Lecture 4 of 4711

1. Lecture 4 of 4711 Social Research Methods I 29.9.03 5-6pm

3. Social Research Methods I & II • Lecture 4 (Paul Lambert) • Introduction to social research • The Survey Method • Lecture 5 (Nicola Illingworth) • More on social research process • Participant Observation • Interviewing

4. Course webpages • Have lectures 4 and 5 for download • Plus extract on “Survey Method” • See instructions in your coursebooks

5. Sociology and Empirical Social Research Problem  Hypothesis Evaluation with empirical social research evidence  Discussion

6. Empirical Social research • Is conducted by social researchers • Involves social research skills

7. Who does social research?

8. Who does social research? Outside universities • The Media • Market researchersand commercial companies • Charities • The Government and Local Authorities

9. Who does social research? Inside Universities: • University lecturers • University researchers • Post-graduate students

10. Empirical Social research • Is conducted by social researchers • Involves social research skills

11. What are social research skills? SR skills involve understanding issues and problems in, and being capable of undertaking, one or more forms of social research methods

12. Social research methods = forms of empirical social research

13. Why learn SR skills & methods? • To undertake social research • To understand / critique other people’s social research reports

14. The ‘big 3’ social research methods

15. A classical approach divides research methods as either Qualitative or Quantitative

16. Qualitative and Quantitative: • Quantitative: Anything that involves presenting numerical summaries • Qualitative: Anything else, typically involves a researcher interpreting and evaluating textual information

17. Quantitative or Qualitative:

18. Ql v’s Qn as real: • People doing them tend to be different • Can’t be a ‘Jack of all trades’ • People favour specialisms • Men computing v’s Women chatting! • Skills / technologies differ • Research presentation differs

19. Ql v’s Qn as false: • Methods-types not mutually exclusive • Not aligned with different philosophies • Research often benefits from more than one method, often both Qn and Ql

20. Choice of Research Methods Want to: • Address research question • Avoid own bias • Choose an attainable project • Convince others

21. The rest of this lecture concerns 1 research method: surveys

22. Surveys: The systematic collection of selected information from all or part of a population(see Marsh 1992 extract)

23. Surveys are characterised by ‘variable-by-case matrix’

24. Cases can be: • Any distinctive entity • Most often, they are individuals (people)

25. Variables are: • Measures of selected concepts of interest • Indicators (our ‘best guess’ at representing the concept)

26. The survey size • Total number of cases survey size. • A census covers every case in population. • Most surveys use samples of cases. • Larger survey size  more reliable sample estimates.

27. Sampling • Several sampling methods select cases • Aim: representative of total population • ‘Random sampling’ better • Opportunist samples more problematic (but not invalid)

28. Key features of survey evidence • Can involve large numbers of cases • Can be representative • Uses variable indicators • Usually analyses relatively few variables

29. Why study survey methods? • Often best way to assess research questions • Very widely used • Survey skills valuable assets • Survey based data everywhere

30. Strengths of surveys • Can be representative / large scale • Lots of methods research • ‘Inferential’ and ‘multivariate’ analyses • Analysis is ‘falsifiable’ • Secondary datasets widely available • Small scale surveys quick to conduct

31. Critiques of Surveys • Variables can be - simplistic • - misinterpreted • Sampling techniques often imperfect • Case / item non-response • Some people distrust data analysis – ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’

32. The strength and weaknesses of Surveys • …is a common essay topic…! • Most textbooks present lists or comments – it is well worth reading some up • Beware: most commentators have their own favourites and edit their lists accordingly.. • See previous research examples

33. Surveys as a research method Want to: • Address research question -Depends • Avoid own bias –Better than average • Choose an attainable project -Usually • Convince others –Average

34. Survey research skills: • Choose sampling • Design survey variables • Data collection methods (eg postal, telephone, face-to-face, internet) • Process data • Analyse data files on computer (eg SPSS) • Report / highlight results

35. Surveys: some examples 1. Historical: • The earliest surveys were attempts to understand the nature and causes of poverty (eg Booth, Rowntree, Bowley) • Early census’s - C19th – were concerned with demographics and mortality rates

36. Surveys: some examples 2. Modern large scale datasets • General Household Survey • British Household Panel Study • Census Samples of Anonymised Records • Major market research polls (eg Mori) [Often free access at the UK Data Archive]

37. Surveys: Some examples 3. ‘Ad hoc’ or opportunistic surveys • Small scale market research • Social research with specialised interest (eg attitudes of young students to drinking) • By far the most used form of SR

38. Summary • Surveys one of most important SR methods • Both good, and bad, survey research widely conducted • Larger scale surveys more reliable • Small scale surveys still have much to offer