Key Takeaways

• Many researchers choose topics by considering their own personal experiences, knowledge, and interests.
• Researchers should be aware of and forthcoming about any strong feelings they might have about their research topics.
• There are benefits and drawbacks associated with studying a topic about which you already have some prior knowledge or experience. Researchers should be aware of and consider both.
• Empirical questions are distinct from ethical questions.
• There are usually a number of ethical questions and a number of empirical questions that could be asked about any single topic.
• While social scientists may study topics about which people have moral opinions, their job is to gather empirical data about the social world.
• When thinking about the feasibility of their research questions, researchers should consider their own identities and characteristics along with any potential constraints related to time and money.
• Most strong research questions have five key features: written in the form of a question, clearly focused, beyond yes/no, more than one plausible answer, and consider relationships among concepts.
• A poorly focused research question can lead to the demise of an otherwise well-executed study.
• In qualitative studies, the goal is generally to understand the multitude of causes that account for the specific instance the researcher is investigating.
• In quantitative studies, the goal may be to understand the more general causes of some phenomenon rather than the idiosyncrasies of one particular instance.
• In order for a relationship to be considered causal, it must be plausible and nonspurious, and the cause must precede the effect in time.
• A unit of analysis is the item you wish to be able to say something about at the end of your study while a unit of observation is the item that you actually observe.
• When researchers confuse their units of analysis and observation, they may be prone to committing either the ecological fallacy or reductionism.
• Hypotheses are statements, drawn from theory, which describe a researcher’s expectation about a relationship between two or more variables.
• Exploratory research is usually conducted when a researcher has just begun an investigation and wishes to understand her or his topic generally.
• Descriptive research is research that aims to describe or define the topic at hand.
• Explanatory research is research that aims to explain why particular phenomena work in the way that they do.
• Idiographic investigations are exhaustive; nomothetic investigations are more general.
• Applied research may contribute to basic understandings and that basic research may also turn out to have some useful application.
• Applied Human Sciences appeal to a variety of disciplinary perspectives
• Though different disciplines address similar topics, there are distinct features that separate each discipline

Exercises

• Do some brainstorming to try to identify some potential topics of interest. What have been your favorite classes in university thus far? What did you like about them? What did you learn in them? What extracurricular activities are you involved in? How do you enjoy spending your time when nobody is telling you what you should be doing?
• Pick two variables that are of interest to you (e.g., age and religiosity, gender and university major, geographical location and preferred sports). State a hypothesis that specifies what you expect the relationship between those two variables to be. Now draw your hypothesis.
• Name a topic that interests you. Now keeping the features of a good research question in mind, come up with three possible research questions you could ask about that topic.
• Discuss your topic with a friend or with a peer in your class. Ask that person what sorts of questions come to mind when he or she thinks about the topic. Also ask that person for advice on how you might better focus one or all the possible research questions you came up with on your own.
• Think of some topic that interests you. Pose one ethical question about that topic. Now pose an empirical question about the same topic.
• Read a few news articles about any controversial topic that interests you (e.g., immigration, gay marriage, health care reform, terrorism, welfare). Make a note of the ethical points or questions that are raised in the articles and compare them to the empirical points or questions that are mentioned. Which do you find most compelling? Why?
• Describe a scenario in which exploratory research might be the best approach. Similarly, describe a scenario in which descriptive and then explanatory research would be the preferred approach.
• Which are you more drawn to personally, applied or basic research? Why?
• Take a look around you the next time you are heading across campus or waiting in line at the grocery store or your favorite coffee shop. Think about how the very experience you are having in that moment may be different for those around you who are not like you. How would a change in your physical capabilities alter your path across campus? Would you interpret the stares from the child sitting in her parents’ cart at the grocery store differently if you were a different race?

References

Babbie, E. (2010). The practice of social research (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Blee, K. (1991). Women of the klan: Racism and gender in the 1920s. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Blee, K. (2002). Inside organized racism: Women and men of the hate movement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press;

Esterberg, K. G. (2002). Qualitative methods in social research. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill;

Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Leon-Guerro, A. (2011). Social statistics for a diverse society (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Huff, D., & Geis, I. (1993). How to lie with statistics. New York, NY: Norton.

Lofland, J., & Lofland, L. H. (1995). Analyzing social settings: A guide to qualitative observation and analysis (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

MacLeod, J. (2008). Ain’t no makin’ it: Aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood (3rd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.