Understanding Social Research Methods: Types, Approaches, and Ethics, Exams of Social Work

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Social Research Methods Exam 1

Science - A set of logical, systematic, documented methods for investigating nature and natural processes; the knowledge is produced by these investigations Social Science - the use of scientific methods to investigate individuals, societies, and social processes; the knowledge produced by these investigations Pseudoscience - Claims presented so that they appear scientific even though they lack supporting evidence and plausibility Motives for Social Research - Policy Motivation, Academic Motivation, and Personal Motivation Four types of social research - Descriptive Research, Exploratory Research, Explanatory Research and Evaluation Research Descriptive Research - Defines & Describes something, what it is. It is quantitative, but not experimental. It simply describes an event, survey, correlation study, or case study. Exploratory Research - seeks to find out how people get along in the setting under question, what meanings they give to their actions and what issues concern them Explanatory Research -

seeks to identify causes and effects of social phenomenon and to predict how one phenomenon will change or vary in response to variation in some other phenomenon Evaluation Research - seeks to determine the effects of programs, policies or other efforts Qualitative Method - Methods such as participant observation, intensive interviewing, and focus groups that are designed to capture social life as participants experience it rather than in categories predetermined by the researcher. These methods rely on written or spoken words or observations that do not often have a direct numerical interpretation and typically involve exploratory research questions, an orientation to social context, and the meanings attached by participants to events and to their lives. Quantative Method - Methods such as surveys and experiments that record variation in social life in terms of quantities...data that are treated as quantitative are numbers or attributes ordered on terms of magnitude. Test hypothesis. Explanatory & Evaluation Inductive Research - The type of research in which general conclusions are drawn from specific data...Collect data- develop a theory that explains patterns in the data. The type of research in which general conclusions are drawn from specific data. Ind-Explor-Qual Deductive Research - the type of research in which a specific expectation is deduced from a general premise and is then tested.... The type of research in which a specific expectation is deduced from a general premise and is then tested. Start with social theory- test its implications with data.. specific expectation deduced from the more general theory is a hypothesis. Ded-Explan-Quant Theory - A logically interrelated set of propositions about empirical reality Independent Variable -

2. Beneficence—minimize harm and maximize benefits that you're able to contribute
3. Justice Ethical Principles -
   1. Achieving valid results
4. Honesty and openness
5. Protecting research participants
6. Avoid harming research participants
7. Obtain informed consent
8. Avoid deception in research except in limited circumstances: public places
9. Maintain privacy & confidentiality
10. Benefits should outweigh risks Deception - Used in social experiments to create more 'realistic' treatments in which the true purpose of the research is not disclosed to participants, often within the confines of a lab Nondisclosure of Researcher identity - Don't have to tell people youre a researcher if it's a public place Stanley Milgram's Study - Milgram wondered what could make "normal" people do "evil" things, and speculated about the role of obedience to authority. Laud Humphrey's Study - Tearoom Trade Tearoom trade -

Humphrey Studied homosexual activity in public restrooms and wanted to know about the people so he took license plate numbers and then was able to collect personal information. Harm to subjects/ anonymity Vulnerable Populations - groups who are more likely to develop health problems and experience poorer outcomes because of limited access to care, high risk behaviors and/or multiple and cumulative stressors prisoners, children, pregnant women, mentally incompetent Informed Consent - A written agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail. IRB - Institutional review board, review ethical issues in all proposed research that is federally funded, involves human subjects, or has potential to harm human subjects Order of Research - Research Question or Problem, Concepts, Measurement, Analysis Conceptualization - The process of specifying what we mean by a term.. Deductive: conceptualization helps to translate portions of an abstract theory into specific variables that can be used in testable hypotheses... Inductive: conceptualization is an important part of the process used to make sense of related observations Measurement - the process of linking abstract concepts to empirical indicants Reliability - Measurement procedure yields consistent scores when the phenomenon being measured is not changing, can be reliable & not valid

Idiosyncratic individual errors - errors that affect individuals or other cases in unique ways that are unlikely to be repeated in just the same way.... Individuals make idiosyncratic errors when they don't understand a question, when some unique feelings are triggered by the wording of a question or when they are feeding out of sorts due to some recent events Generic Individual Errors - Error that occurs when the responses of groups of individuals are affected by factors that are not "what the instrument is intended to measure" (ex: agreeing with statements, simply because one tries to avoid saying they disagree with anyone.) Method Factors - Errors that occur when questions are unclear and are misinterpreted by respondents, or when unbalanced response choices lead most respondents to give positive rather than negative responses. Interitem reliability - Test to reduce unreliability.. Use of multiple items..Using multiple items to measure a single concept