1. RESEARCH METHODS
OVERVIEW
Dr. John Bradford

2. Research Methods
• All research begins with a ‘Literature
Review’!
– A ‘lit review’ is a review of the existing literature
on the topic
• Types of Research (not exhaustive!)
1. Surveys and Interviews
2. Experiments
3. Observation/ethnography
4. Unobtrusive (nonreactive) research

3. Survey
• Survey: a series of questions asked of a
number of people
1. Interview
2. Self-administered questionnaire
– Surveys are especially good for discovering basic
‘demographic information’-
age, gender, income, education, etc.
– Allows researchers to obtain information about
things that cannot observed directly, such as
attitudes.

4. Survey
1. Close-ended Survey Questions: respondents
are provided with list of possible answers
– Examples.
1. Are you: _______ male _______ female?
2. What is your present marital status?
– ______ _never married
– _______married
– _______ separated
– _______ divorced
– _______ widowed
3. Are you presently employed? ______ no ______ yes

5. Survey
1. Close-ended Survey Questions:
– Matrix Questions: answers look like a matrix, or
an array of numbers.
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
1. No student should be
allowed to consume alcohol
on campus.
2. Faculty should be subject
to a dress code

6. Survey
2. Open-ended Survey Questions:
Respondents answer questions in their own
words.
Examples:
– What is the most important thing you have
learned so far in this class?
– What is the thing that you like most about your
sociology class? The thing you like least?

7. Survey
6 Guidelines for Crafting Survey Questions
1. Adapt phrasing of questions to the educational level
of your respondents.
2. Avoid double negatives in a question
3. Avoid ‘marathon’ questions.
4. Don’t ask ‘double-barreled’ questions: ask only one
question at a time!
5. Don’t ask ‘leading’ or ‘loaded’ questions
6. Don’t ask questions that your respondent cannot
answer
– Inaccessible information, or illogical questions.

8. Experiment
• An experiment involves manipulating the
independent variable (X) and observing the effect on
the dependent variable (Y)
• Experiments are the only means by which we can
explore causal relationships; only way we can know
for sure if changes to X cause changes in Y.
• Experimenter needs two dependent variable (Y)
groups of Y:
1. Experimental group- receives ‘treatment’ of independent
variable (X)
2. Control group- does not receive treatment; is left alone.

9. Experiment
• Imagine a scientist testing the
effect that some drug, X, has on
growth of rats, Y.
• To see how the drug effects rat
growth, the experimenter will
compare growth in two groups
of rats: Y₁ , the group of rats
that gets the drug (X) and a
group of rates Y₂ that will not.
• Y₁ is the experimental
group, and Y₂ is the control
group.

10. Experiment
• One assumes separation or isolation
between the setting where X is
applied and the control, where X isn’t
applied.
• It is important that rats which receive
the drug and rats which do not be
alike in all relevant characteristics and
conditions, so that any observed
differences between rats which
receive the drug (the experimental
group) and those that do not (the
control group) can be attributed only
to the drug (X), and not to something
else.

11. Experiment
• A counter-factual refers to something that did not
happen, but could have or would have occurred.
– Whenever we infer causal relationships (‘X’ caused ‘Y’
to happen), we compare what did happen with what
we believe would have happened in the absence of the
cause, i.e. we compare a factual with a counter-factual
(imagined) condition.
• We use the ‘control group’ to make a
counterfactual argument, which says that: “in the
absence of X, this is how Y₁ would have behaved.”
We assume that Y₁ would have behaved like Y₂, the
control.
• Why? Because they are alike in all relevant
characteristics, so any difference we observe must
be a result of the independent variable, X.

12. Experiment
5 Rules for Doing True Experiments
1. Have at least two groups (control and experiment)
2. Randomly assign people to groups
3. Treat the experimental group by manipulating the
independent variable
4. Observe the effect of the treatment on the dependent
variable in the experimental group
5. Compare the dependent variable differences (the
outcome of treatment) in the experimental and
control groups

13. Observation
• Strategies of Field Research:
– Complete participant
– Complete observer
– Participant Observer
Hawthorne Effect: observation by a researcher can
influence the subjects who are being observed.
NO TOTAL
PARTICIPATION PARTICIPATION
Complete Participant Complete
Observer Observer participant

14. Unobtrusive (Nonreactive) Research
• Artifacts (archeologists)
• Statistics
• Content Analysis
• Triangulation = using several research
methods.

15. Sampling
• A Sample is a portion of the larger population
that you will study to make inferences about
the larger population.
• General rule: the more diverse a population
is, the larger the sample needs to be!
• Samples should be random: every element in
the population has the same probability of
being in the sample.