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Research Methods in Social Sciences

Introducing Research

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Introduction

• Students are increasingly required to undertake their own research.

• This may take the form of a 'live' project, where students work in partnership with industry on an agreed project, or an extended research project.

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Introduction

• As preparation for their research project, students may have engaged in fieldwork that has provided an opportunity to develop and extend their research skills in data collection and analysis.

• In addition, a carefully structured programme of research methods is usually provided for students as an essential foundation for individual research work.

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What is research?

• Authors define research as 'a systematic and organised effort to investigate a specific problem that needs a solution'.

• This is elaborated upon by saying that the processes of research inquiry have to be carried out actively, critically, objectively and logically with the desired end to 'discover new facts that will help us to deal with the problem situation‘

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What is research?

Before starting a research, students should ask the following questins; Which style of research to use? How will the research design be

structured? How will the data be collected? What type of data is appropriate? How will I analyse the data?

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Types of research

• Many texts on research methods make the distinction between two different types of research: pure and applied research.

• Pure research is 'concerned with the development, examination, verification and refinement of research methods, procedures, techniques and tools that form the body of research methodology'.

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Types of research

• For some researchers pure research is about expanding the limits of knowledge by adding to theory.

• Applied research is conducted to analyse and find a solution to a problem that has direct relevance to the recreation and travel industry, for example.

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Research styles• There are essentially three main styles of research

in the social sciences that researchers• in leisure and tourism can draw upon. They include

the:survey methodexperimental methodethnographic method

• The survey requires a sample of respondents to reply to a number of questions that have been previously determined as relevant to the research.

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Research styles

• By using the same questions for the selected sample of respondents, individuals in the sample may be compailed.

• Data may be collected through an interviewer administered questionnaire or a self-completion questionnaire.

• Surveys have the chief advantage of collecting a lot of information in a relatively short period of time.

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Research styles• Experimental research is less common in leisure and tourism

research. • The experiment involves testing variables under controlled

circumstances to measure the effect of one variable on another.

• In the experimental research design, the independent variable is manipulated to find out its impact on the dependent variable.

• With a well-designed experiment, all other variables that could affect the outcome of the research are controlled for and eliminated, to make it easier to connect a cause (independent variable) with an effect (dependent variable).

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Research styles

• Ethnographic research involves a method of investigation where a culture is observed in its natural setting.

• Ethnographers study the complexity of social interaction as expressed in daily life.

• Focus is on the meanings the participants themselves attribute to these interactions.

• It is also time-consuming process...• Although tourism and leisure researchers rarely

use the experimental style of research, it is important to appreciate its strengths.

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Research styles• The survey may also aim to carry out a causal

analysis by collecting data on a range of respondents, and attempt to control for external sources by statistical techniques.

• This is an important difference between these two styles of research.

• Whereas the ethnographic style of research studies the totality of the culture in greater depth, to gain an understanding of the point of view of participants in the research.

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Research Structure

10. Questionnaires

9. Qualitative

13. Sampling

11. Experimental

8. Observation

7. Secondary data

16. Survey data

15. Qualitative

18. Research report

14. Secondary

4. Research ethics

3. Starting out

6. Reviewing literature

5. Range of methods

2. Approaches

1. Introduction

PART I PREPARATION PART IIDATA COLLECTION

12. Case studies

PART IIIDATA ANALYSIS

PART IV COMMUNICATE

RESULTS

17. Statistical

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Objective or Research Aim

‘The aim, as far as I can see, is the same in all sciences. Put simply and cursorily, the aim is to make known something previously unknown to human beings. It is to advance human knowledge, to make it more certain or better fitting ... The aim is Discovery’.

— Norbert Elias (1897-1990)

(German Sociologist)

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Scientific research

• Research conducted within the rules of science

• Based on:–Logic–Systematic examination of evidence

• Ideally can be replicated (increased)

• Knowledge is cumulative

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Social science research

• Deals with people • Uses methods and traditions of social

science• People are less predictable than non-human

phenomena• The social world is constantly changing• People can be aware of research being

conducted on them

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• Descriptive – finding out, describing what is

• Explanatory – explaining how or why things are as they are (and using this to predict)

• Evaluative – evaluation of policies and programmes

Three types of research

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Descriptive research

• Because the social world is constantly changing, descriptive research is continuously needed– e.g. Periodic data on tourist flows, leisure

participation

• Descriptive research needed for:– Market profiles

– Needs assessment, etc.

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Explanatory research

• Involves: why and how?

• Causality: A is caused by B

• Prediction: a change in A will result in a change in B

• Biological and social science – A causes B to a predictable extent

Evaluative research

• To what extent has a programme achieved its aims?

• Academics– Part of the job description. Knowledge for its own sake

= some engagement with industry/professions

• Students– Coursework projects + Theses

• Government and commercial organisations– To inform/evaluate ‘evidence-based policy’

• Managers– To inform practice. Monitor performance, aid decision-

making

• Consultants– Under contract to government and industry

Who does research?

• Unfunded

• University internal funds

• Government - funded research councils

• Private trusts

• Industry – public, commercial or non-profit

Who pays?

• Academic journal articles• Professional journal articles• Conference presentations/papers• Books• Policy/planning/management reports

– Position statements– Market profiles– Market research– Feasibility studies– Leisure/recreation needs studies– Tourism strategies / marketing plans– Forecasting studies

Research outputs

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Quantitative or qualitative research?• At one level it is very easy to distinguish betvveen

quantitative and qualitative research. • quantitative research defined as “empirical research

where the data are in the form of numbers”, and “qualitative research where the data are not in the form of numbers”.

• Here, rather than emphasising differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches, it is better to view the characteristics of each as defined in relation to each other.

• These two different approaches are summarised in Table 1.1.

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Table 1.1: Quantitative and qualitative approaches toresearch

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Combining methods• There seems to be a strong association in the

minds of students undertaking research that quantitative research is associated with the method of theory testing and qualitative data with seeking patterns in the data to inductively generate theory.

• Evidence from leisure and tourism research would tend to support these, as there is a relationship between the purpose of the research and the method of data collection.

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Combining methods• The student must not see one approach to

research as superior to the other. • Some research questions may demand

qualitative data, others quantitative or a combination of the two.

• It is highly likely that a researcher using quantitative methods will mix quantitative methods by using a questionnaire survey and published statistics.

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Combining methods

• The assumption here is that quantitative and qualitative methods are complementary rather competing approaches.

• To explore further this idea of combining methods Bryman explores a range of different ways of combining qualitative and quantitative methods;

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Combining methods1. Either quantitative research helps facilitate

qualitative research, or qualitative research helps facilitate quantitative research.

2. Quantitative research can explore large-scale macro structures whereas qualitative research can focus on small-scale micro aspects of the project.

3. At different points in the study quantitative methods might be more appropriate than qualitative methods, or vice versa.

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Combining methods

• Where qualitative and quantitative methods are used in combination in the same study, findings of one investigation can be checked against the findings from the other type.

• This is what is meant by 'triangulation'.• Combining methods seems to be a strategy

that will enhance the research findings.

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Combining methods

• From the previous discussion, positivists and phenomenologists are not opposed to combining data collection methods within the same paradigm.

• Moreover, a pragmatic researcher can see the value of using two different methods to act as counterchecks to strengthen the validity of the results.

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End of Slides