112 .Chapter4: ResearchDesign
by calculatingthe percentages of students who
favored or opposed each of the severaldifferent
versions of abortion rights. Takentogether, these
severd percentageswould provide a good picture
of student opinion on the issue.
Movingbeyond simple description, you might
describe the opinions of subsets of the student
body, such as different college majors. Provided that
your design called for trapping other information
about respondents, you could also look at men ver-
sus women; frosh, sophomores,juniors, seniors,
and graduate students; or other categoriesthat you
have included.The descriptionof subgroupscould
then lead you into an explanatory analysis.
,#
The final stage of the research process involves the
uses made of the research you've conducted and
of the conclusionsyou've reached. To start, you'll
probably want to communicate your findings, so
that others will lmow what you've learned. It may
be appropriateto prepare-and even publish-a
written report. Perhaps you will make oralpresen-
tations, such as papers delivered to professional
and scientificmeetings. Other students would also
be interested in hearing what you have learned
about them.
You may want to go beyond simply reporting
what you have learned to discussingthe implica-
tions of your findings. Do they say anything about
actions that might be talcen in support of policy
goals?Both the proponents and the opponents of
abortion rights would be interested.
Finally, be sure to considerwhat your research
suggestsin regard to further research on you sub-
ject. What mistakesshould be correctedin future
studies? What avenues-opened up slightlyin
your study-should be pursued further in later in-
vestigations?This aspect of the researchprocess
will be discussed in Chapter 19.
ResearchDesignin Review
methods for what purpose. Although you'll want to
consider many ways of studyinga subject-and use
your imaginationas well as your knowledge of a
variety of methods-research design is the process
of narrowing your choices and focusingyour per-
spective for the purposes of a particular study.
If you're doing a research project for one of
your courses, many aspects of research designmay
be speczed for you in advance, includingthe
method (suchas an experiment) or the topic (as
in a course on a particular subject, such as preju-
dice).The following summary assumes that you're
free to choose both your topic and your research
strategy.
In designinga research project, you'll find it
useful to begin by assessingthree things: your in-
terests, y o u abilities, and the available resources.
Each of these considerationswill suggest a large
number of possible studies.
Simulatethe beginning of a somewhat conven-
tional research project:Ask yourself what you're
interested in understanding. Surelyyou have sev-
eral questionsabout socialbehavior and attitudes.
Why are some people politically liberal and others
politically conservative?Why are somepeople
more religious than others? Why do peoplejoin
militia groups? Do collegesand universities still dis-
criminateagainst minority facultymembers? Why
would a woman stayin an abusive relationship?
Spend some time thinldng about the kinds of ques-
tions that interest and concernyou.
Once you have a few questionsyou'd be inter-
ested in answeringfor yourself, think about the
kind of informationneeded to answer them. What
research units of analysiswould provide the most
relevantinformation:college students, young adult
women, neighborhoods, cities, or corporations?
This questionwill probably be inseparablein your
thoughts from the question of research topics. Then
ask which aspects of the units of analysiswould
provide the information you need to answer your
research question.
Onceyou have some ideas about the ldnd of
informationrelevant to your purpose, aslcyourself
how you might go about getting that information.
As this overview shows, research design involves a Are the relevant data likely to be already available
set of decisions regardingwhat topic is to be studied somewhere (say,in a government publication),or
among which population with which research would you have to collect them yourself? If you
have to collect the data, how would you go about
it? Would you need to surveya large number of
people or interview a fewpeople in depth? Could
you learn what you need to know by attending
meetings of certain groups? Could you glean the
data you need from books in the library?
As you answer these questions,you will find
yourself well into the process of research design.
Keep in mind your own research abilities and the
resources availableto you. There's little point in
designing a perfect study that you can't actually
carry out. You may want to try a research method
you have not used before so you can learn from
it, but be carefulnot to put yourself at too great a
disadvantage.
Once you have an idea of what you want to
study and how, carefully review previousresearch
injournals and boolcs to see how other researchers
have addressed the topic and what they have
learned about it. Your review of the literature may
lead you to revise your research design:Perhaps
you'll decide to use a previous researcher's method
or even replicate an earlier study.The independent
replicationof research projects is a standard proce-
dure in the physical sciences, and it's just as im-
portant in the social sciences, although social scien-
tists tend to overlook that. Or, you might want to
go beyond replication and study some aspect of
the topic that you feel previous researchershave
overlooked.
Here's another approach you might take. Sup-
pose a topic has been studiedpreviously using field
research methods. Can you design an experiment
that would test the findings those earlier researchers
produced? Or, can you think of existing statistics
that could be used to test their conclusions? Did a
mass surveyyield results that you'd like to explore
in greater detail through some on-the-spot obser-
vations and in-depth interviews?The use of several
differentresearch methods to test the same hding
is sometimes called triangulation,and you should
alwayskeep it in mind as a valuable research strat-
egy. Because each research method has particular
strengthsand wealcnesses, there is always a danger
that research findings will reflect, at least in part,
the method of inquiry.In the best of all worlds,
your own research design should bring more than
one researchmethod to bear on the topic.
The Research Proposal . 113
The ResearchProposal
Quite often,in the design of a researchproject, you
will have to lay out the details of your plan for
someone else's review and/or approval.In the case
of a course project, for example, your instructor
might very well want to see a "proposal"before you
set off to work. Later in your career, if you wanted
to undertake a major project, you might need to
obtain funding from a foundation or government
agency, who would most definitely want a detailed
proposal that describeshow you would spend their
money.
This chapter concludes with a brief discussion
of how you might prepare such a proposal. This
will give you one more overview of the research
process, which the rest of this boolc details.
ElementsofaResearchProposal
Although some funding agencies (oryour instruc-
tor, for that matter) may have specificrequirements
f& the elements or structure of a researchproposal,
here are some basic elements you should include.
Problemor Objective
What exactly do you want to study? Why is it
worth studying?Does the proposed study have
practical simcance? Does it contribute to the
constructionof socialtheories?
Literature Review
What have others said about this topic? What theo-
ries addressit and what do they say? What research
has been done previously? Are there consistent
findings,or dopast studies disagree?Are there flaws
in the body of existingresearch that you feel you
can remedy?
SubjectsforStudy
Whom or what will you study in order to collect
data? First, identdy the subjectsin general,theo-
retical terms; then, in specific,more conaete
terms, idenhfywho is available for study and how
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
114 .Chapter4: Research Design
you'll reach them. Will it be appropriate to select a
sample?If so, how will you do that? If there is any
possibility that your research will affectthose you
study, how will you insure that the research does
not harm them?
Measurement
What are the lceyvariables inyour study? How will
you d e h e and measure them? Do your demtions
and measurement methods duplicate or differfrom
those of previous research on this topic? Ifyou
have already developedyour measurement device
(a questiomaire, for example) or willbe using
sometlling previously developedby others, it might
be appropriateto include a copy in an appendix to
your proposal.
Data-Collection Methods
How willyou actually collect the data for your
study? Willyou conduct an experiment or a sur-
vey? W i you undertalcefield research or will you
focus on the reanalysis of statistics already created
by others? Perhapsyou will use more than one
method.
Analysis
Indicate the kind of analysisyou plan to conduct.
Spell out the purpose and logic of your analysis.
Are you interested in precise description? Do you
intend to explainwhy things are the way they are?
Do you plan to account for variations in some qual-
ity: for example,why some students are more lib-
eralthan others? What possible explanatoryvari-
ables will your analysis consider, and how willyou
know if you've explainedvariationsadequately?
Schedule
It is oftenappropriate to provide a schedulefor the
various stages of research. Even if you don't do this
for the proposal, do it foryourself. Unlessyou have
a timeline for accomplishingthe several stages of
research and keeping in touch with how you're do-
ing, you may end up in trouble.
Budget
When you ask someone to cover the costs of your
research, you need to provide a budget that speci-
fieswhere the money will go. Large, expensive
projects include budgetary categoriessuch asper-
sonnel, equipment, supplies,telephones, and
postage. Even for a project you pay for your-
self,it's a good idea to spend sometime anticipat-
ing expenses: office supplies,photocopying, com-
puter disks,telephone calls, fransportation, and
SO on.
As you can see,if you were interested in con-
ducting a social scienceresearchproject, it would
be a good idea to prepare a researchproposalfor
you own purposes, even if you weren't required
to do soby your instructor or a funding agency.If
you're going to invest your time and energy in such
a project,you should do what you can to insure a
return on that investment.
Now that you've had abroad overview of social
research, let's move on to the remaining chapters
in thisboolc and learn exactlyhow to design and
execute each specificstep.If you've found a re-
searchtopic that really interestsyou, you'll want to
keep it in mind as you see how you might go about
studyingit.
M A I N POINTS
e The principalpurposes of socialresearch in-
clude exploration,description, and explanation.
Research studies often combine more than one
purpose.
B) Exploration is the attempt to develop an initial,
rough understanding of somephenomenon.
e Descriptionis the precise reporting andlor
measurement of the characteristics of some
population or phenomenon under study.
Explanationis the discovery and reporting of
relationships among different aspects of the
phenomenon under study.Whereas descrip-
tive studies answer the question "What's so?"
explanatory ones tend to answer the ques-
tion "Why?"
Units of analysisare the people or things whose
characteristicssocialresearchers observe, de-
scribe, and explain. Typically,the unit of analy-
sisin socialresearchis the individualperson, but
it may also be a social group, a formal organi-
zation,a socialartifact, or some otherphenome-
non such as lifestyles or socialinteractions.
The ecologicalfallacyinvolves conclusions
drawn from the analysis of the attributes of
groups (e.g.,neighborhoods) that are then as-
sumedto apply to individuals (e.g.,specific res-
idents of different neighborhoods).
Reductionismis the attempt to understand
a complexphenomenon in terms of a narrow
set of concepts, such as attempting to explain
the American Revolution solely in terms of
economics (orpolitical idealismor psychology).
Researchinto processes that occur over time
presents social challenges that can be addressed
through cross-sectionalstudies or longitudinal
studies.
Cross-sectionalstudies are based on observa-
tions made at one time. Although such studies
are limited by this characteristic, researchers
can sometimesmake inferences about pro-
cesses that occur over time.
In longitudinal studies, observations are made
at many times. Such observationsmay be made
of samples drawn from generalpopulations
(trendstudies),samples drawn from more
specificsubpopulations (cohort studies),or
the same sample of people each time (panel
studies).
Research design starts with an initialinterest,
idea, or theoretical expectationand proceeds
through a series of interrelated steps to narrow
the focus of the study so that concepts, meth-
ods, and procedures are well defined.A good
research plan accountsfor all these steps in
advance.
At the outset, a researcher specifies the mean-
ing of the concepts or variablesto be studied
(conceptualization),chooses a research method
or methods (e.g.,experiments versus surveys),
and specifiesthe population to be studiedand,
if applicable, how it will be sampled.
Review Questions and Exercises .115
s The researcher operationalizesthe concepts to
be studied by stating precisely how variables in
the study will be measured. Researchthen pro-
ceeds through observation,processingthe data,
analysis, and application,such as reporting the
results and assessingtheir implications.
e A research proposal provides a preview of why
a study willbe undertalcen and how it will be
conducted.A researchproject is often required
to get permission or necessaryresources.Even
when not required, a proposalis a useful de-
vice for planning.
KEY TERMS
units of analysis longitudinal study
socialartifact trend study
ecologicalfallacy cohort study
reductionism panel study
cross-sectionalstudy
L: REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES
1. Using InfoTrac or the library, select a research re-
port that illustratesexploration,description,or ex-
planation. Identifywhich of these three purposes
the report illustratesand brieflyjustify yourjudg-
ment in that regard.
2. Here are some examples of real research topics.
For each one, name the unit of analysis. (Thean-
swersare at the end of this chapter.)
a. Women watch TV more than men because
they are likelyto worlcfewer hours outside
the home than men. ...Black people watch
an average of approximatelythree-quartersof
an hour more television per day than white
people. (Hughes1980:290)
b. Of the 130incorporatedU.S. cities with more
than 100,000inhabitantsin 1960, 126had at
least two short-termnonproprietarygeneral
hospitals accreditedby the American Hospital
Association. (Turk 1980:317)
c. The earlyTM [transcendentalmeditation]
organizationswere small and informal.The
LosAngeles group,begun in June 1959,met
at a member's house where, incidentally,
Maharishi was living. (Johnston1980:337)
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
116 .Chapter4: Research Design
d. However, it appears that the nursing staffs
exercisestronginfluence over. ..a decision
to change the nursing care system. ...Con-
versely, among those decisionsdominatedby
the administrationand the medical staffs ...
(Comstock 1980:77)
e. Though 667,000 out of 2 millon farmersin
the United Statesare women, women histori-
cally have not been viewed as farmers,but
rather, as the farmer's wife. (Votaw 1979:8)
f. The analysisof community opposition
to group homes for the mentallyhandi-
capped ...indicatesthat deteriorating neigh-
borhoods are most likelyto organizein
opposition,but that upper-middleclass neigh-
bbrhoods are most likely to enjoyprivate ac-
cess to local officials. (Grahamand Hogan
1990:513)
g. Some analysts during the 1960spredicted
that the rise of economicambitionand po-
liticalmilitancy among blacks would foster
discontentwith the "otherworldly"black
mainline churches. (Ellisonand Sherkat
1990:551)
h. This analysisexploreswhether propositions
and empirical mdings of contemporarytheo-
ries of organizationsdirectlyapplyto both pri-
vate prod~~ctproducing organizations (PPOs)
and publichuman serviceorganizations
(PSOs).(Schitlettand Zey 1990:569)
i. Thispaper examinesvariationsinjob title
structuresacross work roles. Analyzing
3,173job titles in the California civil service
systemin 1985,we investigatehow and why
lines of work vary in the proliferation of job
categoriesthat differentiate ranks, functions,
or particular organizationallocations. (Strang
and Baron 1990:479)
3. Look through a n academic researchjournal until
you find examples of at leastthree differentunits
of analysis. 1den.Qeach and present quotations
from thejournal to justify your conclusions.
4. Make up a research example-different from
those discussed in the text-that illustratesa re-
searcher faUing into the trap of the ecologicalfal-
lacy. Then modify the exampleto avoid this trap.
5. Drop in at the Russell SageFoundation
(m)and look at their
publications. Select one that illustratesa cross-
sectional,trend, cohort, or panel study design.
Justify your choice.
ADDITIONAL READINGS
Bart, Pauline, and Linda Frankel. 1986. TheStudent
Sociologist'sHandbook. Morristown, NJ: General
LearningPress.A handy little reference book to
help you get started on a researchproject. Written
from the standpoint of a student term paper, this
volume offers a particularly good guide to the pe-
riodical literatureof the social sciencesavailable in
a good library.
Casley,D. J., andD. A. Lury.1987.Data Collectionin
Deve1opi)zg Coulitries. Oxford: ClarendonPress. This
boolc discussesthe specialproblems of researchin
the developingworld.
Cooper,HarrisM. 1989.Integrating Research:A Guide
for Literature Reviews. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.The
author leads you through each stepin the litera-
ture reviewprocess.
Hunt, Morton. 1985.Profilesof SocialResearch: The Sci-
entifcStudy ofHuman Interactions. New York: Basic
Books. An engagingand informative seriesof
project biographies: James Coleman's smdyof
segregated schoolsis presented, as well as several
other major projects that illustrate the elements
of socialresearch in practice.
Iversen, GudmundR. 1991.Contextual Analysis. New-
bury Park, CA: Sage. Contextual analysis exarn-
ines the impact of socioenvironmentalfactors
on individualbehavior. Durkheim's study of sui-
cide offers a good example of this, identifying
socialcontexts that affect the likelihood of self-
destruction.
Maxwell, Joseph A. 1996.Qtlalitative Research Deshn:
An Interactive Approaclz. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Maxwell covers many of the sametopicsthat this
chapter doesbut with attention devoted specifi-
cally to qualitativeresearch projects.
Menard, Scott. 1991.Longitudinal Research. Newbury
Park, CA: Sage. Beginningby explainingwhy re-
searchersconductlongitudinal research,the au-
thor goes on to detail a variety of study designs as
well as suggestions for the analysis of longitudinal
data.
Miller, Delbert. 1991.Handbook of Research Design and
Social Measurement. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. A
usefulreference for introducingor reviewing nu-
merousissues involved in design and measure-
ment. In addition, the book containsa wealth of
practical informationrelating to foundations,
journals, andprofessionalassociations.
ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUEST10NS
AND EXERCISES, ITEM 2
a. Men and women, black and white people
(individuals)
b. Incorporated U.S. cities (groups)
C. Transcendentalmeditation organizations (groups)
d. Nursing staffs (groups)
e. Farmers (individuals)
f. Neighborhoods (groups)
g. Blacks (individuals)
h. Serviceand productionorganizations (formal
organizations)
i. Job titles (artifacts)
SOCIOLOGY WEB SITE
See the Wadsworth SociologyResource Center,
4 8 a A .Vutual Society, for additionallinks,hternet ex-
ercisesby chapter, quizzes by chapter, and Microcase-
related materials:
Answers to Review Questionsand Exercises, Item 2 .117
lNFOTRAC COLLEGE EDITION
SEARCH WORD SUMMARY
Go to the Wadsworth SociologyResource Cen-
@ ter, Virtual Society,to find a list of searchwords
for each chapter. Using the search words, go to Wo-
Trac College Edition, an online library of over 900
journals where you can do onlineresearch and find
readings related to your studies. To aid in your search
and to gain useful tips, see the Student Guide to Info-
Trac College Edition on the Virtual SocietyWeb site:
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely