might make use of a professional
association’s website to learn how many members they have, for example.
You might want to demonstrate, as part of the introduction to your
literature review, why more research on the topic of PTSD in police
officers is important. You could use peer reviewed journal articles to
determine the prevalence of PTSD in police officers in Canada in the last
ten years, and then use the Ontario Police Officers´ Association website
to determine the approximate number of police officers employed in the
Province of Ontario over the last ten years. This might help you estimate
how many police officers could be suffering with PTSD in Ontario. That
number could potentially help to justify a research grant down the road.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 77

But again, this type of website- based material should be used with caution
and sparingly.

5.3 The Five ‘C’s of Writing a Literature Review

To help you frame and write your literature review, think about these five
c’s (Callahan, 2014):
1. Cite the material you have referred to and used to help you define the
research problem that you will study.
2. Compare the various arguments, theories, methods, and findings
expressed in the literature.For example, describe where the various
researchers agree and where they disagree. Describe the similarities and
dissimilarities in approaches to studying related research problems.
3. Contrast the various arguments, themes, methods, approaches, and
controversies apparent and/or described in the literature. For example,
describe what major areas are contested, controversial and/or still in
debate.
4. Critique the literature. Describe which arguments you find more
persuasive and explain why. Explain which approaches, findings, and
methods seem most reliable, valid, appropriate, and/or most popular and
why. Pay attention to the verbs you use to describe what previous
researchers have stated (e.g., asserts, demonstrates, argues, clarifies, etc.).
5. Connect the various research studies you reviewed. Describe how your
work utilizes, draws upon, departs from, synthesizes, adds to or extends
previous research studies.

5.4 The Difference between a Literature Review and an Essay

So, now that you know what a literature review is and how to write it, it
is important to understand how a literature review is different from an
essay. First of all, it is necessary to point out that many students struggle
with understanding the difference between a literature review and an
essay. This is particularly so because a student can use the exact same
resources to create a literature review or an essay; however, what is
different about the two is where the emphasis in the writing is placed
(Thomas 2012). A literature review focuses on everything that has been
written about a particular topic, theory, or body of research. It is focused
on the research and the researchers who have undertaken research on
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 78

your topic. In contrast, an essay focuses on proving a point. It does not

need to provide an extensive coverage of all of the material on the topic.
In fact, the writer chooses only those sources that prove the point. Most
professors will expect to see you discuss a few different perspectives from
the materials that run contrary to the point you are trying to make. For
example, suppose you want to write an essay about the negative effects of
shiftwork on nurses. You would gather material to show that shiftwork
negatively affects nurses, and the various ways it affects nurses. Now in
this case, you might find the odd research paper that states shiftwork has
no effect – although this seems unlikely because it has been extensively
documented to have a negative effect. However, in an essay you are
focused on providing information on your topic and proving your point.

5.5 The Difference Between a Literature Review and an Annotated

Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a third type of academic writing that can
confuse students who are attempting to write a literature review. An
annotated bibliography provides all of the reference details of a
bibliography, but it goes one step further and provides a short
(approximately 150 words) description of the reference. An annotated
bibliography is not to be confused with a bibliography, which is a list of
journal articles, books, and other resources that someone has utilized in
writing. The bibliography provides a list of all resources that someone
used to write a research paper and, unlike a reference list, includes
references that may not appear in the body of the paper. No doubt you
have had to create many bibliographies in your academic studies. Here is
a link to a website where you can learn more about annotated
bibliographies and also to see a sample of an annotated bibliography:
Annotated Bibliographie.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 79

5.6 APA Referencing (from JIBC Online Library)

As part of creating a social science focused literature review, you will be

required to provide a reference list of all of the sources that appear in your
paper. The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed a
style of referencing that is widely accepted in the social sciences.
Specifically, APA referencing is a set of rules for writing and referencing
(citing) your sources. The purpose of referencing your sources is to give
credit where credit is due (i.e., someone else´s work) and to ensure that
you avoid being accused of plagiarism (i.e., putting forth someone else´s
work as your own). The current version of the APA manual in use is the
6th edition. You can get everything you need regarding APA referencing
at the following link: American Psychological Association Reference.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 80

References
Adjei, J. K. (n.d.). Research methods. Retrieved from African Virtual
University website: https://oer.avu.org/handle/123456789/490
Callahan, J. L. (2014). Writing literature reviews: A reprise and update.
Human Resource Development Review, 13(3), 271-275.
doi:10.1177/1534484314536705 Edited volume. (2019, October 15). In
Wikipedia. Retrieved December 10, 2019, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edited_volume Palys, T., & Atchison, C.
(2014). Research decisions: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods
approaches (5th ed.). Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education. Thomas, J.
(2012, September 26). Literature review vs. essay
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 81

CHAPTER VI
DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES

Learning Objectives
• Differentiate between the various data collection strategies for
experimental, non-experimental and experimental research.
• Differentiate the experimental and the control group.
• Define random assignation and explain its importance in an experiment.
• Explain how internal validity can be affected by research design.
Researchers have a variety of data collection strategies to choose from.
Selecting the appropriate data collection strategy is a crucial decision for
the researcher. If an unsuitable strategy is chosen, it is probable that the
researcher will be unable to address the research question(s) effectively.
In the upcoming sections, we will explore three types of data collection
strategies: experiments, quasi-experiments, and non-experimental
approaches.

6.1 Experiments

An experiment is a data collection method designed to test hypotheses in

controlled conditions, often within a laboratory setting, with the aim of
minimizing threats to internal validity. While experiments are more
commonly used in psychology than sociology, understanding their
principles and procedures is valuable for all social scientists, whether they
plan to employ this methodology or simply wish to comprehend findings
based on experimental designs. Experiments employ different designs,
but in a classic experiment, the impact of a stimulus is examined by
comparing two groups: an experimental group exposed to the stimulus
and a control group that does not receive the stimulus. The control group,
also known as the comparison group, is treated identically to the
experimental group in all aspects, except it does not receive the
independent variable. The purpose of the control group is to account for
alternative explanations. Most experiments occur in controlled
environments such as laboratories. In an experiment, the researcher tests
the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable. Since the
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 82

focus is on the effects of the independent variable, the researcher

measures participants on the dependent variable before (pre-test) and
after (post-test) administering the independent variable or stimulus.
Random assignment, where one group is equivalent to the other, is often
employed in these experiments and is further explored in the subsequent
section on "Random Assignment." It is important to note that social
science research typically takes place in natural settings, leading
researchers to utilize quasi-experimental designs rather than experimental
designs. Similar to experiments, quasi-experiments involve manipulating
the independent variable. A more detailed discussion of quasi-
experimental research is presented in section 6.3 on "Quasi-Experimental
Research." Students in research methods classes often use the term
“experiment” to describe all kinds of empirical research projects, but in
social scientific research the term has a unique meaning and should not
be used to describe all research methodologies. In general, designs
considered to be “true experiments” contain three key features: 1.
Independent and dependent variables. 2. Pretesting and post-testing. 3.
Experimental and control groups.

Example 1
In a study on PTSD, a total of 100 police officers from the Winnipeg
Police Department were included as participants and randomly assigned
to either an experiment group or a control group. To assess their levels of
PTSD, all participants, regardless of their group assignment, underwent
an identical pre-test. The results of the pre-test revealed no significant
differences in reported symptoms related to PTSD between the
experiment and control groups. Subsequently, participants in the
experiment group were instructed to watch a video showcasing scenic
travel routes in Manitoba, while the control group did not receive any
specific stimulus. Afterward, both groups underwent a post-test to
reevaluate their reported symptoms associated with PTSD. Upon
analyzing the post-test scores, the researchers discovered that individuals
who were exposed to the experimental stimulus (the video on car
accidents) reported greater symptoms of PTSD compared to those in the
control group. As you can see from Example 1, the dependent variable is
reported levels of PTSD symptoms (measured through the pre- and post-
test) and the independent variable is visual exposure to trauma (video).
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 83

Ask yourself: Is the reported level of PTSD symptoms dependent upon

visual exposure to trauma (as depicted through the video)? Table 6.1
depicts the design of the study from example 1, above.

Example 2
As part of a comprehensive study on depression, participants were
randomly assigned to either an experiment group or a control group. To
assess their levels of depression, all participants underwent a pre-test. The
results of the pre-test indicated no significant differences in depression
between the experiment and control groups. Subsequently, participants in
the experiment group were instructed to read an article that highlighted
the severity and pervasiveness of prejudice against their racial group. After
the intervention, depression scores were measured during the post-test
phase. The researchers discovered that individuals who received the
experimental stimulus (the article emphasizing prejudice against their
racial group) reported greater levels of depression compared to those in
the control group .

6.2 Random assignation

Random assignation as previously mentioned, one of the characteristics

of a true experiment is that researchers use a random process to decide
which participants are tested under which conditions.
Random assignation is a powerful research technique that addresses the
assumption of pre-test equivalence – that the experimental and control
group are equal in all respects before the administration of the
independent variable (Palys & Atchison, 2014). Random assignation is
the primary way that researchers attempt to control extraneous variables
across conditions. Random assignation is associated with experimental
research methods. In its strictest sense, random assignment should meet
two criteria. One is that each participant has an equal chance of being
1 McCoy, S. K., & Major, B. (2003). Group identification moderates
emotional responses to perceived prejudice. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 29(8), 1005-1017.
assigned to each condition (e.g., a 50% chance of being assigned to each
of two conditions). The second is that each participant is assigned to a
condition independently of other participants. Thus, one way to assign
participants to two conditions would be to flip a coin for each one. If the
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 84

coin lands on the heads side, the participant is assigned to Condition A,

and if it lands on the tails side, the participant is assigned to Condition B.
For three conditions, one could use a computer to generate a random
integer from 1 to 3 for each participant. If the integer is 1, the participant
is assigned to Condition A; if it is 2, the participant is assigned to
Condition B; and, if it is 3, the participant is assigned to Condition C. In
practice, a full sequence of conditions—one for each participant expected
to be in the experiment—is usually created ahead of time, and each new
participant is assigned to the next condition in the sequence as he or she
is tested.

However, one problem with coin flipping and other strict procedures for
random assignment is that they are likely to result in unequal sample sizes
in the different conditions. Unequal sample sizes are generally not a
serious problem, and you should never throw away data you have already
collected to achieve equal sample sizes. However, for a fixed number of
participants, it is statistically most efficient to divide them into equal-sized
groups. It is standard practice, therefore, to use a kind of modified
random assignment that keeps the number of participants in each group
as similar as possible. One approach is block randomization. In block
randomization, all the conditions occur once in the sequence before any
of them is repeated. Then they all occur again before any of them is
repeated again. Within each of these “blocks,” the conditions occur in a
random order. Again, the sequence of conditions is usually generated
before any participants are tested, and each new participant is assigned to
the next condition in the sequence. When the procedure is computerized,
the computer program often handles the random assignment, which is
obviously much easier. You can also find programs online to help you
randomize your random assignation. For example, the Research
Randomizer website will generate block randomization sequences for any
number of participants and conditions (Research Randomizer). Random
assignation is not guaranteed to control all extraneous variables across
conditions. It is always possible that, just by chance, the participants in
one condition might turn out to be substantially older, less tired, more
motivated, or less depressed on average than the participants in another
condition. However, there are some reasons that this may not be a major
concern. One is that random assignment works better than one might
expect, especially for large samples. Another is that the inferential
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 85

statistics that researchers use to decide whether a difference between

groups reflects a difference in the population take the “fallibility” of
random assignment into account. Yet another reason is that even if
random assignment does result in a confounding variable and therefore
produces misleading results, this confound is likely to be detected when
the experiment is replicated. The upshot is that random assignment to
conditions—although not infallible in terms of controlling extraneous
variables—is always considered a strength of a research design. Note: Do
not confuse random assignation with random sampling. Random
sampling is a method for selecting a sample from a population; we will
talk about this in Chapter 7.

6.3 Nonexperimental Research Nonexperimental research is research

that lacks manipulation of an independent variable and/or random
assignment of participants to conditions. While the distinction between
experimental and nonexperimental research is considered important, it
does not mean that nonexperimental research is less important or inferior
to experimental research (Price, Jhangiani & Chiang, 2015).

When to use nonexperimental research

Often it is not possible, feasible, and/or ethical to manipulate the

independent variable, nor to randomly assign participants to conditions
or to orders of conditions. In such cases, nonexperimental research is
more appropriate and often necessary. Price, et al. (2015) provide the
following examples that demonstrate when the research question is better
answered with non-experimental methods:
1. The research question or hypothesis contains a single variable rather
than a statistical relationship between two variables (e.g., How accurate
are people’s first impressions?).
2. The research question involves a non-causal statistical relationship
between variables (e.g., is there a correlation between verbal intelligence
and mathematical intelligence?).

3. The research question involves a causal relationship, but the

independent variable cannot be manipulated, or participants cannot be
randomly assigned to conditions or orders of conditions (e.g., Does
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 86

damage to a person’s hippocampus impair the formation of long-term

memory traces?).
4. The research question is broad and exploratory, or explores a particular
experience (e.g., what is it like to be a working mother diagnosed with
depression?)

As demonstrated above, it is the nature of the research question that

guides the choice between experimental and non-experimental
approaches. However, this is not to suggest that a research project cannot
contain elements of both an experiment and a non-experiment. For
example, nonexperimental studies that establish a relationship between
two variables can be explored further in an experimental study to confirm
or refute the causal nature of the relationship (Price, Jhangiani & Chiang,
2015).

In social sciences it is often the case that a true experimental approach is

inappropriate and unethical. For example, conducting a true experiment
may require the researcher to deny needed treatment to a patient, which
is clearly an ethical issue. Furthermore, it might not be equitable or ethical
to provide a large financial or other reward to members of an experimental
group, as can occur in a true experiment. There are three types of non-
experimental research: cross-sectional, correlational, and observational. In
the following sections we explore each of three types of nonexperimental
research.

6.4 Cross sectional research

Cross-sectional research is a type of non-experimental research. We
employ cross sectional research methods when we want to compare two
or more pre-existing groups of people. The independent variable is not
manipulated, nor is there random assignation of participants to the
groups. An example would be a researcher who wants to compare the
memory ability of people who regularly eat a balanced diet, according to
the Canada Food Guide 2019, versus those who do not. As it would not
be ethical to randomly assign participants to the unhealthy eating group,
we would be required to compare pre-existing groups of healthy and non-
healthy eaters; however, it is important to note that there is a danger of
introducing a selection bias to the research, because the groups may differ
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 87

in other ways. For example, the healthy food eating group may also be
more likely to exercise and get more sleep, both of which increase memory
function. We would not know then what the effect of healthy eating is, in
isolation, upon memory ability, because there may be other variables (e.g.
exercise, sleep) that factor into memory ability.

Correlational research is a type of non-experimental research in which the

researcher is interested in the relationship between variables; however, the
researcher does not attempt to influence the variables (in contrast to
experimental research where the researcher manipulates the variables)
(Siegle, 2015). Relationships between variables can be visualized with the
aid of a graph known as a scatterplot diagram. Scatterplots provide
information on two dimensions. The first dimension demonstrates the
direction of relationship: linear, curvilinear, or no relationship. Linear
relationships can be positive or negative. A positive relationship or
correlation is demonstrated through a rise from left to right, while a
negative correlation falls from left to right (Palys & Atchison, 2014). Here
is a short video that effectively demonstrates positive relationships and no
relationship: Direction of Scatterplots. The second dimension related to
scatterplots is that they can provide an indication of the magnitude or
strength of the relationship. The strongest of relationships are evidenced
when all points in a scatterplot graph fall along the same straight line
(known as the regression line). The next strongest of relationships are
evidenced by a little bit of dispersion around the line; however, if one were
to draw an oval close to the line all points would be captured within the
oval. The more dispersed the points (i.e., the points do not adhere as
closely to the line), the weaker the relationship (Palys & Atchison, 2014).
Near the beginning of the 20th century, Karl Pearson developed a method
to statistically measure the strength of relationships between variables.
This method, known as the Pearson Product-moment Correlation
Coefficient (Pearson’s r), was developed to measure the strength of linear
relationships only. There are two aspects to Pearson’s r: The first is the
direction, represented by a sign (+ or -). A plus sign (+) indicates a positive
or a directional relationship, while a negative sign (-) indicates a negative
or aninverse relationship. The second aspect is a number, where a zero
represents no linear relationship, and a 1.0 represents a perfect linear
relationship. A 1.0 is represented on a scatterplot whenever the point lies
on the same straight line. For these purposes, we will not delve further
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 88

into how to compute a correlational coefficient; however, there are many

online and library statistical resources if you wish to seek more
information on this measure.

6.5 Observational Research

Observational research seeks to explore an aspect of the world, for a
variety of purposes (Patton, 2015). While that opening sentence may
seem a bit vague, many of us, on a regular basis, undertake observational
research, without thinking about. For example, imagine yourself
undecided as to which airport security line you should take. You might
stand back for a second to see which one appears to have the least
number of people in line, which one appears to be moving the fastest, or
which one appears to have less children in line. You use your
observations to help you decide which line you should take, as you are a
bit pressed for time. From a research perspective, undertaking
observational research, is usually one aspect of an overriding research
project. It is rarely a stand-alone method of data collection. For example,
perhaps you are interested in nutrition in high school cafeterias. You
would likely distribute a questionnaire to students regarding their normal
cafeteria choices. You might also do some student interviews; however,
your research would not be complete without standing back and
watching the food choices students make in the cafeteria. In this
example, you would not want the students to know you are watching
them, because they may make different choices than they normally
would, due to your presence (see section on Section 8.6 re social
desirability bias). When your research participants do not know they are
being observed, such as the high school nutrition example, it is known
as covert research. Of course, observing in a covert fashion has ethical
challenges (e.g. not securing participants consent to be observed). In
contrast to covert observation, when participants know and give their
approval (usually, although not always) this is known as overt
observation. According to Patton (2015), there are three aspects of
observer involvement: strictly as an observer, strictly as a participant, or
as both observer (covert and overt) and participant. One of the most
infamous covert participant observational studies is that of Humphreys
(1970). The study involved covert observation of homosexual
encounters in public washrooms. Humphreys published his findings in a
book that later went on to win the C. Wright Mills Award, one of the
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 89

most prestigious book awards for sociological research and writing.

Today, the awarding of this award to Humphreys is almost as
controversial as the study itself. If you are interested in learning more
about observational research, Patton (2015) provides an excellent in-
depth discussion of this method.

6.6 Quasi Experiments

Under certain conditions, researchers often turn to field experiments, also

known as quasi-experiment. These conditions usually occur when it is not
possible to randomly assign participants to treatment and control groups
(White & Sabarwal, 2014). Rather, selection to a group is by the
participants, the researcher, or both the participant and the researcher
(White & Sabarwal, 2014). In a quasi-experiment, the independent
variable is manipulated and similar to an experiment, it tests causal
hypothesis (Campbell & Stanley, 1963). Quasi-experiments allow
researchers to infer causality by using the logic behind the experiment in
a different way; however, there are three criteria that must be satisfied for
causality to be inferred: 1. The independent variable (X) comes before the
dependent variable (Y) in time. 2. X and Y are related to each other (i.e.,
they occur together). 3. The relationship between X and Y aren’t
explained by other causal agents (Crump, Price, Jhangiani, Chiang, &
Leighton, 2017).

In a quasi-experiment the researcher identifies a comparison group that is

as similar as is possible to the treatment group, as it relates to baseline
(pre-intervention) characteristics. There are techniques for reducing
selection bias when creating a comparison group. These techniques are
regression discontinuity design and propensity score matching (White &
Sabarwal, 2014); available at https://www.unicef-
irc.org/publications/pdf/brief_8_quasi experimental%20design_eng.pdf
for more detail on these techniques.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 90

6.7 Internal Validity

In the preceding sections we reviewed three types of research: cross-

sectional, correlational, and observational. It is important to note that
when it comes to internal validity, they are not considered equal. You will
recall in Chapter 20, Validity, we briefly discussed internal validity. To
recap, internal validity is the extent to which the study design supports the
conclusion that changes to the independent variable were responsible for
the observed changes in the dependent variable. Of the three types of
research (experimental, non-experimental, and quasi-experimental),
experimental research usually has the highest internal validity. This is
because it addresses directional and third variable problems through
manipulation and controlling for extraneous variables through random
assignment (Crump et al., 2017). As Crump et al claim, if the average score
on the dependent variable changes across conditions, it is likely that these
changes are the result of the independent variable. On the other hand,
correlational research is said to have the lowest internal validity. This is
because if the average score on the dependent variable changes across
conditions, it could be because of the independent variable. However,
there could be other reasons, e.g., the direction of causality is reversed, or
there is a third variable causing the differences in both the independent
and dependent variables (Crump et al., 2017). Quasi experimental research
is considered in the middle of the two other types of research when it
comes to internal validity. This is because the independent variable is
manipulated in quasi-experimental research; however, the lack of random
assignment and experimental control can create other problems. Quasi-
experimental research is the most common methodological approach
utilized in social sciences research.

6.8 summary

In the preceding sections we reviewed three types of research: cross-

sectional, correlational, and observational. It is important to note that
when it comes to internal validity, they are not considered equal. You will
recall in Chapter 20, Validity, we briefly discussed internal validity. To
recap, internal validity is the extent to which the study design supports the
conclusion that changes to the independent variable were responsible for
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 91

the observed changes in the dependent variable. Of the three types of

research (experimental, non-experimental, and quasi-experimental),
experimental research usually has the highest internal validity. This is
because it addresses directional and third variable problems through
manipulation and controlling for extraneous variables through random
assignment (Crump et al., 2017). As Crump et al claim, if the average score
on the dependent variable changes across conditions, it is likely that these
changes are the result of the independent variable. On the other hand,
correlational research is said to have the lowest internal validity. This is
because if the average score on the dependent variable changes across
conditions, it could be because of the independent variable. However,
there could be other reasons, e.g., the direction of causality is reversed, or
there is a third variable causing the differences in both the independent
and dependent variables (Crump et al., 2017). Quasi experimental research
is considered in the middle of the two other types of research when it
comes to internal validity. This is because the independent variable is
manipulated in quasi-experimental research; however, the lack of random
assignment and experimental control can create other problems. Quasi-
experimental research is the most common methodological approach
utilized in social sciences research.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 92

References
Adjei, J. K. (n.d.). Research methods. Retrieved from African Virtual
University website: https://oer.avu.org/handle/123456789/490
Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1963). Experimental and quasi-
experimental designs for research. Boston, USA: Houghton Mifflin.
Crump, M. J., Price, P. C., Jhangiani, R., Chiang, I-C.A., & Leighton, D.
C. (2017). Research methods for psychology (3rd ed.). Retrieved from
http://www.saylor.org/books/ Humphreys, L. (1970). Tearoom Trade:
A Study of Homosexual Encounters in Public Places. Transaction
Publishers. McCoy, S. K., & Major, B. (2003). Group identification
moderates emotional response to perceived prejudice. Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(8), 1005–1017.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167203253466 Palys, T., & Atchison, C.
(2014). Research decisions: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods
approaches (5th ed.). Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 93

CHAPTER VII
SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
Learning Objectives
• Differentiate between the population and the sample.
• Describe the difference between homogenous and heterogeneous
samples.
• Differentiate between probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling.
• Explain what is meant by representativeness and generalizability.
• Discuss sampling error, and differentiate between a random sampling
error and a system sampling error.
• Explain the importance of knowing the who, the how, and the why for
the purpose of sampling. All research projects involve gathering specific
data from specific sources in specific places at specific times (Palys &
Atchison, 2014). Also known as sampling, the necessity of sampling
occurs because we simply cannot gather all data from all sources at all
places and all times. In other words, we must make choices when we
design our research projects. This chapter focuses on sampling techniques
as another level of choice to be made by the researcher.
7.1 Sampling
Sampling is the process of selecting observations that will be analyzed for
research purposes. To put it another way, sampling has to do with
selecting some subset of one’s group of interest and drawing conclusions
from that subset. Sampling is an integral part of any research project. The
question is not if you will sample, but how you will sample. The answer
to that question usually is dependent on the methods you use and the
objectives of the study. Sampling can apply to people or objects, and is
most important when these people or objects (your units of analysis) are
heterogeneous (have different characteristics). If people (or objects) are
homogeneous, or the same in terms of a specific characteristic of study,
any sample will do, since everyone you sampled would be the same on
that characteristic. However, when there is diversity or heterogeneity,
sampling becomes highly relevant to the study, since a researcher will want
to ensure that his/her sample reflects that variability in the population.
How we sample and whom we sample shapes the sorts of conclusions we
are able to draw.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 94

7.2 Population versus Sampling

If you had all the money and resources in the world, you could potentially
sample the whole population. However, money and resources usually limit
sampling, and furthermore all members of a population may not actually
be identifiable in a way that allows you to sample. As a result, researchers
take a sample, or a subgroup of people (or objects) from the population
and study that instead of the population. In social scientific research, the
population is the cluster of people, events, things, or other phenomena in
which you are most interested. It is often the “who” or “what” that you
want to be able to say something about at the end of your study.
Populations in research may be rather large, such as “the Canadian
people,” but typically they are more focused than that. For example, a
large study, for which the population of interest really is the Canadian
people, will likely specify which Canadian people, such as adults over the
age of 18 or citizens or legal residents. One of the most surprising and
often frustrating lessons students of research methods learn is that there
is a difference between one’s population of interest and one’s study
sample. While there are certainly exceptions,

more often than not, a researcher’s population and the sample are not the
same. A sample is the cluster of people or events, for example, from or
about which you will actually gather data. Some sampling strategies allow
researchers to make claims about populations that are much larger than
their actual sample with a fair amount of confidence. Other sampling
strategies are designed to allow researchers to make theoretical
contributions rather than to make sweeping claims about large
populations. We will discuss both types of strategies later in this chapter.
As mentioned previously, it is quite rare for a researcher to gather data
from their entire population of interest. This might sound surprising or
disappointing until you think about the kinds of research questions that
sociologists typically ask. For example, suppose we wish to answer the
following research question: “How do men’s and women’s college
experiences differ, and how are they similar?” Would you expect to be
able to collect data from all college students across all nations from all
historical time periods? Unless you plan to make answering this research
question your entire life’s work (and then some), the answer is probably
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 95

“no.” So then, what is a researcher to do? Does not having the time or
resources to gather data from every single person of interest mean having
to give up your research interest? Absolutely not. It just means having to
make some hard choices about sampling, and then being honest with
yourself and your readers about the limitations of your study based on the
sample from whom you were able to actually collect data. Click on this
link to help you better understand how to get from the theoretical
population (to whom you want to generalize) to your sample (who will
actually be in your study)
https://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampterm.php Now having
said this, there are certainly times when it is possible to access every
member of the population. This happens when the population is small,
accessible, and willing to participate, or the researcher has access to
relevant records. For example, suppose that a university dean wants to
analyse the final graduating scores for all students enrolled in the
university’s health sciences program, for 2015 to 2019. The dean wants to
know if there is a trend toward an average increase in final graduating
scores in health sciences, over this time period, as she suspects. Since the
dean is only interested in her particular university and only those students
who graduated from health sciences from 2015 to 2019, she can easily use
the whole population. In this case, the population is the records of final
graduating scores for all students enrolled in the university’s health
sciences program from 2015 to 2019.

To summarize, we use sampling when the population is large and we

simply do not have the time, financial support, and/or ability (i.e. lack of
laboratory equipment) to reach the entire population. In the following
table you will find some examples of a population versus a sample, and
the type of research methodology that might lead such a study. Do not
worry about the methodology column now, as you have most likely not
yet read the applicable chapters. Make a note to yourself and return to this
table after reading Chapters 8 through 13.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 96

7.3 Probabilistic and NonProbabilistic Sampling Techniques

What constitutes an appropriate sample depends upon the research

question(s), the research objectives, the researcher’s understanding of the
phenomenon under study (developed through the literature review), and
practical constraints (Palys & Atchison, 2014). These considerations will
influence whether the researcher chooses to employ probabilistic or non-
probabilistic sampling techniques. Probabilistic sampling techniques are
employed to generate a formal or statistically representative sample. This
technique is utilized when the researcher has a well-defined population to
draw a sample from, as is often the case in quantitative research. This fact
enables the researcher to generalize back to the broader population (Palys
& Atchison, 2014). On the other hand, a non-probabilistic sampling
technique is the method of choice when the population is not created
equal and some participants are more desirable in advancing the research
project´s objectives. Non-probability sampling techniques are the best
approach for qualitative research. Because the researcher seeks a
strategically chosen sample, generalizability is more of a theoretical or
conceptual issue, and it is not possible to generalize back to the population
(Palys & Atchison, 2014).

As previously mentioned, probability sampling refers to sampling

techniques for which a person’s (or event’s) likelihood of being selected
for membership in the sample is known. You might ask yourself why we
should care about a study element’s likelihood of being selected for
membership in a researcher’s sample. The reason is that, in most cases,
researchers who use probability sampling techniques are aiming to identify
a representative sample from which to collect data. A representative
sample is one that resembles the population from which it was drawn in
all the ways that are important for the research being conducted. If, for
example, you wish to be able to say something about differences between
men and women at the end of your study, you must make sure that your
sample doesn’t contain only women. That is a bit of an oversimplification,
but the point with representativeness is that if your population varies in
some way that is important to your study, your sample should contain the
same sort of variation. While there is a formula to help you determine the
sample size you will need to ensure representativeness, one of the easiest
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 97

ways to do this is through an online sample size calculator. The calculator

will do the work for you and tell you the minimum number of samples
you will need in order to meet the desired statistical limitations (see
https://www.calculator.net/sample-size-calculator.html) Obtaining a
representative sample is important in probability sampling because a key
goal of studies that rely on probability samples is generalizability. In fact,
generalizability is perhaps the key feature that distinguishes probability
samples from nonprobability samples. Generalizability refers to the idea
that a study’s results will tell us something about a group larger than the
sample from which the findings were generated. In order to achieve
generalizability, a core principle of probability sampling is that all elements
in the researcher’s target population have an equal chance of being
selected for inclusion in the study. In research, this is the principle of
random selection. Random selection is a mathematical process that must
meet two criteria. The first criterion is that chance governs the selection
process. The second is that every sampling element has an equal
probability of being selected (Palys & Atchison, 2014).

The core principle of probability sampling is random selection. If a

researcher uses random selection techniques to draw a sample, he or she
will be able to estimate how closely the sample represents the larger
population from which it was drawn by estimating the sampling error.
Sampling error is the degree to which your sample deviates from the
population’s characteristics. It is a statistical calculation of the difference
between results from a sample and the actual parameters of a population.
It is important to ensure that there is a minimum of sampling error (your
sample needs to match the diversity of the population as closely as
possible.) Sampling error comes from two main sources – systemic error
and random error. Random error is due to chance, while systemic error
means that there is some bias in the selection of the sample that makes
particular individuals more likely to be selected than others. Here is an
example to more fully explain the difference between a random and
systemic error.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 98

Example:
Random and systemic errors Consider the study of playground conditions
for elementary school children. You would need a sampling frame (or list
from which you sample) and select from that. Random sampling error
would occur by chance and could not be controlled, but systemic error
would be possible. Let us say that the list is designed in such a way that
every 5th school is a private school. If you were to randomly sample every
5th school on the list, you would end up with a sample exclusively from
private schools! Sampling error just means that an element of the
population is more likely to be selected for the sample than another (in
this case, the private schools are more likely to be sampled than the public
schools). Why is this discussion of error important? The use of the right
techniques for sampling gives researchers the best chances at minimizing
sampling error, and thus the strongest ability to say their results are
reflective of the population. Research is done to benefit society in some
way, so it is important that research results reflect what we might expect
to see in society. Sample size also impacts sampling error. Generally, the
bigger the sample, the smaller the error. However, there is a point of
diminishing returns where only small reductions in error occur for
increases in size. Cost and resources usually also prohibit very large
samples, so ultimately the sample size is dependent upon a variety of
factors, of which sampling error is only one Probability sampling
techniques. There are a variety of probability samples that researchers may
use. For our purposes, we will focus on four: simple random samples,
systematic samples, stratified samples, and cluster samples (see Table 6.1
for a summary of these four techniques). Simple random samples are the
most basic type of probability sample, but their use is not particularly
common. Part of the reason for this may be the work involved in
generating a simple random sample. To draw a simple random sample, a
researcher starts with a list of every single member, or element, of his or
her population of interest. This list is sometimes referred to as a sampling
frame. Once that list has been created, the researcher numbers each
element sequentially and then randomly selects the elements from which
he or she will collect data. To randomly select elements, researchers use a
table of numbers that have been generated randomly. There are several
possible sources for obtaining a random number table. Some statistics and
research methods textbooks offer such tables as appendices to the text.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 99

Perhaps a more accessible source is one of the many free random number
generators available on the Internet. A good online source is the website
Stat Trek (https://stattrek.com/), which contains a random number
generator that you can use to create a random number table of whatever
size you might need. As you might have guessed, drawing a simple random
sample can be quite tedious. Systematic sampling techniques are
somewhat less tedious but offer the benefits of a random sample. As with
simple random samples, you must be able to produce a list of every one
of your population elements. Once you have done that, to draw a
systematic sample you would simply select every kth element on your list.
But what is “k”, and where on the list of population elements does one
begin the selection process? The symbol “k” is your selection interval or
the distance between the elements you select for inclusion in your study.
To begin the selection process, you would need to figure out how many
elements you wish to include in your sample. Let us say you want to
interview 25 students from the Law program at your college or university.
You do some research and discover that there are 150 students currently
registered in the program. In this case, your selection interval, or k, is 6.
To arrive at 6, simply divide the total number of population elements by
your desired sample size. To determine where on your list of population
elements to begin selecting the names of the 25 students you will
interview, select a random number between 1 and k, and begin there. If
we randomly select 3 as our starting point, we would begin by selecting
the third student on the list and then select every sixth student from there.

There is one clear instance in which systematic sampling should not be

employed. If your sampling frame has any pattern to it, you could
inadvertently introduce bias into your sample by using a systemic sampling
strategy. This is sometimes referred to as the problem of periodicity.
Periodicity refers to the tendency for a pattern to occur at regular
intervals. For example, suppose you want to observe how people use the
outdoor public spaces in your city or town and you need to complete your
observations within 28 days. During this time, you wish to conduct four
observations on randomly chosen days. To determine which days you will
conduct your observations, you will need to determine a selection interval.
As you will recall from the preceding paragraphs, to do so you must divide
your population size – in this case 28 days – by your desired sample size,
in this case 4 days. This formula leads you to a selection interval of 7. If
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 100

you randomly select 2 as your starting point and select every seventh day
after that, you will wind up with a total of 4 days on which to conduct
your observations. But what happens is that you are now observing on
the second day of the week, being Tuesdays. As you have probably figured
out, that is not such a good plan if you really wish to understand how
public spaces in your city or town are used. Weekend use probably differs
from weekday use, and that use may even vary during the week.

In cases such as this, where the sampling frame is cyclical, it would be

better to use a stratified sampling technique. In stratified sampling, a
researcher will divide the study population into relevant subgroups and
then draw a sample from each subgroup. In this example, you might wish
to first divide your sampling frame into two lists: weekend days and
weekdays. Once you have your two lists, you can then apply either simple
random or systematic sampling techniques to each subgroup.

Stratified sampling is a good technique to use when, as in the example, a

subgroup of interest makes up a relatively small proportion of the overall
sample. In the example of a study of use of public space in your city or
town, you want to be sure to include weekdays and weekends in your
sample. However, because weekends make up less than a third of an entire
week, there is a chance that a simple random or systematic strategy would
not yield sufficient weekend observation days. As you might imagine,
stratified sampling is even more useful in cases where a subgroup makes
up an even smaller proportion of the study population, say, for example,
if you want to be sure to include both male and female perspectives in a
study, but males make up only a small percentage of the population. There
is a chance that simple random or systematic sampling strategy might not
yield any male participants, but by using stratified sampling, you could
ensure that your sample contained the proportion of males that is
reflective of the larger population.

7.4 Who Sampled, How Sampled, and for What Purpose?

If you have taken an introductory psychology or sociology class at a large

university, probably you have been a participant in someone’s research.
Social science researchers on college campuses have a luxury that
researchers elsewhere may not share—they have access to many
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 101

(presumably) willing and able human guinea pigs. But that luxury comes
at the cost of sample representativeness. One study of top academic
journals in psychology found that over two-thirds (68%) of participants
in studies published by those journals were based on samples drawn in
the United States (Arnett, 2008). Further, the study found that two-thirds
of the work that derived from US samples published in the Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology were based on samples made up
entirely of American undergraduates taking psychology courses. These
findings certainly beg the question: what do we actually learn from social
scientific studies and about whom do we learn it? That is exactly the
concern raised by Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan (2010), authors of the
article “The Weirdest People in the World?” In their article, Henrich et al.
point out that behavioural scientists very commonly make sweeping
claims about human nature based on samples drawn only from WEIRD
(Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) societies, and
often based on even narrower samples, as is the case with many studies
relying on samples drawn from college classrooms. As it turns out, many
robust findings about the nature of human behaviour when it comes to
fairness, cooperation, visual perception, trust, and other behaviours, are
based on studies that excluded participants from outside the United
States, and sometimes excluded anyone outside the college classroom
(Begley, 2010). This raises questions about what we really know about
human behaviour as opposed to U.S. resident or U.S. undergraduate
behaviour. Of course, not all research findings are based on samples of
WEIRD folks like college students. But even then, it would behoove us
to pay attention to the population on which studies are based and the
claims that are being made about to whom those studies apply. In the
preceding discussion, the concern is with researchers making claims about
populations other than those from which their samples were drawn. A
related, but slightly different, potential concern is sampling bias. Bias in
sampling occurs when the elements selected for inclusion in a study do
not represent the larger population from which they were drawn. For
example, a poll conducted online by a newspaper asking for the public’s
opinion about some local issue will certainly not represent the public since
those without access to computers or the internet, those who do not read
that paper’s website, and those who do not have the time or interest will
not answer the question. Another thing to keep in mind is that, just
because a sample may be representative in all respects that a researcher
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 102

thinks are relevant, there may be relevant aspects that didn’t occur to the
researcher when she was drawing her sample. So how do you know when
you can count on results that are being reported? While there might not
be any magic or always-true rules you can apply, there are a couple of
things you can keep in mind as you read the claims researchers make about
their findings. First, remember that sample quality is determined only by
the sample actually obtained, not by the sampling method itself. A
researcher may set out to administer a survey to a representative sample
by correctly employing a random selection technique, but if only a handful
of the people sampled actually respond to the survey, the researcher will
have to be very careful about the claims he can make about his survey
findings. Second, researchers may be drawn to talking about implications
of their findings as though they apply to some group other than the
population actually sampled.
Though this tendency is usually quite innocent, it is all too tempting a way
to talk about findings; consumers of those findings have a responsibility
to be attentive to this sort of (likely unintentional) bait and switch. Third,
keep in mind that a sample that allows for comparisons of theoretically
important concepts or variables is certainly better than one that does not
allow for such comparisons. In a study based on a non-representative
sample, for example, we can learn about the strength of our social theories
by comparing relevant aspects of social processes.

6.8 Summary
Researchers simply do not have the resources to draw data from all
sources, at all times, and in all places. Therefore, they must make
important decisions regarding their sources. This chapter has focused on
sampling methods, including the most popular probabilistic and non-
probabilistic techniques. It concluded by discussing the importance of
thinking about who is sampled, when, how, and for what purposes, as well
as the importance of ensuring the sample actually reflects the population.
The next step in the research process is to determine which data collection
methods are best to help you answer you research questions. Data
collection is the focus of the next chapter.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 103

References

Arnett, J. J. (2008). The neglected 95%: Why American psychology needs

to become less American. American Psychologist, 63(7), 602–614.
doi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.7.602 Begley, S. (2010, July 23). The trouble
with using undergrads for research. Newsweek. Retrieved from
https://www.newsweek.com/trouble-using-undergrads-research-74633
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in
the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2/3), 61–135.
doi:10.1017/S0140525X0999152X Palys, T., & Atchison, C. (2014).
Research decisions: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods
approaches (5th ed.). Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education. Saylor
Academy. (2012). Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and
quantitative methods. Retrieved from
https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/textbooks/P
rinciples%20of%20Sociological%20Inquiry.pdf
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 104

CHAPTER VIII
DATA COLLECTION METHODS: SURVEY RESEARCH

Learning Objectives
• Define survey research.
• Differentiate between a survey and a questionnaire.
• Identify the strength and weakness of survey research.
• Distinguish between the various types of surveys.
• Identify the various ways to administer a survey, and understand the
limitations of each survey method of administration.
• Describe the characteristics of an effective survey question.
• Describe the characteristics of an effective survey. In this chapter we
will cover the collection of research data through the survey methods. It
is most likely that you have participated in a survey at one time or another;
accordingly, you probably have a fairly good idea of what a survey is.
However, constructing a good survey requires more technique than meets
the eye. Survey design takes a great deal of thoughtful planning, and often
many rounds of revision, to get it just right, but it is worth the effort. As
you will learn in this chapter, there are many benefits to choosing survey
research as your method of data collection; specifically: what a survey is,
what the benefits and drawbacks of this method are, how to construct a
survey, and what to do with survey data once you have it in hand.

8.1 SURVEY RESEARCH: WHAT IS IT AND WHEN SHOULD

IT BE USED?
Survey research is a quantitative method whereby a researcher poses a set
of predetermined questions to an entire group or sample of individuals.
Survey research is an especially useful approach when a researcher aims
to describe or explain features of a very large group or groups. This
method may also be used as a way of quickly gaining some general details
about a population of interest, to help prepare for a more focused, in-
depth study using time-intensive techniques such as in-depth interviews
or field research. In this case, a survey may help a researcher identify
specific individuals from whom or locations from which to collect
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 105

additional data. As is true of all methods of data collection, survey

research is better suited to answering some kinds of research question
than others.

8.2 UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A S

UR VE Y AND A QUESTIONNAIRE

Before we move on to look at the strengths and weaknesses of survey

research, we will take a step back to make sure you understand the
difference between the concepts of surveys and questionnaires. Both
surveys and questionnaires use a series of questions to gather information,
however the purpose of the research and the treatment of the data after
it is collected distinguish a questionnaire from a survey, e.g.:
• A questionnaire is a set of written questions used for collecting
information for the benefit of one single individual.
• A survey is a process of gathering information for statistical analysis to
the benefit of a group of individuals (a research method).
• A questionnaire does not aggregate data for statistical analysis after the
data is collected, whereas survey responses are aggregated to draw
conclusions. A questionnaire is the set of questions that are used to gather
the information, whereas a survey is a process of collecting and analysing
data. If the collected data will not be aggregated and is solely for the
benefit of the respondent, then that is a questionnaire. If the data being
collected with be aggregated and used for analytical purposes that is a
survey (McKay, 2015). Sometimes questionnaire data is aggregated; it then
becomes a survey, sometimes without the participant’s knowledge. For
example, the bank where you filled in a loan application aggregates the
data from all loan applications in the year 2017 and presents the
information to shareholders in aggregated form at its 2018 annual general
meeting. The bank has taken questionnaire data and aggregated it into
survey data.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 106

8.3 Pros and Cons of Survey Research

Survey research, as with all methods of data collection, comes with both
strengths and weaknesses. The following sections will examine both.
Strengths of survey method
Researchers employing survey methods to collect data enjoy a number
of benefits. First, surveys are an excellent way to gather lots of
information from many people, and they are relatively cost effective.
Related to the benefit of cost effectiveness is a survey’s potential for
generalizability. Because surveys allow researchers to collect data from
very large samples for a relatively low cost, survey methods lend
themselves to probability sampling techniques, which we discussed in
Chapter 7 “Sampling“. Of all the data-collection methods described in
this text, survey research is probably the best method to use when you
hope to gain a representative picture of the attitudes and characteristics
of a large group. Survey research also tends to be a reliable method of
inquiry. This is because surveys are standardized; the same questions,
phrased in exactly the same way, are posed to participants. Other
methods, such as qualitative interviewing, which you will learn about in
Chapter 10 “Qualitative Data Collection Methods”, do not offer the
same level of consistency that a quantitative survey offers. One strength
of survey methodology is its potential to produce reliable results. This is
not to say that all surveys are always reliable. A poorly-phrased question
can cause respondents to interpret its meaning differently, which can
reduce that question’s reliability. The versatility of survey research is also
an asset. Surveys are used by all kinds of people in all kinds of
professions. The versatility offered by survey research means that
understanding how to construct and administer surveys is a useful skill
to have for all kinds of jobs. For example, lawyers often use surveys in
their efforts to select juries. Social service and other organizations (e.g.,
churches, clubs, fundraising groups, and activist groups) use them to
evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. Businesses use them to learn
how to market their products. Governments use them to understand
community opinions and needs, and politicians and media outlets use
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 107

surveys to understand their constituencies. The following are benefits of

survey research:

1. Cost-effectiveness.
2. Generalizability.
3. Reliability.
4. Versatility.

Weaknesses of survey method

As with all methods of data collection, survey research also comes with a
few drawbacks. First, while one might argue that surveys are flexible in
the sense that they can ask any number of questions on any number of
topics, the fact that the survey researcher is generally stuck with a single
instrument for collecting data (the questionnaire) means that surveys
could also be described as inflexible. For example, suppose you mail a
survey out to 1,000 people and then discover, as responses start coming
in, that your phrasing on a particular question seems to be confusing a
number of respondents. At this stage, it is too late to change the question
for the respondents who have not yet returned their surveys (however, if
you conduct a pilot study first, you should avoid such a situation). When
conducting in-depth interviews, on the other hand, a researcher can
provide respondents further explanation if they are confused by a
question, and can tweak their questions as they learn more about how
respondents seem to understand them. Validity can also be a problem
with surveys. Survey questions are standardized; thus, it can be difficult to
ask anything other than very general questions that a broad range of
people will understand. Because of this, survey results may not be as valid
as results obtained using methods of data collection that allow a researcher
to more comprehensively examine the topic being studied. Potential
drawbacks to survey research include:
1. Inflexibility; and
2. Validity.

8.4 Types of Surveys

Surveys come in many varieties in terms of both time—when or with

what frequency a survey is administered—and administration—how a
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 108

survey is delivered to respondents. This section will examine types of

surveys that exist in terms of both time and administration. With regards
to time, there are two main types of surveys: cross-sectional and
longitudinal. Cross- sectional surveys are those that are administered at
just one point in time. These surveys offer researchers a sort of snapshot
in time, and give you an idea about how things are for your respondents
at the particular point in time that the survey is administered. One
problem with cross-sectional surveys is that the events, opinions,
behaviours, and other phenomena that such surveys are designed to assess
do not generally remain stagnant. Therefore, generalizing from a cross-
sectional survey can be tricky; perhaps you can say something about the
way things were in the moment that you administered your survey, but it
is difficult to know whether things remained that way for long afterwards.
Cross-sectional surveys have many important uses; however, researchers
must remember what they have captured by administering a cross-
sectional survey: a snapshot of life at the time the survey was administered.
One way to overcome this occasional problematic aspect of cross-
sectional surveys is to administer a longitudinal survey. Longitudinal
surveys enable a researcher to make observations over some extended
period of time. There are several types of longitudinal surveys, including
trend, panel, and cohort surveys. We will discuss all three types here, along
with another type of survey called retrospective. Retrospective surveys fall
somewhere in between cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys. The first
type of longitudinal survey is called a trend survey. Researchers
conducting trend surveys are interested in how people’s inclinations
change over time, i.e., trends. The Gallup opinion polls are an excellent
example of trend surveys. You can read more about Gallup on their
website: http://www.gallup.com/Home.aspx. To learn about how public
opinion changes over time, Gallup administers the same questions to
people at different points in time. The second type of longitudinal study
is called a panel survey. Unlike in a trend survey, the same people
participate in a panel survey each time it is administered. As you might
imagine, panel studies can be difficult and costly. Imagine trying to
administer a survey to the same 100 people every year for, 5 years in a
row. Keeping track of where people live, when they move, and when they
die, takes resources that researchers often do not have. When those
resources are available, however, the results can be quite powerful.
Another type of longitudinal survey is a cohort survey. In a cohort survey,
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 109

a researcher identifies some category of people that are of interest and

then regularly surveys people who fall into that category. The same people
do not necessarily participate from year to year, but all participants must
meet whatever categorical criteria fulfill the researcher’s primary interest.
Common cohorts that may be of interest to researchers include: people
of particular generations or those who were born around the same time
period; graduating classes; people who began work in a given industry at
the same time; or perhaps people who have some specific life experience
in common. All three types of longitudinal surveys permit a researcher to
make observations over time. This means that if the behaviour or other
phenomenon that interests the researcher changes, either because of some
world event or because people age, the researcher will be able to capture
those changes.

Finally, retrospective surveys are similar to other longitudinal studies in

that they deal with changes over time but, like a cross-sectional study, they
are administered only once. In a retrospective survey, participants are
asked to report events from the past. By having respondents report past
behaviours, beliefs, or experiences, researchers are able to gather
longitudinal-like data without actually incurring the time or expense of a
longitudinal survey. Of course, this benefit must be weighed against the
possibility that people’s recollections of their pasts may be faulty. When
or with what frequency a survey is administered will determine whether
your survey is cross-sectional or longitudinal. While longitudinal surveys
are certainly preferable in terms of their ability to track changes over time,
the time and cost required to administer a longitudinal survey can be
prohibitive. As you may have guessed, the issues of time described here
are not necessarily unique to survey research. Other methods of data
collection can be cross-sectional or longitudinal—these are really issues
of research design. We have placed our discussion of these terms here
because they are most commonly used by survey researchers to describe
the type of survey administered. Another aspect of survey administration
deals with how surveys are administered and we will examine that next .
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 110

8.5 Administration of Surveys

Surveys vary not just in terms of when, but also how they are. One
common way to administer surveys is in the form of self-administered
questionnaires, in which a research participant is given a set of questions,
in writing, to which he or she is asked to respond. Hard copy self-
administered questionnaires may be delivered to participants in person or
via regular mail. Perhaps you have taken a survey that was given to you in
person. If you are ever again asked to complete a survey in a similar
setting, it might be interesting to note how your perspective on the survey
and its questions could be shaped by the knowledge you are gaining about
survey research in this chapter. Researchers may also deliver surveys in
person by going from door to door and either asking people to fill them
out right away or making arrangements for the researcher to return to pick
up completed surveys. Though the advent of online survey tools has made
door-to-door delivery of surveys less common. If you are not able to visit
each member of your sample personally to deliver a survey, you might
consider sending your survey through the mail. While this mode of
delivery may not be ideal (imagine how much less likely you would be to
return a survey that did not come with the researcher standing on your
doorstep waiting to take it from you), sometimes it is the only available or
the most practical option. This may not be the most ideal way of
administering a survey because it can be difficult to convince people to
take the time to complete and return the survey. Often survey researchers
who deliver their surveys via mail provide some advance notice to
respondents about the survey, to get people thinking about and preparing
to complete it. They may also follow up with their sample a few weeks
after their survey has been sent out. This can be done not only to remind
those who have not yet completed the survey to please do so but also to
thank those who have already returned the survey. Most survey
researchers agree that this sort of follow-up is essential for improving
mailed surveys’ return rates (Babbie, 2010). Online surveys are pretty
common today. They are relatively cheap, and may be quicker than
knocking on doors or waiting for mailed surveys to be returned. To deliver
a survey online, a researcher may subscribe to a service that offers online
delivery, or use some free delivery. SurveyMonkey offers both free and
paid online survey services (http://www.surveymonkey.com). One
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 111

advantage to using a service like SurveyMonkey, aside from the already

mentioned advantages of online delivery, is that results can be provided
to you in formats that are readable by data analysis programs such as SPSS,
Systat, and Excel. This saves you the step of having to manually enter data
into your analysis program, as you would if you administered your survey
in hard copy format. Many of the suggestions provided for improving the
response rate on a hard copy questionnaire apply to online questionnaires
as well. One difference, of course, is that the sort of incentives one can
provide in an online format differ from those that can be given in person
or sent through the mail. But this does not mean that online survey
researchers cannot offer completion incentives to their respondents.
Incentives can include a gift card or having your name entered into a draw
for prize. Sometimes surveys are administered by having a researcher
actually pose questions directly to respondents rather than having
respondents read the questions on their own. These types of surveys are
a form of interview. In Chapter 10 “Qualitative Data Collection
Approaches” we will examine interviews of the survey (or quantitative)
type as well as qualitative interviews. Interview methodology differs from
survey research in that data are collected via a personal interaction.
Because asking people questions in person comes with guidelines and
concerns that differ from those associated with asking questions on paper
or online, we reserve our discussion of those guidelines and concerns for
Chapter 10. Whatever delivery mechanism you choose, keep in mind that
there are pros and cons to each of the options described here. While
online surveys may be faster and cheaper than mailed surveys, can you be
certain that every person in your sample will have the necessary computer
hardware, software, and internet access in order to complete your online
survey? On the other hand, mailed surveys may be more likely to reach
your entire sample, but also more likely to be lost and not returned. The
choice of the best delivery mechanism depends upon a number of factors,
including your resources, the resources of your study participants, and the
time you have available to distribute surveys and wait for responses.
Understanding the characteristics of your study’s population is key to
identifying the appropriate mechanism for delivering your survey.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 112

References

Babbie, E. (2010). The practice of social research (12th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth. McKay, S. (2015, April 13). Are you using a questionnaire or
survey to collect data? Retrieved from
https://www.surveygizmo.com/resources/blog/taking-the-question-
out-of-questionnaires/ Palys, T., & Atchison, C. (2014). Research
decisions: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th
ed.). Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education. Saylor Academy. (2012).
Principles of sociological inquiry; Qualitative and quantitative methods.
Washington, DC: Saylor Academy. Retrieved from
https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Principles%20of%20Sociologic
al%20Inquiry.pdf Saylor Academy. (2012). Principles of sociological
inquiry; Qualitative and quantitative methods. Washington, DC: Saylor
Academy. Retrieved from
https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Principles%20of%20Sociologic
al%20Inquiry
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 113

CHAPTER VIII
ANALYSIS OF SURVEY DATA.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the different types of analysis for survey data.

• Define univariate analysis.
• Identify the three measures of central tendency.
• Define bivariate analysis.
• Explain what a contingency table is and how it is used.
This open-source text is primarily focused on designing research,
collecting data, and becoming a knowledgeable and responsible consumer
of research. We will not spend as much time on data analysis, or what to
do with our data once we have designed a study and collected it. However,
we will spend some time in each of our data-collection chapters describing
some important basics of data analysis that are unique to each method.
Entire textbooks have been written entirely on data analysis. In fact, if you
have ever taken a statistics class, you already know much about how to
analyze quantitative survey data. For these purposes, we will go over a few
basics that can get you started as you begin to think about turning all those
completed surveys into findings that you can share.

9.1 FROM COMPLETED SURVEYTO ANALYZABLE DATA

It can be very exciting to receive those first few completed surveys back
from respondents. Hopefully you After collecting a handful of completed
questionnaires, your initial excitement may turn into a sense of
overwhelm. Dealing with data can be both enjoyable and daunting. The
objective of data analysis is to transform large amounts of information
into manageable and meaningful chunks. Let's explore the process of data
analysis for survey researchers. Ideally, you would receive a significant
number of completed, readable, and usable surveys. The response rate is
determined by dividing the number of completed surveys received by the
number of surveys distributed. For instance, if you distributed 100 surveys
to your sample and received around 75 fully completed surveys, your
response rate would be 75% (75 divided by 100). While response rates
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 114

vary, and there is no consensus on what constitutes a good rate, most

survey researchers would consider a 75% response rate to be good or even
excellent. Numerous studies have been conducted on how to improve
survey response rates. We have discussed some suggestions earlier, such
as personalizing surveys, enhancing credibility by providing study details
and researcher contact information, partnering with respected
organizations, sending pre-survey notices and post-survey reminders, and
including small tokens of appreciation, like a one-dollar bill, with mailed
surveys. One major concern with response rates is the potential for non-
response bias, where the survey results may be biased by the
characteristics of those who chose to respond. For example, if only
individuals with strong opinions on the survey topic return their surveys,
the findings may not accurately represent the overall population or may
limit the claims that can be made about the data patterns. Regardless of
the response rate, survey researchers face the challenge of condensing
their data into manageable and analyzable segments. Quantitative
methods, such as survey research, offer an advantage in describing large
amounts of data through numerical representation. To condense
completed surveys into analyzable numbers, a codebook needs to be
created. A codebook is a document that explains how the survey
researcher has translated the data from words into numerical values. An
excerpt from a codebook related to a survey on older workers conducted
by Saylor Academy (2012) is shown in Table 9.1, "Codebook excerpt from
survey of older workers." The table demonstrates the conversion of
response options into numerical values and assigns a short variable name
to each question. These shortened names are useful when entering data
into a computer program for analysis.

For those who will be conducting manual data entry, there probably is not
much to be said about this task that will make you want to perform it
other than pointing out the reward of having a database of your very own
analyzable data. We will not get into too many of the details of data entry,
but we will mention a few programs that survey researchers may use to
analyze data once it has been entered. The first is SPSS, or the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (http://www.spss.com/). SPSS is a
statistical analysis computer program designed to analyze just the sort of
data quantitative survey researchers collect. It can perform everything
from very basic descriptive statistical analysis to more complex inferential
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 115

statistical analysis. SPSS is touted by many for being highly accessible and
relatively easy to navigate (with practice). Excel, which is far less
sophisticated in its statistical capabilities, is relatively easy to use and suits
some researchers’ purposes just fine.

In analyzing data, it is important to differentiate between aggregate data

and disaggregating data. Aggregate data refers to numerical or non-
numerical information that is(1) collected from multiple sources and/or
on multiple measures (variables or individuals) and (2) compiled into data
summaries or summary reports to examine trends or statistical analysis.
On the other hand, disaggregate data breaks down aggregated data into
component parts or smaller units of data.

9.2 Identifying Patterns

Data analysis is about identifying, describing, and explaining patterns.

Univariate analysis is the most basic form of analysis that quantitative
researchers conduct. In this form, researchers describe patterns across just
one variable. Univariate analysis includes frequency distributions and
measures of central tendency. A frequency distribution is a way of
summarizing the distribution of responses on a single survey question.
Table 9.2 presents the frequency distribution for just one variable from
the Saylor Academy (2012) older worker survey. Table 8.2 presents an
analysis of the item mentioned first in the codebook excerpt given earlier,
on respondents’ self-reported financial security.

As you can see in the frequency distribution on self-reported financial

security, more respondents reported feeling “moderately secure” than any
other response category. We also learn from this single frequency
distribution that fewer than 10% of respondents reported being in one of
the two most secure categories. Another form of univariate analysis that
survey researchers can conduct on single variables is measures of central
tendency. Measures of central tendency tell us what the most common, or
average, response is on a question. Measures of central tendency can be
taken for any level variable for ordinal-level variables. Finally, the measure
of central tendency used for interval- and ratio-level variables is the mean.
To obtain a mean, one must add the value of all responses on a given
variable and then divide that number of the total number of responses. In
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 116

the previous example of older workers’ self-reported levels of financial

security, the appropriate measure of central tendency would be the
median, as this is an ordinal-level variable. If we were to list all responses
to the financial security question in order from lowest dollar value to
highest dollar value, the middle point in that list is the median. For these
purposes, we will pretend that there were only 10 responses to this
question.
Table9.3, Distribution of responses and median value on workers’
financial security”, the value of response to the financial security question
is noted, and the middle point within that range of responses is
highlighted. To find the middle point, we simply divide the number of
valid cases by two. The number of valid cases, 10, divided by 2 is 5, so we
are looking for the 5th value on our distribution to discover the median.
As you will see in Figure9.3, Distribution of responses and median value
on workers’ financial security”, that median value is $128,000.

We can learn a lot about our respondents simply by conducting univariate

analysis of measures on our survey. We can learn even more, of course,
when we begin to examine relationships among variables. Either we can
analyze the relationships between two variables, called bivariate analysis,
or we can examine relationships among more than two variables. This
latter type of analysis is known as multivariate analysis. Bivariate analysis
allows us to assess co-variation among two variables. This means we can
find out whether changes in one variable occur together with changes in
another. If two variables do not co-vary, they are said to have
independence. This means simply that there is no relationship between
the two variables in question. To learn whether a relationship exists
between two variables, a researcher may cross-tabulate the two variables
and present their relationship in a contingency table. A contingency table
shows how variation on one variable may be contingent on variation on
the other. Let’s take a look at a contingency table.

You can check the tables in

https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/jibcresearchmethods/front-
matter/about-this-book/
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 117

You will see in Table 9.4 that a couple of the financial security response
categories have been collapsed from five to three Researchers sometimes
collapse response categories on items such as this in order to make it easier
to read results in a table. You will also see that the variable “gender” was
placed in columns and “financial security” is displayed in rows. Typically,
values that are contingent on other values are placed in rows (a.k.a.
dependent variables), while independent variables are placed in columns.
This makes it pretty simple to compare independent variable across
categories. Reading across the top row of our table, we can see that around
44% of men in the sample reported that they are not financially secure
while almost 52% of women reported the same. In other words, more
women than men reported that they are not financially secure. You will
also see in the table that the total number of respondents for each category
of the independent variable is in the table’s bottom row. This is also
standard practice in a bivariate table, as is including a table heading
describing what is presented in the table. Researchers interested in
simultaneously analyzing relationships among more than two variables
conduct multivariate analysis. If we hypothesized that financial security
declines for women as they age but increases for men as they age, we
might consider adding age to the preceding analysis. To do so would
require multivariate, rather than bivariate, analysis. We will not go into
detail here about how to conduct multivariate analysis of quantitative
survey items, but we will return to multivariate analysis in Chapter 16
“Reading and Understanding Social Research”.

You can check the tables in

https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/jibcresearchmethods/front-
matter/about-this-book/
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 118

Summary

Chapter 9 has focused on the analysis of quantitative data associated with survey data.
It is not the intention of this introductory chapter to delve too deeply into quantitative
analysis. As such, this chapter has focused briefly on univariate data analysis. If you are
interested in learning more about the analysis of quantitative survey data, we encourage
you to take some courses in statistics. The quantitative data analysis skills you will gain
in a statistics class could serve you quite well, should you find yourself seeking
employment one day.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 119

References

Babbie, E. (2010). The practice of social research (12th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth. McKay, S. (2015, April 13). Are you using a questionnaire or survey
to collect data? Retrieved from
https://www.surveygizmo.com/resources/blog/taking-the-question-
out-of-questionnaires/ Palys, T., & Atchison, C. (2014). Research decisions:
Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Toronto,
Canada: Nelson Education. Saylor Academy. (2012). Principles of sociological
inquiry: Qualitative and quantitative methods. Washington, DC: Saylor
Academy. Retrieved from
https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Principles%20of%20Sociologic
al%20Inquiry.pdf
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 120

CHAPTER X
QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS
METHODS
Learning Objectives
• Describe the circumstances under which it is suitable to use the interview
technique for data collection. • Explain semi-structured interview
• Identify the characteristics of an open-ended question.
• Describe an interview guide.
• Identify the challenges associated with interviewing.
• Explain what a focus group is and identify the situations where
conducting a focus group is valuable.
• Describe when it is appropriate to utilize videography as a data collection
method.
• Identify the pros and cons of videography as a data collection method.
• Explain what a code is and describe the coding process.
• Describe the differences between inductive and deductive coding.
• Describe the two types of inductive coding (descriptive and interpretive)
and compare those to the two deductive coding (open and focused/axial
coding) techniques.
List the various steps involved in analyzing qualitative data.
• Describe an oral history.
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative
10.1 Interview Research Interviewing is a qualitative research technique
and a valuable skill. Interviews are used by market researchers to learn
how to sell their products; journalists use interviews to get information
from a whole host of people, from VIPs to random people on the street.
From the social scientific perspective, interviews are a method of data
collection that involves two or more people exchanging information
through a series of questions and answers. The questions are designed by
a researcher to elicit information from interview participant(s) on a
specific topic or set of topics. Typically interviews involve an in-person
meeting between two people, an interviewer and an interviewee. But as
you will discover in this chapter, interviews need not be limited to two
people, nor must they occur in person.
10.2 When should qualitative data collection be used?
Interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. They also
have an advantage over surveys. For example, with a survey, if a
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 121

participant’s response sparks some follow-up question in your mind, you

generally do not have an opportunity to ask for more information. In an
interview, however, because you are talking with your study participants
in real time, you can ask that follow-up question. As such, interviews are
a useful method to use when you want to know the story behind responses
you might receive in a written survey. Interviews are also useful when the
topic you are studying is rather complex, when whatever you plan to ask
requires lengthy explanation, or when your topic or answers to your
questions may not be immediately clear to participants who may need
some time or dialogue with others in order to work through their
responses to your questions. Also, if your research topic is one about
which people will likely have a lot to say or will want to provide some
explanation or describe some process, interviews may be the best method
for you. Interview research is especially useful when the following are true:
1. You wish to gather very detailed information.
2. You anticipate wanting to ask respondents for more information about
their responses.
3. You plan to ask a question that requires a lengthy explanation, such as
about the participants’ lived experience or recollections (i.e. emotional,
psychological, physical, intellectual, cultural, racial, etc.).
4. The topic you are studying is complex or may be confusing to
respondents.
5. Your topic involves studying processes. Qualitative interview
techniques and considerations Qualitative interviews are sometimes called
intensive or in-depth interviews. These interviews are semi- structured—
the researcher has a particular topic about which he or she would like to
hear from the respondent, but questions are open-ended and may not be
asked in exactly the same way or in exactly the same order to each and
every respondent. In in-depth interviews, the primary aim is to hear from
respondents in their own words what they think is important about the
topic at hand, . In this section, we will examine how to conduct interviews
that are specifically qualitative in nature, analyze qualitative interview data,
and use some of the strengths and weaknesses of this method.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 122

10.3 Conducting Qualitative Interviews

Qualitative interviews often resemble conversations rather than formal
interviews for participants. However, the researcher guides the
conversation with the aim of gathering information. A key distinction
between qualitative and quantitative interviewing lies in the use of open-
ended questions in qualitative interviews. Open-ended questions do not
provide predefined answer options, requiring participants to generate
their own responses using their own words, phrases, or sentences.
In preparing for a qualitative interview, the researcher typically develops
an interview guide in advance. This guide consists of a list of topics or
questions that the interviewer intends to cover during the interview. While
the guide serves as a framework, it is flexible and subject to adjustments
based on the flow of the conversation. Think of the interview guide as a
daily agenda or to-do list—while it outlines the desired items to cover, it's
not necessary to address everything or follow a rigid sequence. The course
of the interview may be influenced by emerging events or the participant's
input.
Interview guides should outline issues the researcher considers important.
However, since participants are encouraged to provide answers in their
own words and raise relevant points, each interview may progress
differently. This dynamic nature is what makes in-depth interviewing
exciting yet challenging. Skilled interviewers must ask questions, actively
listen to respondents, and discern when to follow up, transition, or allow
participants to speak freely without interruption.
Interview guides can take different formats. Some researchers create two
versions: a brief outline with topic headings for reference during the
interview and a detailed version with questions under each topic for
preparation and practice. By using the outline during the interview,
researchers can better focus on listening to participants. An excessively
detailed guide can be cumbersome to navigate and may give the
impression that the interviewer prioritizes their own questions over the
participant's answers.
To construct an interview guide, it is recommended to begin with
brainstorming, listing all relevant topics and questions without
restrictions. Then, the list can be refined by eliminating redundant items
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 123

and categorizing similar questions and topics together. It is also advisable

to consult scholarly literature for insights into questions asked in studies
on similar topics. Sensitive or potentially controversial questions should
not be placed at the beginning of the interview to allow participants to
ease into the process and feel comfortable. Seeking feedback from friends,
family, and professors can provide valuable guidance and suggestions.
When formulating specific questions, it is advisable to avoid yes-or-no
inquiries, or if included, follow them up with additional questions.
Participants should be encouraged to provide more information. Instead
of using "why" as a follow-up question, which may appear
confrontational, it is recommended to ask for more details or ask
participants to elaborate on their response. Leading questions should also
be avoided, opting for neutral phrasing that allows participants to express
their thoughts openly. Keeping questions open-ended is crucial to allow
participants to share information in their own words and manner.
After constructing the interview guide, the interviewer must decide how
to collect and maintain the provided information. Audio recording is a
commonly used method as it allows the researcher to focus on the
interaction rather than note-taking. However, some participants may be
uncomfortable with recording, or the sensitivity of the subject may
warrant alternative approaches, such as extensive note-taking. Practice
interviews in advance, ideally with friends similar to the target sample, can
help refine the interview questions and the interviewer's approach.
In addition to constructing the interview guide, interviewers should
consider factors such as the interview location and creating a comfortable
environment for participants. These considerations apply to both
qualitative and quantitative interviews and are further discussed in
Chapter 11 "Issues to Consider for All Interview Types."

10.4 Other Qualitative Data Collection Methods

In the following sections we will look at some traditional (e.g., focus
groups) and not-so-traditional (oral & research histories, and
videography) data collection techniques often associated with interviews
and qualitative research methods. F ocus groups
When multiple respondents participate in an interview at the same time,
this is referred to as a focus group interview. Occasionally more than one
interviewer may be present as well. Focus groups can be an excellent way
to gather information because topics or questions that had not occurred
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 124

to the researcher may be brought up by other participants in the group.

Having respondents talk with and ask questions of one another can be an
excellent way of learning about a topic; not only might respondents ask
questions that had not occurred to the researcher, but the researcher can
also learn from respondents’ body language around and interactions with
one another. There are some unique ethical concerns associated with
collecting data in a group setting. Oral histories
An oral history is a less traditional form of data collection that can take
the form of an interview. Its purpose is to record, in writing, material that
might otherwise be forgotten by those who are unlikely to create a written
record or produce archival materials (Fontana & Frey, 2003; Reinharz,
1992). It involves interviewing people about their past to ensure that their
history is not lost and is therefore available to future generations (Palys &
Atchison, 2014). History is broadly defined as everything that happened
before this moment in time (Palys & Atchison, 2014). The fact that we do
not know everything about history has not prevented historians from
studying what has happened in the past. Indeed, the only way to study
history is to examine the artifacts that remain. When we speak about
artifacts, it is not just those we can tangibly see, touch and/or taste. It also
includes other types of artifacts, such as oral histories. Generally, there are
two types of oral histories: Aboriginal oral histories and oral history in
research.
In the following sections we will briefly examine both of these methods
(Palys & Atchison, 2014). Palys and Atchison (2014) attempt to explain
oral history in research by an analogy to a box that contains historical
facts. As they explain, the box is filled with items that have been placed
there by historians who have taken the time to document them and place
them in the box. However, it is the selection of some items and not others
that Palys and Atchison refer to as “one of the tragedies of history.” They
say this because interesting and important facts will remain outside our
realm of knowledge, due to the fact that someone did not place those facts
into the box (p. 156). In addition to what issues go into the box, there is
also the issue of power and access to the box. As Palys and Atchison
(2014) observe, some people have better access to the box than others.
For example, governments, the wealthy, the powerful, the upper classes
of society, and the educated all have more ease of access to the box than
others. Similarly, throughout the course of history, men have had better
access to the box than women. Consequently, when we read historical
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 125

accounts from, e.g., 17th century England, we are reading historical

accounts from the points of view of the wealthy, the upper classes, the
powerful, the educated, and the males of that time period. The historical
accounts of the poor, the lower classes, females, those without power, and
the uneducated often did not make it into the box. The University of
Toronto has an excellent website with an emphasis on primary sources
and more than 2,700 collections of oral histories in English from around
the world (see
https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/c.php?g=250737&p=2676118).

Aboriginal oral histories

European and non-Aboriginal peoples’ reliance on written

documentation and written archival material has led to the assumption
that the lack of written documentary evidence related to the history of
Aboriginal people means there is “no history” (see Wolfe, 1982). On the
contrary, Aboriginal cultures have been quite successful in preserving
their history, despite their reliance upon oral histories. Indeed, each new
generation was tasked with accurately remembering and preserving the
historical stories passed down from previous generations (Palys &
Atchison, 2014). The accuracy of the oral history rests on two facts. First,
the memories were not merely recollections of stories. Rather, they were
the lived memorialization and verbatim accounts that were repeated
throughout the ages. Second, the stories are shared in the context of the
potlatch (feast) system, where each speaker provides a recounting of the
history of his or her clan, including the clan´s territories and the way its
crests and songs were acquired. As Palys and Atchison (2014) note,
anyone attending these feasts could challenge the presented oral history,
and, as such, this public sharing of a clan´s history helped to preserve the
histories. Consequently, it is not uncommon to find that the oral histories
told today are much the same as those recorded by anthropologists at the
turn of the 20th century (Palys & Atchison, 2014).

Videography
Like an interview, videography can be an effective means for collecting
data, both during researcher/ participant interviews and during focus
groups. However, videography can also be employed to collect data in
more natural settings and, therefore, is a popular tool for those
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 126

undertaking ethnographic studies (Asan & Montangue). While

videography has been under-utilized, mainly due to confidentiality and
privacy issues, it has many benefits as a data collection tool (Asan &
Montangue, 2015). It can accurately record events, enable researchers to
verify their observations through multiple raters, and permit the
researcher to repeatedly review the video record. It is particularly valuable
for measuring performance (Seagull & Guerlain, 2003) and verifying self-
reported behaviours against observed behaviours (Asan & Montangue,
2015). Researchers have also used videography to capture more detailed
data, such as body language and gazing direction (see Kumarapeli &
Lusignan, 2013; Leong, Koczan, de Lusignan & Sheeler, 2006). Effectively
using videography to collect data requires the careful construction of
effective research questions, and the identification of the type of data
required. Both of these steps will inform the study design (Asan &
Montangue, 2015) and are primary considerations at the outset of any
study. Choosing to employ videography to collect data also requires
knowledge of cameras, including the various types of cameras, the various
levels of quality and functions, and positioning of cameras–things that
appear easy but are crucial to ensuring that the video has captured what
you wanted (see Asan & Montangue, 2015). Asan and Montangue (2015)
developed a series of helpful steps to ensure a successful video study. See
Table 10.1 Table 10.1 Steps for a successful video study (adapted from
Asan & Montangue, 2015

Conceptualizing the study

1. Choose an appropriate research question that can be answered by video
data.
2. Identify the potential time frame of the study.
3. Decide on the scope of the data collection.
4. Decide on any additional data collection instruments, such as interviews
and surveys.
5. Decide on the required number of personnel for data collection.
6. Decide how to link the data from video recording with other interview
and survey data.
7. Choose method to analyze the data (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed
methods).
Legal and Ethical issues
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 127

1. Ensure that the study meets with ethical guidelines for human
participant’s research.
2. Describe all details of the procedure of the study.
3. Comply with all legal requirements for recording in real environments.
4. Obtain legal consent for video recording.
5. Ensure all privacy and confidentiality issues related to the preservation
of participants’ identification, and identifiable video data storage are
addressed. 6. Complete and comply with all local regulations regarding
eligibility for human subject research.
7. Submit IRB application and gain final approval in order to start the
project. Participants and Sampling
1. Determine the number of participants you need.
2. Determine the unit of analysis and sampling frame that will most
effectively help answer your research question (e.g.: Do you need a certain
number of participants? How will you recruit your participants? Will you
randomly recruit the participants or will they have certain eligibility
requirements, such as people within a certain age range? Will participants
be paid?).
3. Inform all participants about the benefits and risks of your study.
4. Conduct the recruitment as planned in the IRB.
5. Get informed consent from all people who agree to participate in the
study.
6. Decide on all technical specifications of the equipment you need.
7. Choose an appropriate high-quality camera or cameras.
8. Choose the best audio recording style (built into camera or separate).
9. Determine the camera layout of the room; get the best angle to ensure
a clear view of the participants.
10. Establish a protocol for recording the interactions.
11. Maximize the captured area by adjusting the camera angle.
12. Create protocols to link the data.
13. Sync the audio and video data for the analysis.
14. Determine protocols for storing video recordings.
15. Secure the hard drives for privacy protection.
16. Back up the data.
17. Train all researchers, camera persons, interviewers, and other
members of the research team. Data analysis Review the quality of all data.
Identify the software you will be using to analyze the data. Clearly
distinguish the research questions and analyze accordingly. Create coding
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 128

schemes to analyze the video based on the variable of interest. Conduct a

pilot run/trial analysis after collecting the data from a smaller sample to
prevent potential mismatch. One of the most significant concerns related
to collecting data via video is confidentiality of the participants. Most
institutional research ethics boards require that researchers outline how
they will ensure participant confidentiality. Outlining how video data will
be collected, how it will be stored, who will have access to it, and at what
point and how it will be destroyed, are important considerations for all
researchers. Assan and Montangue (2015) outline a variety of pros and
cons for those wishing to collect data via video.

10.5 Analysis of Qualitative Interview Data

The initial step in analysing qualitative interview data typically involves
obtaining transcripts of the conducted interviews. This can be
accomplished by either taking meticulous notes during the interview or
preferably recording the interview and subsequently transcribing it.
Transcribing entails creating a written version of the recorded
conversation by playing back the recording and typing out every word
spoken, while also indicating the speaker for each word. Ideally, a
verbatim transcription is preferred, capturing the precise words expressed
during the interview. If feasible, it is also advantageous to include
nonverbal responses in the written transcription, such as gestures, tone of
voice, and relevant contextual information like timing, location, or
emphasized words by the participants. Given the availability of time, it is
advisable for the researcher who conducted the interviews to personally
transcribe them. By doing so, they can also capture associated nonverbal
behaviors and interactions that may contribute to the analysis but are not
solely captured through audio recording. Participants may convey
emotions through eye rolls, tears, or gestures that carry significant
meaning. However, these nonverbal cues cannot be recorded, thus
emphasizing the value of recalling and documenting these details in
writing during the transcription process. The primary objective of analysis
is to extract inferences, lessons, or conclusions by condensing extensive
data into more manageable and comprehensible information. When
examining qualitative interview data, researchers often employ an
inductive approach. This involves carefully reading through the interview
transcripts multiple times to identify codes, which serve as concise
representations of complex issues or ideas. Coding, the process of
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 129

identifying codes in qualitative data, aids in data management and

reduction. Coding can be either deductive or inductive. Deductive coding
is employed when researchers have predetermined interests and use them
to identify relevant passages, quotes, images, or scenes, resulting in
preliminary codes (descriptive coding). These initial codes are then
expanded upon, with finer distinctions made within each coding category
(interpretative coding). Pattern coding may also be utilized to identify
associations. Conversely, inductive coding begins with the identification
of general themes and ideas that emerge from the data. This process,
known as open coding, requires multiple analyses. Commonalities across
the identified categories or themes during open coding are observed, and
codes are developed based on the analyzed material. This may involve
further elaboration of a category or the merging of specific descriptive
categories into one another. The subsequent step in the analysis process
is focused or axial coding. At this stage, themes or categories identified
during open coding are consolidated or refined. The researcher reviews
the notes taken during open coding, identifies related themes or
categories, and potentially merges some of them. Each collapsed or
merged theme or category is assigned a name or code, and passages of
data that align with each named category or theme are identified. This
process entails reading through the transcripts multiple times and may
involve writing concise definitions or descriptions for each code,
imparting meaning to the data and facilitating the discussion of findings
and their implications. Although the process of reading through extensive
transcript pages multiple times may seem arduous and time-consuming,
getting started with the coding process can often be the most challenging
part. If you encounter difficulties in identifying themes during the open
coding stage, it can be helpful to pose questions about your data. The
answers to these questions should provide insights into the types of
themes or categories you are encountering (Saylor Academy, 2012).
Lofland and Lofland (1995, p. 2001) suggest a set of questions that prove
useful when coding qualitative data. These questions include:
1. What is the topic, unit, or aspect represented by this instance?
2. . What question about a topic does this data item suggest?
3. What kind of answer or proposition does this data item suggest in
response to a question about a topic? Asking yourself these
questions while examining data passages can assist in identifying and
naming potential themes and categories.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 130

10.6 Qualitative Coding, Analysis, and Write

up: The How to Guide
The main goal of analysis is to extract inferences, lessons, or conclusions
from extensive data and condense it into more manageable and
understandable information. When analyzing qualitative interview data,
researchers often employ an inductive approach. This involves carefully
reading through the interview transcripts multiple times to identify codes,
which serve as concise representations of complex issues or ideas. Coding,
the process of identifying codes in qualitative data, aids in data
management and reduction. Coding can be either deductive or inductive.
Deductive coding is used when researchers have predetermined interests
and use them to identify relevant passages, quotes, images, or scenes,
resulting in preliminary codes (descriptive coding). These initial codes are
then expanded upon, with finer distinctions made within each coding
category (interpretative coding). Pattern coding may also be utilized to
identify associations. On the other hand, inductive coding starts with the
identification of general themes and ideas that emerge from the data. This
process, known as open coding, requires multiple analyses.
Commonalities across the identified categories or themes during open
coding are observed, and codes are developed based on the analyzed
material. This may involve further elaboration of a category or merging
specific descriptive categories into one another. The next step in the
analysis process is focused or axial coding. At this stage, themes or
categories identified during open coding are consolidated or refined. The
researcher reviews the notes taken during open coding, identifies related
themes or categories, and potentially merges some of them. Each
collapsed or merged theme or category is assigned a name or code, and
passages of data that align with each named category or theme are
identified. This process involves reading through the transcripts multiple
times and may include writing concise definitions or descriptions for each
code, giving meaning to the data and facilitating the discussion of findings
and their implications. While the process of reading through extensive
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 131

transcript pages multiple times may seem daunting and time-consuming,

getting started with the coding process can often be the most challenging
part. If you encounter difficulties in identifying themes during the open
coding stage, it can be helpful to pose questions about your data. The
answers to these questions should provide insights into the types of
themes or categories you are encountering. Lofland and Lofland (1995, p.
2001) suggest a set of questions that prove useful when coding qualitative
data. These questions include:
1. What is the topic, unit, or aspect represented by this instance?
2. What question about a topic does this data item suggest?
3. What kind of answer or proposition does this data item suggest in
response to a question about a topic? Asking yourself these questions
while examining data passages can assist in identifying and naming
potential themes and categories. The example of "Interview coding" in
Table 10.3 is derived from research conducted by Saylor Academy (2012),
where she presents two codes that emerged from her inductive analysis of
transcripts from interviews with child-free adults. Table 10.3 includes a
concise description of each code and a selection of interview excerpts
from which each code was derived.

Step 4: Analysis and Write-up

serves as an effective organizational tool for analysis and can greatly
assist with the write-up of qualitative data analysis. To begin the analysis
process, the researcher should discuss the different categories and
provide descriptions of the associated concepts. During this phase, the
researcher will also describe the themes that emerged from the axial
coding process, which is the second step.
When presenting the data in the write-up, there are several approaches
to consider:
1) presenting it as a narrative or story,
2) using a metaphor to illustrate the findings,
3) comparing and contrasting different aspects,
4) examining relationships among concepts or variables.
5) utilizing counting. However, it is important to note that counting
alone should not be used as a standalone qualitative data analysis
method in the write-up, as it does not capture the richness of the
collected data. Counting can be used to state the number of participants
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 132

or how many participants discussed a specific theme or category.

Nevertheless, the researcher must provide a deeper level of analysis by
highlighting participants' words, including direct quotes from their
interviews, to demonstrate the validity of the identified themes.
Here are some links to demonstrations of other methods for coding
qualitative data:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=phXssQBCDls
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYzhgMZii3o
- http://qualisresearch.com/DownLoads/qda.pdf
When writing up the analysis, it is recommended to "identify" participants
using numbers, alphabetical letters, or pseudonyms (e.g., Participant #3
stated...). This approach indicates that data is drawn from all participants.
In quantitative analysis, when dealing with data from 400 participants, the
data for all 400 participants would be presented assuming they all
answered a specific question. In quantitative results, it is common to
include a notation such as "n=400" to indicate the number of participants
who answered a particular research question. Assigning participant
numbers, letters, or pseudonyms serves a similar purpose in qualitative
analysis.

10.7 Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Interviews

As discussed previously, qualitative interviews provide a valuable
approach for gathering in-depth information. This method allows
researchers to delve deeply into a specific topic, surpassing the capabilities
of other research methods. Participants have the opportunity to offer
detailed insights that may
not be achievable through survey research alone. Furthermore, qualitative
interviews enable participants to express themselves in their own words
and from their unique perspectives, rather than being limited to
predefined response options. These interviews are particularly
advantageous when studying social processes or seeking to understand the
underlying mechanisms behind various phenomena.
An often overlooked advantage of conducting qualitative interviews in
person is the ability for researchers to make additional observations
beyond what participants verbally report. Nonverbal cues, such as body
language, as well as the context of the interview, including the choice of
time and location, can provide valuable data to researchers.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 133

Similar to quantitative survey research, qualitative interviews rely on

participants' ability to accurately recall details about their lives,
circumstances, thoughts, opinions, or behaviors. However, conducting
qualitative interviews is time-consuming and can incur costs. The process
involves developing an interview guide, selecting a sample, conducting the
interviews, and transcribing the recorded conversations, which is a labor-
intensive task even before the coding process begins. It is common
practice to provide participants with a monetary incentive or a token of
appreciation due to the extended time commitment required compared to
completing a closed-ended questionnaire. Additionally, conducting
qualitative interviews can be emotionally demanding. Researchers should
be mindful of their own emotional capacity to listen to stories that may
be difficult or sensitive in nature.

Summary
This chapter has focused on collecting and analyzing qualitative data. We
explored some of the more traditional methods, such as interviews and
focus groups, for collecting qualitative data. We also explored less popular
methods such as oral histories and videography. Analyzing qualitative data
requires time and commitment. If possible, the researcher who undertakes
the analysis and write-up of the data should complete the transcription, in
order to be totally immersed in the data. Time spent in these processes
should result in a study that produces valuable, in-depth data that numbers
alone (i.e., quantitative methods) cannot explain.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 134

References
Assan, O. & Montague, E. (2015). Using video-based observation
research methods in care health encounters to evaluate complex
interactions. Inform Primary Care, 21(4), 161-170.
doi:10.14236/jhi.v21i4.72. Babbie, E. (2010). The practice of social
research (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Fontana, A., & Frey, J. H.
(2003). The interview: From structured questions to negotiated text. In
N. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.). Collecting and interpreting qualitative
materials (2nd ed.), (pp. 61- 106). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Glaser,
B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory:
Strategies for qualitative research. London, England: Aldine Transaction.
Jewitt, C. (2012). An introduction to using video for research. NCRM
Working paper 03/12. Retrieved from
http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/2259/4/NCRM_workingpaper_0312.pdf.
Kumarapeli, P., & de Lusignan, S. (2013). Using the computer in the
clinical consultation: Setting the stage reviewing, recording, and taking
actions: Multi-channel video study. Journal of the American Medical
Informatics Association, 20(e1), e67-e75. doi: 10.1136/amiajnl-2012-
001081. Leong, A., Koczan, P., de Lusignan, & Sheeler, I. (2006). A
framework for comparing video methods used to assess the clinical
consultation: A qualitative study. Medical Informatics and the Internet in
Medicine, 31(4), 255-265. doi:10.1080/14639230600991668. Lofland, J.,
& Lofland, L. H. (1995). Analyzing social settings: A guide to qualitative
observation and analysis (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Palys, T.,
& Atchison, C. (2014). Research decisions: Quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Toronto, Canada: Nelson
Education. Patton, M. Q. (2001). Qualitative research and evaluation
methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Payne, G., & Payne, J. (2004). Hawthorne effect. Key concepts in social
research. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781849209397.n22. Reinharz,
S. (1992). Feminist methods in social research. London, England: Sage
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 135

Publications. Saylor Academy. (2012). Principles of sociological inquiry;

Qualitative and quantitative methods. Washington, DC: Saylor Academy.
Retrieved from
https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/textbooks/P
rinciples%20of%20Sociological%20Inquiry.pdf Seagull, F. J., &
Guerlain, S. (2003). Observational measures of team process and
performance in healthcare. Proceedings of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society 47th Meeting. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/2768331/Observational_Measures_of_Tea
m_Process_and_Performance_in_Healthcare Wolfe, E. R. (1982).
Europe and the people without history. Los Angeles, CA: University of
California Press
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 136

CHAPTER XI
QUANTITATIVE INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES &
CONSIDERATIONS
Learning Objectives
• Describe a standardized interview.
• Explain how quantitative interviews differ from qualitative interviews.
• Explain how to analyze quantitative interview data.
• Identify the main issues that qualitative and quantitative interviewers
should consider.
• Describe the options that interviewers have for balancing power
between themselves and interview participants.
• Describe and define rapport.
• Define the term, “probe”, and describe how probing differs in
qualitative and quantitative interviewing.
Quantitative interviews are similar to qualitative interviews in that they
involve some researcher/respondent interaction; however, the process
of conducting and analyzing findings from quantitative interviews differs
in several ways from that of qualitative interviews. Each approach comes
with its own unique set of strengths and weaknesses. We will explore
these differences in the following sections.

11.1 CONDUCTING QUANTITATIVE INTERVIEWS

Much of what we learned in the previous chapter on survey research
applies to quantitative interviews as well. In fact, quantitative interviews
are sometimes referred to as survey interviews because they resemble
survey-style question-and-answer formats. They might also be called
standardized interviews. The difference between surveys and standardized
interviews is that questions and answer options are read to respondents
in a standardized interview, rather than having respondents complete a
survey on their own. As with surveys, the questions posed in a
standardized interview tend to be closed-ended. There are instances in
which a quantitative interviewer might pose a few open-ended questions
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 137

as well. In these cases, the coding process works somewhat differently

than coding in-depth interview data. We will describe this process in the
following section.
In quantitative interviews, an interview schedule is used to guide the
researcher as he or she poses questions and answer options to
respondents. An interview schedule is usually more rigid than an interview
guide. It contains the list of questions and answer options that the
researcher will read to respondents. Whereas qualitative researchers
emphasize respondents’ roles in helping to determine how an interview
progresses, in a quantitative interview, consistency in the way that
questions and answer options are presented is very important. The aim is
to pose every question-and-answer option in the very same way to every
respondent. This is done to minimize interviewer effect, or possible
changes in the way an interviewee responds based on how or when
questions and answer options are presented by the interviewer.
Quantitative interviews may be recorded, but because questions tend to
be closed-ended, taking notes during the interview is less disruptive than
it can be during a qualitative interview. If a quantitative interview contains
open-ended questions, recording the interview is advised. It may also be
helpful to record quantitative interviews if a researcher wishes to assess
possible interview effect. Noticeable differences in responses might be
more attributable to interviewer effect than to any real respondent
differences. Having a recording of the interview can help a researcher
make such determinations.
Quantitative interviewers are usually more concerned with gathering data
from a large, representative sample. Collecting data from many people via
interviews can be quite laborious. In the past, telephone interviewing was
quite common; however, growth in the use of mobile phones has raised
concern regarding whether or not traditional landline telephone
interviews and surveys are now representative of the general population
(Busse & Fuchs, 2012). Indeed, there are other drawbacks to telephone
interviews. Aside from the obvious problem that not everyone has a
phone (mobile or landline), research shows that phone interview
respondents were less cooperative, less engaged in the interview, and
more likely to express dissatisfaction with the length of the interview than
were face-to-face respondents (Holbrook, Green, & Krosnick, 2003, p.
79). Holbrook et al.’s research also demonstrated that telephone
respondents were more suspicious of the interview process and more
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 138

likely than face-to-face respondents to present themselves in a socially

desirable manner.

11.2 ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE INTER

V I EW DATA
As with the analysis of survey data, analysis of quantitative interview data
usually involves coding response options numerically, entering numeric
responses into a data analysis computer program, and then running
various statistical commands to identify patterns across responses.
Chapter 10 describes the coding
112
process for quantitative data. But what happens when quantitative
interviews ask open-ended questions? In this case, responses are typically
numerically coded, just as closed-ended questions are, but the process is
a little more complex than simply giving a “no” a label of 0 and a “yes” a
label of 1.
In some cases, quantitatively coding open-ended interview questions may
work inductively, as described in Chapter 10. If this is the case, rather than
ending with codes, descriptions of codes, and interview excerpts, the
researcher will assign a numerical value to codes and may not utilize
verbatim excerpts from interviews in later reports of results. With
quantitative methods the aim is to be able to represent and condense data
into numbers. The quantitative coding of open-ended interview questions
is often a deductive process. The researcher may begin with an idea about
likely responses to his or her open-ended questions and assign a numerical
value to each likely response. Then the researcher will review participants’
open-ended responses and assign the numerical value that most closely
matches the value of his or her expected response.
11.3 STRENGT
11.3 STRENGTHS AND WHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUANTITATIVE INTERVIEWSEAKNESSES OF
QUANTITATIVE INTERVIEWS
Quantitative interviews offer several benefits. The strengths and weakness
of quantitative interviews tend to be couched in comparisons to those of
administering hard copy questionnaires. For example, response rates tend
to be higher with interviews than with mailed questionnaires (Babbie,
2010). Quantitative interviews can also help reduce respondent confusion.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 139

If a respondent is unsure about the meaning of a question or answer

option on a questionnaire, he or she probably will not have the
opportunity to get clarification from the researcher. An interview, on the
other hand, gives the researcher an opportunity to clarify or explain any
items that may be confusing.
As with every method of data collection we have discussed, there are also
drawbacks to conducting quantitative interviews. Perhaps the largest, and
of most concern to quantitative researchers, is interviewer effect. While
questions on hard copy questionnaires may create an impression based on
the way they are presented, having a person administer questions
introduces many additional variables that might influence a respondent.
However, the interviewer’s best efforts to be as consistent as possible with
quantitative data collection are key. Interviewing respondents is also much
more time consuming and expensive than mailing questionnaires.
Consequently, quantitative researchers may opt for written questionnaires
over interviews on the grounds that they will be able to reach a large
sample at a much lower cost than were they to interact personally with
each and every respondent.
11.4 ISSUES TO CONSIDER FOR ALL INTERVIEW TYPES
While quantitative interviews resemble survey research in their
question/answer formats, similarly to qualitative interviews, the
researcher actually interacts with her or his subjects. The fact that the
researcher interacts with his or her subjects creates a few complexities that
deserve attention. We will examine some of those in the following
sections. Power First and foremost, interviewers must be aware of and
attentive to the power differential between themselves and interview
participants. The interviewer sets the agenda and leads the conversation.
While qualitative interviewers aim to allow participants to have some
control over which or to what extent various topics are discussed, the
researcher is in charge (at least that will be the perception of most
respondents). As the researcher, you are asking someone to reveal things
about themselves that they may not typically share with others. Also, you
are generally not reciprocating by revealing much or anything about
yourself. All these factors shape the power dynamics of an interview. A
number of excellent pieces have been written dealing with issues of power
in research and data collection. An interesting paper by Karniell-Miller,
Strier, and Pessach (2009) examines the power relationship from an ethics
perspective. As demonstrated in Table 11.1, they draw from decades of
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 140

research to describe a variety of ways to balance power in research in the

three phases of research: before, during and after.

However, Karniell-Miller et al., (2009) warn that permitting participants

to play a significant role in the research can lead to a variety of ethical
challenges, such as the loss of the researcher´s right to intellectual and
academic freedom, and/or the oversimplification of theoretical constructs
that may arise from the research.
Another way to balance the power differential between yourself and your
interview participants is to make the intent of your research very clear to
the subjects. Share with them your rationale for conducting the research
and the research question(s) that frame your work. Be sure that you also
share with subjects how the data you gather will be used and stored. Also,
be sure that participants understand how their privacy will be protected
including who will have access to the data you gather from them and what
procedures, such as using pseudonyms, you will take to protect their
identities. Many of these details will be covered by your institutional
review board’s informed consent procedures and requirements, but even
if they are not, as researchers, we should be attentive to the ways in which
sharing information with participants can help balance the power
differences between ourselves and those who participate in our research.
As Saylor Academy (2012) observes, when it comes to handling the power
differential between the researcher and participants, there are no easy
answers and no general agreement as to the best approach for handling
the power differential. It is nevertheless an issue for researchers to note
when conducting any form of research, particularly those that involve
interpersonal interactions and relationships with research participants.
Location, location, location
One way to balance the power between researcher and respondent is to
conduct the interview in a location of participants’ choosing, where they
will feel most comfortable answering questions. Interviews can take place
in any number of locations: respondents’ homes or offices, researchers’
homes or offices, coffee shops, restaurants, public parks, or hotel lobbies,
to name just a few possibilities. While it is important to allow respondents
to choose the location that is most convenient and comfortable for them,
it is also important to identify a location where there will be few
distractions. For example, some coffee shops and restaurants are so loud
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 141

that recording the interview can be a challenge. Other locations may

present different sorts of distractions. For example, the presence of
children during an interview can be distracting for both the interviewer
and the interviewee. On the other hand, the opportunity to observe such
interactions could be invaluable to your research (depending upon the
topic). As an interviewer, you may want to suggest a few possible
locations, and note the goal of avoiding distractions, when you ask your
respondents to choose a location.
114
Of course, the extent to which a respondent should be given complete
control over choosing a location must also be balanced by accessibility of
the location to you, the interviewer, and by safety and comfort level with
the location. While it is important to conduct interviews in a location that
is comfortable for respondents, doing so should never come at the
expense of your safety.
Researcher-respondent relationship
Finally, a unique feature of interviews is that they require some social
interaction, which means that, to at least some extent, a relationship is
formed between interviewer and interviewee. While there may be some
differences in how the researcher/respondent relationship works,
depending on whether your interviews are qualitative or quantitative, one
essential relationship element is the same: respect. A good rapport
between you and the person you interview is crucial to successful
interviewing. Rapport is the sense of connection you establish with a
participant. Palys and Atchison (2014) define rapport as the development
of a bond of mutual trust between the researcher and the participant. They
add that it is the basis upon which access is given to the researcher and
valid data are collected.
Saylor Academy (2012) draws attention to the fact that some misguided
researchers have attempted to develop rapport with their participants to
a level that the participant believes the relationship is closer than it is. She
warns against this and suggests that the key is respect. At its core, the
interview interaction should not differ from any other social interaction
in which you show gratitude for a person’s time and respect for a person’s
humanity. It is crucial that you, as the interviewer, conduct the interview
in a way that is culturally sensitive. In some cases, this might mean
educating yourself about your study population and even receiving some
training to help you learn to communicate effectively with your research
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 142

participants. Do not judge your research participants; you are there to

listen to them, and they have been kind enough to give you their time and
attention. Even if you disagree strongly with what a participant shares in
an interview, your job as the researcher is to gather the information being
shared with you, not to make personal judgments about it. A research
paper by Ryan and Dundon (2008) provides a variety of strategies for
building rapport with the research participants in a respectful manner.
Case Research Interviews- Eliciting Superior Quality Data.
The questions you ask respondents should indicate that you have actually
heard what they have said. Active listening means that you will probe the
respondent for more information from time to time throughout the
interview. A probe is a request for more information. Both qualitative and
quantitative interviewers probe respondents, though the way they probe
usually differs. In quantitative interviews, probing should be uniform.
Often quantitative interviewers will predetermine what sorts of probes
they will use.
In some ways qualitative interviews better lend themselves to following
up with respondents and asking them to explain, describe, or otherwise
provide more information. This is because qualitative interviewing
techniques are designed to go with the flow and take whatever direction
the respondent establishes during the interview. Nevertheless, it is worth
your time to come up with helpful probes in advance of an interview, even
in the case of a qualitative interview. You certainly do not want to find
yourself stumped or speechless after a respondent has just said something
about which you’d like to hear more. This is another reason that practicing
your interview in advance with people who are similar to those in your
sample is a good idea.

Summary
Many of the considerations related to quantitative interviews are similar
to those of qualitative interviews. While both types of interviews involve
some researcher/ respondent interaction, the process of conducting the
interview, and collecting and analyzing the findings, differ in a few key
ways.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 143

References
Babbie, E. (2010). The practice of social research (12th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth. Busse, B., & Fuchs, M. (2012). The components of landline
telephone survey coverage bias: The relative importance of no-phone and
mobile-only populations. Quality & Quantity, 46(4), 1209-1225.
doi:10.1007/ s11135-011-9431-3. Holbrook, A. L., Green, M. C., &
Krosnick, J. A. (2003). Telephone versus face-to-face interviewing of
national probability samples with long questionnaires. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 67, 79-125. Retrieved from
http://www.business.illinois.edu/shavitt/BA_531/
Holbrook%20Green%20and%20Krosnick%202003.pdf Karnieli-Miller,
O., & Strier, R., & Pessach, L. (2009). Power relations in qualitative
research. Qualitative Health Research, 19(2), 279-289.
doi:10.1177/1049732308329306 Ryan, P., & Dundon, T. (2008). Case
research interviews: Eliciting superior quality data. International Journal
of Case Method Research & Application, xx(4), 443-450. Retrieved from
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7bb1/f3e62f354c06d917ccbe79f0906
1ed7cbb27.pdf? Saylor Academy. (2012). Principles of sociological
inquiry; Qualitative and quantitative methods. Washington, DC: Saylor
Academy. Retrieved from
https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Principles%20of%20Sociologic
al%20Inquiry.pdf
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 144

CHAPTER XII
FIELD RESEARCH A QUA LITATIVE RESEARCH TECHNIQUE
Learning Objectives
• Define field research.
• Define ethnography.
• Explain the conditions under which it is appropriate to undertake field
research.
• Identify the pros and cons of field research.
• Explain what is meant by “getting in” in the context of field research If
we wanted to know who conducts more of the housework in households,
how could we find the answer? One way might be to interview people and
simply ask them. That is exactly what Arlie Hochschild did in her study
of “the second shift”, her term for the work that goes on in the home
after the day’s work for pay is completed. Hochschild (1989) interviewed
50 heterosexual, married couples with children to learn about how they
did, or did not, share the work of the second shift. Many of these couples
reported to her that they shared the load of the second shift equally,
sometimes dividing the house into areas that were “her” responsibility and
those that were “his.” Hochschild was not satisfied with just people’s
personal accounts of second-shift work. She chose to observe 12 of these
couples in their homes as well, to see for herself just how the second shift
was shared. What Hochschild discovered was that even those couples
who claimed to share the second shift did not have as equitable a division
of duties as they had professed. For example, one couple who told
Hochschild during their interview that they shared the household work
equally had explained that the wife was responsible for the upstairs
portion of the house and the husband took responsibility for the
downstairs portion. Upon conducting observations in this couple’s home,
however, Hochschild discovered that the upstairs portion of the house
contained all the bedrooms and bathrooms, the kitchen, the dining room,
and the living room, while the downstairs included a storage space and
the garage. This division of labour meant that the woman actually carried
the weight of responsibility for the second shift. Without a field research
component to her study, Hochschild might never have uncovered these
and other truths about couples’ behaviours and sharing (or not sharing)
of household duties. Overall, there are two reasons for doing research in
the field. The first is that from a qualitative perspective, behaviour only
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 145

has meaning in the context in which it occurs. Therefore “in context” is

the only place where the behaviour can accurately be observed (Palys &
Atchison, 2014). The second is that, if the reason we undertake field
research is to understand behaviour, then field research is the most
relevant and valid option because it enables the duplication of “in
context” conditions that influence behaviour, and provides the behaviour
with its meaning (Palys & Atchison, p. 11).

12.1 Field Research: What it is?

Field research is a qualitative method of data collection aimed at

understanding, observing, and interacting with people in their natural
settings. In the context of research, observation is more than just looking.
It involves looking in a planned and strategic way with a purpose (Palys
& Atchison, 2014, p. 189). As such, when social scientists talk about being
in “the field,” they are talking about being out in the real world and
involved in the everyday lives of the people they are studying. Sometimes
researchers use the terms ethnography or participant observation to refer
to this method of data collection; the former is most commonly used in
anthropology, while the latter is used commonly in sociology. For our
purposes, we will use two main terms: field research and participant
observation. You might think of field research as an umbrella term that
includes the myriad activities that field researchers engage in when they
collect data: they participate; they observe; they usually interview some of
the people they observe; and they typically analyze documents or artifacts
created by the people they observe. Researchers conducting participant
observation vary in the extent to which they participate or observe. Palys
and Atchison (2014, p. 198) refer to this as the “participant-observer
continuum,” ranging from complete participant to complete observer.
This continuum is demonstrated in Figure 12.1. However, these
researchers, as to do other researchers, question whether a researcher can
be at the “complete observer” end of the continuum. Rather, they
contend, it is increasingly acknowledged that, even as an observer, the
researcher is participating in what is being studied and therefore cannot
really be a complete observer.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 146

Indeed, it is important to acknowledge that there are pros and cons

associated with both aspects of the participant/observer’s role. For
example, depending upon how fully researchers observer their subjects
(as opposed to participating), they may miss important aspects of group
interaction and may not have the opportunity to fully grasp what life is
like for the people they observe. At the same time, sitting back and
observing may grant researchers opportunities to see interactions that
they would miss, were they more involved. Ethnography is not to be
confused with ethnomethodology. Ethnomethodology will be defined
and described in Chapter13 Participation has the benefit of allowing
researchers a real taste of life in the group that they study. Some argue
that participation is the only way to understand what it is that is being
investigated. On the other hand, fully immersed participants may find
themselves in situations that they would rather not face but from which
cannot excuse themselves because they have adopted the role of a fully
immersed participant. Further, participants who do not reveal themselves
as researchers must face the ethical quandary of possibly deceiving their
subjects. In reality, much field research lies somewhere near the middle of
the observer/participant continuum. Field researchers typically participate
to at least some extent in their field sites, but there are also times when
they may strictly observe.

12.2 Field Research: When is it Appropriate?

Field research is well equipped to answer “how” questions. Whereas

survey researchers often aim to answer “why” questions, field researchers
ask how the processes they study occur, how the people they spend time
with in the field interact, and how events unfold. Table 12.1 “Field
Research Examples” presents a few examples of the kinds of questions
field researchers have asked in past projects along with a brief summary
of where and what role those researchers took in the field. The examples
presented in Table 12.1 “Field Research Examples” by no means
represent an exhaustive list of the variations of questions field researchers
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 147

have asked, or of the range of field research projects that have been
conducted over the years, but they do provide a snapshot of the kinds of
work win which sociological field researchers engage.

12.3 The Pros and Cons of Field Research

Field research allows researchers to gain firsthand experience and
knowledge about the people, events, and processes that they study. No
other method offers quite the same kind of close-up lens on everyday life.
This close-up on everyday life means that field researchers can obtain very
detailed data about people and processes, perhaps more detailed than they
can obtain using any other method. Additionally, field research is an
excellent method for understanding the role of social context in shaping
people’s lives and experiences. It enables a greater understanding of the
intricacies and complexities of daily life. Field research may also uncover
elements of people’s experiences or of group interactions of which we
were not previously aware. This, in particular, is a unique strength of field
research. With other methods, such as interviews and surveys, we certainly
cannot expect a respondent to answer a question to which they do not
know the answer or to provide us with information of which they are not
aware. And because field research typically occurs over an extended
period of time, social facts that may not be immediately revealed to a
researcher, but that are discovered over time, can be uncovered during the
course of a field research project.

The major benefits of field research are: 1. It yields very detailed data. 2.
It emphasizes the role and relevance of social context. 3. It can uncover
social facts that may not be immediately obvious, or of which research
participants may be unaware. On the other hand, the fact that field
researchers collect very detailed data does come at a cost. Because a field
researcher’s focus is so detailed, it is, by necessity, also somewhat narrow.
Field researchers simply are not able to gather data from as many
individuals as, say, a survey researcher can reach. Indeed, field researchers
generally sacrifice breadth in exchange for depth. Related to this point is
the fact that field research is extremely time intensive. Field research can
also be emotionally taxing. It requires, to a certain extent, the development
of a relationship between a researcher and her participants. However, if
interviews and field research both require relationship development, you
might say that interviews are more like casual dating while field research
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 148

is more like a full-blown, committed marriage. The relationships you

develop as a field researcher are sustained over a much longer period than
the hour or two it might take you to conduct an interview. Not only do
the relationships last longer, but they are also more intimate. On the plus
side, these relationships can be very rewarding (and yield the rich, detailed
data noted as a strength in the preceding discussion). But, as in any
relationship, field researchers experience not just the highs but also the
lows of daily life and interactions. And participating in day-to-day life with
one’s research subjects can result in some tricky ethical quandaries (see
Chapter 2 “Ethics in Research” for a discussion of some of these
quandaries). It can also be a challenge if your aim is to observe as
“objectively” as possible. Finally, documentation can be challenging for
field researchers. Whereas survey researchers provide questionnaires for
research participants to complete, and interviewers have recordings, field
researchers generally have only themselves to rely on for documenting
what they observe. This challenge becomes immediately apparent upon
entering the field. It may not be possible to take field notes as you observe,
nor will you necessarily know which details to document or which will
become the most important details to have noted. And when you take
notes after some observation, you may not recall everything exactly as you
saw it when you were there. The weaknesses of field research include that:
1. it may lack breadth; gathering very detailed information means being
unable to gather data from a very large number of people or groups.
2. it may be emotionally taxing .
3. documenting observations may be more challenging than with other
methods.

12.4 Getting In and Choosing a Site When embarking on a field research

project, there are two major aspects to consider. The first is where to
observe and the second is what role you will take in your field site. Your
decision about each of these will be shaped by a number of factors, over
some of which you will have control and others you will not. Your
decision about where to observe and what role to play will also have
consequences for the data you are able to gather and how you analyze and
share those data with others. We will examine each of these contingencies
in the following subsections. Your research question might determine
where you observe, by, but because field research often works inductively,
you may not have a totally focused question before you begin your
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 149

observations. In some cases, field researchers choose their final research

question once they embark on data collection. Other times, they begin
with a research question but remain open to the possibility that their focus
may shift as they gather data. In either case, when you choose a site, there
are a number of factors to consider. These questions include: 1. What do
you hope to accomplish with your field research? 2. What is your
topical/substantive interest? 3. Where are you likely to observe behaviour
that has something to do with that topic? 4. How likely is it that you will
actually have access to the locations that are of interest to you? 5. How
much time do you have to conduct your participant observations? 6. Will
your participant observations be limited to a single location, or will you
observe in multiple locations? Perhaps the best place to start, as you work
to identify a site or sites for your field research, is to think about your
limitations. One limitation that could shape where you conduct
participant observation is time. Field researchers typically immerse
themselves in their research sites for many months, sometimes even years.
As demonstrated in Table 12.1 “Field Research Examples”, other field
researchers have spent as much or even more time in the field. Do you
have several years available to conduct research, or are you seeking a
smaller-scale field research experience? How much time do you have to
participate and observe per day? Per week? Identifying how available
you’ll be in terms of time will help you determine where and what sort of
research sites to choose. Also think about where you live and whether
travel is an option for you. Some field researchers move to live with or
near their population of interest. Is this something you might consider?
How you answer these questions will shape how you identify your
research site. Where might your field research questions take you? In
choosing a site, also consider how your social location might limit what
or where you can study. The ascribed aspects of our locations are those
that are involuntary, such as our age or race or mobility. For example, how
might your ascribed status as an adult shape your ability to conduct
complete participation in a study of children’s birthday parties? The
achieved aspects of our locations, on the other hand, are those about
which we have some choice. In field research, we may also have some
choice about whether, or the extent to which, we reveal the achieved
aspects of our identities. Finally, in choosing a research site, consider
whether your research will be a collaborative project or whether you are
on your own. Collaborating with others has many benefits; you can cover
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 150

more ground, and therefore collect more data, than you can on your own.
Having collaborators in any research project, but especially field research,
means having others with whom to share your trials and tribulations in
the field. However,
120
collaborative research comes with its own set of challenges, such as
possible personality conflicts among researchers, competing
commitments in terms of time and contributions to the project, and
differences in methodological or theoretical perspectives (Shaffir,
Marshall, & Haas, 1979). When considering something that is of interest
to you, consider also whether you have possible collaborators. How might
having collaborators shape the decisions you make about where to
conduct participant observation? This section began by asking you to
think about limitations that might shape your field site decisions. But it
makes sense to also think about the opportunities—social, geographic,
and otherwise—that your location affords. Perhaps you are already a
member of an organization where you would like to conduct research.
Maybe you know someone who knows someone else who might be able
to help you access a site. Perhaps you have a friend you could stay with,
enabling you to conduct participant observations away from home.
Choosing a site for participation is shaped by all these factors—your
research question and area of interest, a few limitations, some
opportunities, and sometimes a bit of being in the right place at the right
time. Choosing a role As with choosing a research site, some limitations
and opportunities beyond your control might shape the role you take once
you begin your participant observation. You will also need to make some
deliberate decisions about how you enter the field and who you will be
once you are in. In terms of entering the field, one of the earliest decisions
you will need to make is whether to be overt or covert. As an overt
researcher, you enter the field with your research participants having some
awareness about the fact that they are the subjects of social scientific
research. Covert researchers, on the other hand, enter the field as though
they are full participants, opting not to reveal that they are also researchers
or that the group they’ve joined is being studied. As you might imagine,
there are pros and cons to both approaches. A critical point to keep in
mind is that whatever decision you make about how you enter the field
will affect many of your subsequent experiences in the field. As an overt
researcher, you may experience some trouble establishing rapport at first.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 151

Having an insider at the site who can vouch for you will certainly help,
but the knowledge that subjects are being watched will inevitably (and
understandably) make some people uncomfortable and possibly cause
them to behave differently than they would, were they not aware of being
research subjects. Because field research is typically a sustained activity
that occurs over several months or years, it is likely that participants will
become more comfortable with your presence over time. Overt
researchers also avoid a variety of moral and ethical dilemmas that they
might otherwise face. As a covert researcher, “getting in” your site might
be quite easy; however, once you are in, you may face other issues. Some
questions to consider are: 1. How long would you plan to conceal your
identity? 2. How might participants respond once they discover you’ve
been studying them? 3. How will you respond if asked to engage in
activities you find unsettling or unsafe? Researcher, Jun Li (2008)
struggled with the ethical challenges of “getting in” to interview female
gamblers as a covert researcher. Her research was part of a post-doctoral
fellowship from the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre to study
female gambling culture. In response to these ethical aspects, she changed
her research role to overt; however, in her overt role female gamblers were
reluctant to “speak their minds” to her (p. 100). As such, she once again
adjusted her level of involvement in the study to one who participated in
female gambling culture as an insider and observed as an outsider. You
can read her interesting story at the following link:
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol13/iss1/8. Beyond your own
personal level of comfort with deceiving participants and willingness to
take risks, it is possible that the decision about whether or not to enter the
field covertly will be made for you. If you are conducting research while
associated with any federally funded agency (and even many private
entities), your institutional review board (IRB) probably will have
something to say about any planned deception of research subjects. Some
IRBs approve deception, but others look warily upon a field researcher
engaging in covert participation. The extent to which your research site is
a public location, where people may not have an expectation of privacy,
might also play a role in helping you decide whether covert research is a
reasonable approach. Having an insider at your site who can vouch for
you is helpful. Such insiders, with whom a researcher may have some prior
connection or a closer relationship than with other site participants, are
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 152

called key informants. A key informant can provide a framework for your
observations, help translate what you observe, and give you
121
important insight into a group’s culture. If possible, having more than one
key informant at a site is ideal, as one informant’s perspective may vary
from another’s. Once you have made a decision about how to enter your
field site, you will need to think about the role you will adopt while there.
Aside from being overt or covert, how close will you be to participants?
In the words of Fred Davis (1973), [12] who coined these terms in
reference to researchers’ roles, “will you be a Martian, a Convert, or a bit
of both”? Davis describes the Martian role as one in which a field
researcher stands back a bit, not fully immersed in the lives of his subjects,
in order to better problematize, categorize, and see with the eyes of a
newcomer what’s being observed. From the Martian perspective, a
researcher should remain disentangled from too much engagement with
participants. The Convert, on the other hand, intentionally dives right into
life as a participant. From this perspective, it is through total immersion
that understanding is gained. Which approach do you feel best suits you?
In the preceding section we examined how ascribed and achieved statuses
might shape how or which sites are chosen for field research. They also
shape the role the researcher adopts in the field site. The fact that the
authors of this textbook are professors, for example, is an achieved status.
We can choose the extent to which we share this aspect of our identities
with field study participants. In some situations, sharing that we are
professors may enhance our ability to establish rapport; in other field sites
it might stifle conversation and rapport-building. As you have seen from
the examples provided throughout this chapter, different field researchers
have taken different approaches when it comes to using their social
locations to help establish rapport and dealing with ascribed statuses that
differ from those of their “subjects Whatever role a researcher chooses,
many of the points made in Chapter 11 “Quantitative Interview
Techniques” regarding power and relationships with participants apply to
field research as well. In fact, the researcher/researched relationship is
even more complex in field studies, where interactions with participants
last far longer than the hour or two it might take to interview someone.
Moreover, the potential for exploitation on the part of the researcher is
even greater in field studies, since relationships are usually closer and lines
between research and personal or off-the-record interaction may be
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 153

blurred. These precautions should be seriously considered before deciding

to embark upon a field research project Field notes The aim with field
notes is to record your observations as straightforwardly and, while in the
field, as quickly as possible, in a way that makes sense to you. Field notes
are the first—and a necessary—step toward developing quality analysis.
They are also the record that affirms what you observed. In other words,
field notes are not to be taken lightly or overlooked as unimportant;
however, they are not usually intended for anything other than the
researcher’s own purposes as they relate to recollections of people, places
and things related to the research project. Some say that there are two
different kinds of field notes: descriptive and analytic. Though the lines
between what counts as description and what counts as analysis can
become blurred, the distinction is nevertheless useful when thinking
about how to write and how to interpret field notes. In this section, we
will focus on descriptive field notes. Descriptive field notes are notes that
simply describe a field researcher’s observations as straightforwardly as
possible. These notes typically do not contain explanations of, or
comments about, those observations. Instead, the observations are
presented on their own, as clearly as possible. In the following section, we
will define and examine the uses and writing of analytic field notes more
closely. Analysis of field research data Field notes are data. But moving
from having pages of data to presenting findings from a field study in a
way that will make sense to others requires that those data be analyzed.
Analysis of field research data is the focus in this final section of the
chapter. From description to analysis Writing and analyzing field notes
involves moving from description to analysis. In Section 12.4 “Field
Notes”, we considered field notes that are mostly descriptive in nature. In
this section we will consider analytic field notes. Analytic field notes are
notes that include the researcher’s impressions about his observations.
Analyzing field note data is a process that occurs over time, beginning at
the moment a field researcher enters the field and continuing as
interactions happen in the field, as the researcher writes up descriptive
notes, and as the researcher considers what those interactions and
descriptive notes mean.
Often field notes will develop from a more descriptive state to an analytic
state when the field researcher exits a given observation period, with
messy jotted notes or recordings in hand (or in some cases, literally on
hand), and sits at a computer to type up those notes into a more readable
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 154

format. We have already noted that carefully paying attention while in the
field is important; so is what goes on immediately upon exiting the field.
Field researchers typically spend several hours typing up field notes after
each observation has occurred. This is often where the analysis of field
research data begins. Having time outside of the field to reflect upon your
thoughts about what you have seen and the meaning of those
observations is crucial to developing analysis in field research studies.
Once the analytic field notes have been written or typed up, the field
researcher can begin to look for patterns across the notes by coding the
data. This will involve the iterative process of open and focused coding
that is outlined in Chapter 10, “Qualitative Data Collection & Analysis
Methods.” As mentioned in Section 12.4 “Field Notes”, it is important to
note as much as you possibly can while in the field and as much as you
can recall after leaving the field because you never know what might
become important. Things that seem decidedly unimportant at the time
may later reveal themselves to have some relevance. As mentioned in
Chapter 10, analysis of qualitative data often works inductively. The
analytic process of field researchers and others who conduct inductive
analysis is referred to as grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967;
Charmaz, 2006).
The goal when employing a grounded theory approach is to generate
theory. Its name not only implies that discoveries are made from the
ground up but also that theoretical developments are grounded in a
researcher’s empirical observations and a group’s tangible experiences.
Grounded theory requires that one begin with an open-ended and open-
minded desire to understand a social situation or setting and involves a
systematic process whereby the researcher lets the data guide her rather
than guiding the data by preset hypotheses. As exciting as it might sound
to generate theory from the ground up, the experience can also be quite
intimidating and anxiety-producing, since the open nature of the process
can sometimes feel a little out of control. Without hypotheses to guide
their analysis, researchers engaged in grounded theory work may
experience some feelings of frustration or angst. The good news is that
the process of developing a coherent theory that is grounded in empirical
observations can be quite rewarding, not only to researchers, but also to
their peers, who can contribute to the further development of new
theories through additional research, and to research participants who
may appreciate getting a bird’s-eye view of their every day.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 155

Summary
This chapter focused on a qualitative research method known as field
research. It involves participant observation, interviewing, and document
or artifact analysis. Field research can gather very detailed data; however,
as such, field researchers often sacrifice breadth for depth as it relates to
their findings.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 156

References
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15614263.2016.1205985 Harrison, T. R., Yang, F., Anderson, D., Morgan,
S. E., Muhamad, J. W., Solle, N.S., …Kobetz, E. (20017). Resilience,
culture change, and cancer risk reduction in a fire rescue organization:
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(1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home (1st
ed.). New York, NY: Viking. Humphreys, L. (1970). Tearoom trade:
Impersonal sex in public places. London, UK: Duckworth. Li, J. (2008).
Ethical challenges in participant observation: A reflection on
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R. A., & Lins, B. A. (2018). The act of listening to “battered” women: An
ethnographic comparison of police and emergency responses in Sao
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al%20Inquiry.pdf Shaffir, W., Marshall, V., & Haas, J. (1980). Competing
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C., & Fulambarker, A. J. (2017). The “gray zone” of police work during
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Chicago. Police Quarterly, 20(1), 81-105. doi:10.1177/1098611116658875

CHAPTER XIII
UNOBTRUSIVE RESEARCH: QUALITATIV
AND QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES
Learning Objectives
• Define unobtrusive research methods and explain when it is suitable to
employ this type of research method.
• Outline the benefits and the drawbacks of using unobtrusive research
methods.
• Define the Hawthorne effect.
• Explain the difference between primary and secondary data sources.
• Explain the various methods for conducting unobtrusive research.
• Describe some of the advantages and disadvantages of analyzing other
people’s data.
• Describe three measures of reliability in unobtrusive research.
• Define ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. Unobtrusive
research refers to methods of collecting data that do not interfere with the
subjects under study (because these methods are not obtrusive). Both
qualitative and quantitative researchers use unobtrusive research methods.
Unobtrusive methods share the unique quality that they do not require
the researcher to interact with the people he or she is studying. It may
seem strange that sociology, a discipline dedicated to understanding
human social behaviour, would employ a methodology that requires no
interaction with human beings. However, humans create plenty of
evidence of their behaviours: they write letters to the editor of their local
paper; they create various sources of entertainment for themselves, such
as movies and televisions shows; they consume goods; they walk on
sidewalks; and they lie on the grass in public parks. All these activities
leave something behind: printed papers, recorded shows, trash, and worn
paths. These are all potential sources of data for the unobtrusive
researcher. Sociologists interested in history are likely to use unobtrusive
methods, which are also well suited to comparative research. Historical
comparative research is “research that focuses either on one or more cases
over time (the historical part) or on more than one nation or society at
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 158

one point in time (the comparative part)” (Esterberg, 2002, p. 129). While
not all unobtrusive researchers necessarily conduct historical,
comparative, or even some combination of historical and comparative
work, unobtrusive methods are well suited to such work. In this chapter,
we will examine content analysis as well as analysis of data collected by
others. Both types of analysis use data that do not require direct
interaction with human subjects, but the particular type and source of data
for each type of analysis differs. We will explore these similarities and
differences in the following sections, after we look at some of the pros
and cons of unobtrusive research methods. As is true of the other research
types we have examined thus far, unobtrusive research has both strengths
and weaknesses.

13.1 Strengths of Unobtrusive Research

Researchers who seek evidence of what people actually do, as opposed to
what they say they do in survey and interview research, might wish to
consider using unobtrusive methods. Field researchers may also claim this
advantage over interview and survey research, but field researchers cannot
be certain about what effect their presence in the field may have on the
people and the interactions that they observe. While unobtrusive research
projects, like all research projects, face the risk of introducing researcher
bias into the work, researchers employing unobtrusive methods do not
need to be concerned about the effect of the research on their subjects.
This effect, known as the Hawthorne effect, is not a concern for
unobtrusive researchers because they do not interact directly with their
research participants. In fact, this is one of the major strengths of
unobtrusive research. Another benefit of unobtrusive research is that it
can be relatively low-cost compared to some of the other methods we
have discussed. Because participants are generally inanimate objects as
opposed to human beings, researchers may be able to access data without
having to worry about paying participants for their time (though certainly
travel to or access to some documents and archives can be costly).
Unobtrusive research is also forgiving. What this means is that it is far
easier to correct mistakes made in data collection when conducting
unobtrusive research than when using any of the other methods described
in this text. Imagine what you would do, for example, if you realized at
the end of conducting 50 in-depth interviews that you had accidentally
omitted two critical questions from your interview guide. What are your
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 159

options? Re-interview all 50 participants? Try to figure out what they

might have said based on their other responses? Reframe your research
question? Scratch the project entirely? Obviously none of these options is
ideal. The
126
same problems arise if a mistake is made in survey research. For field
researchers, the consequences of “messing up” during data collection can
be even more disastrous. Imagine discovering after tagging along on a
political candidate’s campaign that you needed to re-do aspects of the field
research. In many cases, such as this one, that simply is not an option.
The campaign is over, and you would need to find a new source of data.
Fortunately for unobtrusive researchers, going back to the source of the
data to gather more information or correct some problem in the original
data collection is a relatively straightforward prospect. Finally,
unobtrusive research is well suited to studies that focus on processes that
occur over time. While longitudinal surveys and long-term field
observations are also suitable ways of gathering such information, they
cannot examine processes that occurred decades before data collection
began, nor are they the most cost-effective ways to examine long-ranging
processes. Unobtrusive methods, on the other hand, enable researchers
to investigate events and processes that have long since passed. They also
do not rely on retrospective accounts, which may be subject to errors in
memory, as some longitudinal surveys do.

13.2 Weaknesses of Unobtrusive Research

While there are many benefits to unobtrusive research, this method also
comes with a unique set of drawbacks. Because unobtrusive researchers
analyze data that may have been created or gathered for purposes entirely
different from the researcher’s aim, problems of validity sometimes arise
in such projects. It may also be the case that data sources measuring
whatever a researcher wishes to examine simply do not exist. This means
that unobtrusive researchers may be forced to tweak their original
research interests or questions to better suit the data that are available to
them. Finally, it can be difficult in unobtrusive research projects to
account for context. In a field research project, for example, the
researcher is able to see what events lead up to some occurrence and
observe how people respond to that occurrence. What this means for
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 160

unobtrusive research is that while it can be difficult to ascertain why

something occurred, we can gain a good understanding of what has
occurred. The weaknesses of unobtrusive research include the following:
1. There may be potential problems with validity. 2. The topics or
questions that can be investigated are limited by data availability. 3. It can
be difficult to see or account for social context. The strengths of
unobtrusive research include the following: 1. There is no possibility for
the Hawthorne effect. 2. The method is cost effective. 3. It is easier in
unobtrusive research than with other methods to correct mistakes. 4.
Unobtrusive methods are conducive to examining processes that occur
over time or in the past.

13.3 Unobtrusive Methods

This section focuses on how to gather data unobtrusively and what to
do with those data once they have been collected. A variety of ways exist
for gathering data unobtrusively. For these purposes we will focus on
three: content analysis, physical trace, and archival methods.
Content analysis One way of conducting unobtrusive research is to
analyze texts. Texts come in all formats. At its core, content analysis
addresses the questions of “Who says what, to whom, why, how, and with
what effect?” (Babbie, 2010, pp. 328–329). Content analysis is a type of
unobtrusive research that involves the study of human communications.
Another way to think of content analysis is as a way of studying texts and
their meaning. Here we use a more liberal definition of text than you
might find in your dictionary. The text that content analysts investigate
includes such things as actual written copy (e.g., newspapers, letters, and
communiques) and content that we might see or hear (e.g., speeches or
other performances). Content analysts might also investigate more visual
representations of human communication, such as television shows,
advertisements, or movies. Content analysis can also be an effective way
to investigate policy change over time. For example, Sheppard and
Fennell (2019) utilized a content analysis approach to examine public
sector tourism policies from around the world over a time span of
approximately 30 years. In their research, they were looking for evidence
of growing concern for the environment and welfare of animals used in
the tourism experience (e.g., beasts of burden, racing, fighting,
competitions, hunting, guides, captivity/entertainment, etc.).
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 161

data. In other words, the data is original. In contrast, secondary sources,

are those that have already been analyzed. The distinction between
primary and secondary sources is important for many aspects of social
science, but it is especially important to understand when conducting
content analysis. Less frequently, a content analysis can involve the
analysis of secondary sources. In those instances where secondary
sources are analyzed, the researcher’s focus is usually on the process by
which the original analyst or presenter of data reached his conclusions,
or the choices that were made in terms of how and in what ways to
present the data.
Sometimes students new to research methods struggle to grasp the
difference between a content analysis of secondary sources and a review
of literature, which was discussed in Chapter 5 “The Literature Review”.
With a review of literature, researchers analyze secondary materials to try
to understand what we know and what we do not know about a
particular topic. The sources used to conduct a scholarly review of the
literature are typically peer-reviewed sources, written by trained scholars,
published in some academic journal or press, and based on empirical
research that has been conducted using accepted techniques of data
collection for the discipline (scholarly theoretical pieces are included in
literature reviews as well). These sources are reviewed in order to arrive
at some conclusion about our overall knowledge about a topic. Findings
are generally taken at face value
A content analysis of scholarly literature would raise questions not raised
in a literature review. A content analyst might examine scholarly articles
to learn something about the authors (e.g., who publishes what, and
where?); publication outlets (e.g., how well do different journals represent
the diversity of the discipline?); or topics (e.g., how has the popularity of
topics shifted over time?). A content analysis of scholarly articles would
be a study of the studies, as opposed to a review of the studies. For
example, Sheppard and Fennell wanted to understand whether tourism
policy demonstrated a growing concern over time for animal welfare. The
researchers conducted their content analysis of different policies from
around the world, looking for words that were associated with concern
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 162

for animal welfare. Occurrences of these words were counted. In this

example, the researchers were not aiming to summarize the content of the
tourism policies; rather, they were attempting to learn something about
how the policies had evolved over time to demonstrate concern for
animals, if at all.
Content analysis can be qualitative or quantitative, and often researchers
will use both strategies to strengthen their investigations. In qualitative
content analysis the aim is to identify themes in the text being analyzed,
and to identify the underlying meaning of those themes. Quantitative
content analysis, on the other hand, involves assigning numerical values
to raw data so that it can be analyzed using various statistical procedures.
Sheppard and Fennell used both qualitative and quantitative approaches
in their content analysis. They utilized quantitative approaches by
counting the occurrences of words that they considered to be associated
with concern for the welfare of animals impacted by tourism. They also
used qualitative approaches by drawing blocks of text or sentences into
their analysis of the various policies to demonstrate how the policies
indicated or did not indicate concern for animal welfare. We will elaborate
on how qualitative and quantitative researchers collect, code, and analyze
unobtrusive data in the final portion of this section.
One of the most significant challenges related to content analysis is the
potential to reproduce the data (Krippendorff, 2004a, p. 215).
Krippendorff (2004b) suggests that an agreement coefficient can be
utilized as an indicator of reliability. He explains the relationship between
agreement and reliability, stating that agreement is what we measure, while
reliability is what we wish to inform from the measurement. While beyond
our purposes here, Krippendorff (2004b) compares seven different
agreement coefficients and makes recommendations for testing reliability
in content analysis. See Section 13.4 below for suggestions on improving
reliability in content analysis.

Physical trace
Content is not the only sort of data that researchers can collect
unobtrusively. Unobtrusive researchers might also be interested in
analyzing the evidence that humans leave behind that tells us something
about who they are or what they do. This kind evidence includes the
physical traces left by humans and the material artifacts that tell us
something about their beliefs, values, or norms. Fire and police will
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 163

examine scenes for “trace” evidence such as fingerprints, fire starter or

retardant, DNA etc. to help solve the mystery of what happened. From a
medical point of view, trace evidence can be used to assist paramedics and
doctors to determine what has happened – whether there is bruising, cuts,
pupil dilation, etc.
There are two types of physical traces: erosion and accretion. Erosion
refers to the wearing away, or removal, of material because of a physical
activity (e.g., a worn foot path). On the other hand, accretion is the
building up of material because of physical activity (e.g., a pile of garbage)
(Palys & Atchison, 2014).
One challenge with analyzing physical traces and material artifacts is that
you generally do not have access to the people who left the traces or
created the artifacts that you are analyzing. (And if you did find a way to
contact them, in so doing, your research would no longer qualify as
unobtrusive!) It can be especially tricky to analyze the meanings of these
materials if they come from a historical or cultural context other than your
own. Situating the traces or artifacts you wish to analyze both in their
original contexts and in your own is not always easy, and can lead to
problems related to validity and reliability. How do you know that you are
viewing an object or physical trace in the way that it was intended to be
viewed? Do you have the necessary understanding or knowledge about
the background of its original creators or users to understand where they
were coming from when they created it?
While physical traces and material artifacts make excellent sources of data,
analyzing their meaning takes more than simply trying to understand them
from your own contextual position. You must also be aware of who
caused the physical trace or created the artifact, when they created it, why
they created it, and for whom they created it. Answering these questions
will require accessing materials in addition to the traces or artifacts
themselves. It may require accessing historical documents or, if it is a
contemporary trace or artifact, perhaps another method of data collection
such as interviews with its creators.
Archival measures
Archival measures are hard copy documents or records, including written
or tape-recorded material, photographs, newspapers, books, magazines,
diaries, and letters. Webpages are also a source of archival measures and
can include documents, images, videos, and audio files, in addition to
written materials (Palys & Atichison, 2014). While one might state that
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 164

archival measures are just another form of accretion measure, because

they are the products of human activity; however, they are defined
separately due to significant differences and also the vast quantity of
materials that are classified as archival measures.
There are many benefits to using archival measures. For example, they
enable a researcher to look at historical evidence, providing an indication
of social processes. As such, archival measures gel well with longitudinal
studies. However, one thing to consider is that the sources one may be
interested in as it relates to archival measures were not created with the
goal in mind for a researcher to review them. As a result, the reasons for
the documents’ creation, and what may have influenced the content of
the document, should be given consideration and critical thought. In
some cases, researchers will use data from previous studies to assess the
material from another angle. Survey data are frequently used in this way
by researchers. Issues like memory fade, telescoping and the like, which
influence how people respond to questions in a survey, remain an issue
for researchers doing secondary analysis, regardless of how good the
questions are.
Another advantage of archival methods is that the researcher can look at
all relevant records, or the entire “population,” assuming the records have
been digitized. In such cases, the researcher does not need to worry about
choosing a representative sample. Rather, the researcher can analyse all of
the relevant records (the entire population) with the use of a computer

13.4 Analyzing Others’ Data

One advantage (or disadvantage, depending on which parts of the

research process you most enjoy) of unobtrusive research is that you may
be able to skip the data collection phase altogether. Whether you wish to
analyze qualitative or quantitative data sources, there are a number of free
data sets available to social researchers. This section introduces you to
several of those sources. Many sources of quantitative data are publicly
available in Canada from Statistics Canada (Stats Can) (see:
https://www.statcan.gc.ca). For example, the General Social Survey
(GSS) covers a broad range of topics. The website for the GSS can be
found at https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/survey/household/4501. Stats
Can also provides workshops, training, webinars, and conferences across
Canada, that are available to interested Canadians for a fee. Unfortunately
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 165

for qualitative researchers, far fewer sources of free, publicly available

qualitative data exist. This is slowly changing, however, as technical
sophistication grows and it becomes easier to digitize and share qualitative
data. Despite comparatively fewer sources than for quantitative data, there
are still a number of data sources available to qualitative researchers whose
interests or resources limit their ability to collect data on their own. The
Murray Research Archive Harvard, housed at the Institute for
Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, offers case histories
and qualitative interview data (https://murray.harvard.edu/). The Global
Feminisms project at the University of Michigan offers interview
transcripts and videotaped oral histories focused on feminist activism;
women’s movements; and academic women’s studies in Brazil, China,
India, Nicaragua, Poland, Russia and the United States (see
https://globalfeminisms.umich.edu/). Keep in mind that the resources
mentioned here represent just a snapshot of the many sources of publicly
available data that can be accessed easily via the web. Table 13.1 “Sources
of Publicly Available Data” summarizes the data sources discussed in this
section.

13.5 Reliability in Unobtrusive Research

This final section of the chapter investigates a few particulars related to

reliability in unobtrusive research projects, especially as it relates to
stability, reproducibility, and accuracy that warrant our attention. These
particulars have to do with how and by whom the coding of data occurs.
Stability refers to the extent to which the results of coding vary across
different time periods. If stability is a problem, it will reveal itself when
the same person codes the same content at different times and comes up
with different results. Coding is said to be stable when the same content
has been coded multiple times by the same person with the same result
each time. If you discover problems of instability in your coding
procedures, it is possible that your coding rules are ambiguous and need
to be clarified. Ambiguities in the text itself might also contribute to
problems of stability. While you cannot alter your original textual data
sources, simply being aware of possible ambiguities in the data as you code
may help reduce the likelihood of problems with stability. It is also
possible that problems with stability may result from a simple coding
error, such as inadvertently jotting a 1 instead of a 10 on your code sheet.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 166

Reproducibility, sometimes referred to as intercoder reliability (Lombard,

Snyder-Duch, & Campanella Bracken, 2010), is the extent to which one’s
coding procedures will result in the same results when the same text is
coded by different people. Cognitive differences among the individuals
coding data may result in problems with reproducibility, as could
ambiguous coding instructions. Random coding errors might also cause
problems. One way of overcoming problems of reproducibility is to have
coders code together, at the same time.
Finally, accuracy refers to the extent to which one’s coding procedures
correspond to some pre-existing standard. This presumes that a standard
coding strategy has already been established for whatever text you are
analyzing. It may not be the case that official standards have been set;
however, perusing the prior literature for the collective wisdom on coding
in your particular area is time well spent. Scholarship focused on similar
data or coding procedures will no doubt help you to clarify and improve
your own coding procedures.

13.6 Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis

Though not unique methods of data collection per se, ethnomethodology

and conversation analysis are unique enough, and prominent enough in
sociology, that they warrant some dedicated attention in this text.
Ethnomethodology Ethnomethodology is a term that was developed by
the sociologist Harold Garfinkel in his 1967 publication, Studies in
Ethnomethodology. According to Heritage (1984, p. 4), Garfinkel
developed the term to encompass a range of phenomena that are
associated with how members of society utilize mundane knowledge and
reasoning. Today, ethnomethodology is defined as the study of the
ordinary: the routine and the details of everyday reality (Patton, 2015;
Saylor Academy, 2012). It is different from ethnography (see Chapter12)
in that ethnography is a research method, while ethnomethodology is an
alternative approach that seeks to describe the methods humans utilize to
create social order (Heritage, 1984). An ethnomethodologist investigates
how people construct, prolong, and maintain their realities (Saylor
Academy, 2012). It asks the question, how do people make sense of their
everyday activities in order to behave in socially acceptable ways (Patton,
2015)? Ethnomethodology’s emphasis on the everyday, and on ordinary
people’s methods for producing order in their social worlds, is perhaps its
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 167

most distinctive characteristic (Saylor Academy, 2012). Conversation

analysis Conversation analysis is a more formal approach to
ethnomethodology (Schutt, 2012). It arose from the fact that some
categories (i.e., the meaning of gender), are socially constructed terms that
lead to verbal interaction (Schutt, 2006). Specifically, it is a qualitative
method for organizing and analyzing the details of conversation (Schutte,
2006). Similar to ethnomethodology, conversation analysis focuses on
how reality is constructed, as opposed to what it is. Conversation analysis
is premised on three points: 1. Interaction is sequentially organized, and
talk can be analyzed in terms of the process of social interaction rather
than motives or social status. 2. Contributions to action are contextually
oriented. Interaction both shapes and is shaped by the social context of
that interaction. The preceding processes are inherent in the details of the
interaction, and therefore, no details can be dismissed as being disorderly,
accidental or irrelevant (Gubrium & Holstein, 2000; Heritage, 1984, p.
241).

Summary
Chapter 13 focused on unobtrusive research, which enables researchers
to gather data without interfering or interacting with the research subjects.
Unobtrusive methods can be utilized in both qualitative and quantitative
research methodologies. Overall, it is a cost-effective manner of
undertaking research, however, it can suffer from validity issues, data
availability, and the challenge of accounting for the social context in which
the data was produced.
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 168

References
Babbie, E. (2010). The practice of social research (12th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth. Esterberg, K. G. (2002). Qualitative methods in social
research. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. Garfinkle, H. (1967). Studies in
ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Gubrium, J. F.,
& Holstein, J. A. (2000). Analyzing interpretative practice. In N. Denzin
& Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.),
(pp. 487-508). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Heritage, J. C.
(1984). Garfinkel & ethnomethodology. Cambridge: UK. Polity Press.
Krippendorff, K. (2004a). Content analysis: An introduction to its
methodology (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Krippendorf, K.
(2004b). Reliability in content analysis: Some common misconceptions
and recommendations. Human Communication Research, 30(3), 411-433.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2004.tb00738.x Lombard, M.,
Snyder-Duch, J., & Campenella Bracken, C. (2010). Practical resources for
assessing and reporting intercoder reliability in content analysis research
projects. Retrieved from
http://matthewlombard.com/reliability/#How%20should%20research
ers%20calculate%20intercoder%20reliability%20What%20software%20i
s%20available Palys, T., & Atchison, C. (2014). Research decisions:
Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.).
Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education. Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative
research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (4th ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Saylor Academy. (2012).
Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and quantitative methods.
Washington, DC: Saylor Academy. Retrieved from
https://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Principles%20of%20Sociologic
al%20Inquiry.pdf Schutt, R. K. (2012). Investigating the social world: The
process and practice of research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications. Sheppard, V. A., & Fennell, D. A. (2019, August). Progress
in public sector tourism policy: Toward an ethic for non-human animals.
Tourism Management, 73, 134-142. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.11.017
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 169

CHAPTER XIV
THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Learning Objectives
• Describe what a research proposal is.
• Discuss the goals of a research proposal.
• List the various components of a research proposal.
• Identify the 15 steps of writing a research proposal.
In this chapter, we will focus on the components of writing an effective
research proposal. We will begin by discussing what a research proposal
is, what its goals are, and the various components of a research proposal.
We will also examine a 15-step approach to writing a research proposal.
14.1 What are the Goals of a Research Proposal?
The research proposal has a set of specific goals: 1. To present and
justify the need to study a research problem. 2. To present a practical
way in which the proposed research study should be undertaken. 3. To
demonstrate that the design elements and procedures being set forth to
study the research problem meet with the governed standards within the
predominant discipline in which the problem resides. Regardless of the
research problem being investigated and the methods chosen to study
that problem, all research proposals must address the following
questions: 1. What do you plan to accomplish? Be clear and succinct in
defining the research problem and what it is you are proposing to
research. 2. Why do you want to do it? In addition to detailing your
research design, you must also conduct a thorough review of the
literature and provide convincing evidence that the topic is worthy of
study. Be sure you answer the “so what?” question. 3. How are you
going to do it? Make sure that what you propose to do is doable. In
other words, make sure you have the time, the resources and, most
importantly, the stamina to undertake what you are proposing to do.
14.2 Writing the Research Proposal
As with writing any academic paper, research proposals are generally
organized in the same manner across most social science disciplines. The
length of a research proposal depends upon the audience for whom the
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 170

research proposal is being prepared. For example, research proposals

being prepared for a doctoral degree will have higher expectations and
will likely run approximately 25 pages, excluding appendices and
references. On the other hand, a research proposal being prepared for
undergraduate level research might run approximately 10 pages, excluding
appendices and references. Before starting the writing process, a good
place to start is to ask yourself a series of questions: 1. What do I want to
study? 2. Why is the topic important? 3. In what ways is this topic
significant within my particular field of study? 4. What problems will this
research help to solve (i.e., social, cultural, safety, environmental,
economic, business, and/or governance issues)? 5. How does it build
upon and go beyond previous research on this topic? 6. What exactly
should I plan to do? 7. Can I get it done in the time and with the resources
available to me?
14.2 Writing the Research Proposal

As with writing any academic paper, research proposals are generally

organized in the same manner across most social science disciplines. The
length of a research proposal depends upon the audience for whom the
research proposal is being prepared. For example, research proposals
being prepared for a doctoral degree will have higher expectations and
will likely run approximately 25 pages, excluding appendices and
references. On the other hand, a research proposal being prepared for
undergraduate level research might run approximately 10 pages, excluding
appendices and references. Before starting the writing process, a good
place to start is to ask yourself a series of questions: 1. What do I want to
study? 2. Why is the topic important? 3. In what ways is this topic
significant within my particular field of study? 4. What problems will this
research help to solve (i.e., social, cultural, safety, environmental,
economic, business, and/or governance issues)? 5. How does it build
upon and go beyond previous research on this topic? 6. What exactly
should I plan to do? 7. Can I get it done in the time and with the resources
available to me?

Citations and references As with any scholarly research paper, you must
cite the sources you used in composing your research proposal. In a
research proposal, this can take two forms: a reference list or a
bibliography. A reference list lists the literature you referenced in the body
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 171

of your research proposal. All references in the reference list must appear
in the body of the research proposal. Remember, it is not acceptable to
say “as cited in …” As a researcher you must always go to the original
source and check it for yourself. Many errors are made in referencing,
even by top researchers, and so it is important not to perpetuate an error
made by someone else. While this can be time consuming, it is the proper
way to undertake a literature review. In contrast, a bibliography, is a list
of everything you used or cited in your research proposal, with additional
citations to any key sources relevant to understanding the research
problem. In other words, sources cited in your bibliography may not
necessarily appear in the body of your research proposal. Make sure you
check with your instructor to see which of the two you are expected to
produce. Overall, your list of citations should be a testament to the fact
that you have done a sufficient level of preliminary research to ensure that
your project will complement, but not duplicate, previous research efforts.
For social sciences, the reference list or bibliography should be prepared
in American Psychological Association (APA) referencing format.
Usually, the reference list (or bibliography) is not included in the word
count of the research proposal. Again, make sure you check with your
instructor to confirm.

Summary
Research proposals take a lot of time to prepare, even after one has
undertaken the literature review. As the research proposal serves as the
map for your research study, it is critical to take your time in researching,
thinking, and writing your research proposal. At the end of the day, you
want to leave the readers of your research proposal feeling, “Wow, this is
an exciting idea and I cannot wait to see how it turns out!” To help you
make sure your research proposal is clearly and logically written, here are
some common mistakes to avoid: Failure to develop a coherent and
persuasive argument for undertaking the proposed research. Failure to be
concise; not making the purpose clear and being “all over the map.”
Failure to cite landmark (significant) pieces of work in your literature
review. Failure to set forth the contextual boundaries of your research
(i.e., time, place, people, etc.). Failure to stay focused on the research
problem (i.e., going off on unrelated tangents). Sloppy or imprecise
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 172

writing, including grammatical mistakes. Too much detail on minor issues,

and not enough detail on major issues.

References
Martin, C. H., & Fleming, V. A. (2010). 15-step model for writing a
research proposal. British Journal of Midwifery, 18(2), 791-798.
doi:10.12968/bjom.2010.18.12.791 Krathwohl, D. R. (2005). How to
prepare a dissertation proposal: Suggestions for students in education and
the social and behavioral sciences. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University
Press. Retrieved from
http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/researchproposal Sheppard, V. A.,
& Williams, P. W. (2016, September). Factors strengthening tourism
resort resilience. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 28, 20-
30. doi:1 0.1016/j.jhtm.2016.04.006 Whitmore, R., & Knafl, K. (2005).
The integrative review: Updated methodology. Journal of Advanced
Nursing, 52(5), 546-553. Retrieved from
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.465.9393&r
ep=rep1&type=pdf
 Introduction to Research Methods P a g e | 173

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