Chapter 2: The Process and Problems of Social Research

1. Chapter 2: The Process and Problems of Social Research • The Process and Problems • What is the Question? • What is the Strategy? • What is the Theory? • What is the Design? • Is it Ethical?

2. What Is the Question? • Do mandatory arrest policies decrease domestic violence recidivism? • Does how much a person loves his or her dating partner influence the frequency of lying? • What factors influence men’s and women’s level of retirement income?

3. What Makes a Research Question “Good”? 1. Feasibility: Can you start and finish the research with the resources that you have and in the time that is available?

4. 2. Social Importance • Will an answer to your research question make a difference in the social world? • Will it help in understanding a problem considered important

5. 3. Scientific Relevance Does your research question help to resolve contradictory research findings or a confusing issue in social theory? *

6. What is the Strategy? Deductive, Inductive, or Descriptive?

7. Strategy #1: Deductive Research Deductive research starts with a theoretical premise (theory) and deduces a specific expectation.

8. What Is the Theory? • Social theory is a logically interrelated set of propositions about empirical reality • (i.e., the social world as it exists) • Theories are important in social research • Make connections to general social processes and large bodies of research • Building and evaluating theory-- one of most important objectives of social science

9. What Is the Theory?

10. Strategy #2: Inductive Research Inductive Research starts with data.

11. Inductive Research • If police in a precinct noticed (from their arrest existing data) that arrests of at least one person from the scene of a domestic violence case resulted in fewer subsequent calls to that same scene, • the police officers might develop (induce) a theory that mandatory arrests decrease domestic violence recidivism. *

12. Strategy #3: Descriptive Research Descriptive research starts with data and proceeds only to making generalizations, not generating entire theories.

13. Descriptive Research • “How frequently do those arrested for domestic violence return to violence?” • Description of social phenomena can stimulate more ambitious deductive and inductive research • Good description of data is the basis for scientific research process and • an essential component for understanding the social world. *

14. What Is the Design? • Once you’ve chosen a: • Research question, • Strategy, and • theory • You must decide on a research design • Cross-sectional • Look at cases at one point in time • Longitudinal • Look at two or more points in time

15. Unit of Analysis • Another important distinction between research designs is the focus on individuals—the individual unit of analysis • Victims or perpetrators of DV • Or • Focus on groups or aggregates of individuals—the group unit of analysis • Police precincts, cities, states

16. Three types of Research Designs

17. Cross-Sectional Design • In a cross-sectional design, all the data are collected at one point in time. • You take a “cross-section”—a slice that cuts across an entire population—and use that to see all the different parts, or sections, of that population.

18. Cross-Sectional Design • To study the effects of mandatory arrests • Take a “cross-section” of all domestic violence cases and • Examine whether arrests affected recidivism*

19. Longitudinal Designs: The Panel Design • A sample (called a panel) is drawn from a population at time 1, and data are collected from the sample (for instance, 100 arrestees from domestic violence cases are selected and interviewed). • 2. As time passes, some panel members become unavailable for follow-up, (some move or refuse to continue participating). • 3. At time 2, data are collected from the same people (the panel) as at time 1—except for those people who cannot be located (the remaining arrestees are re-interviewed).

20. Weaknesses of Panel Designs • Expense and Attrition • can be expensive to keep track of individuals for long periods of time • proportion of panel members who can be located for follow-up will decline over time. • Subject fatigue • Participants may grow weary of repeated interviews and drop out of the study • Others may become so used to answering the standard questions in the survey that they start giving stock answers

21. Populations and Samples

22. Longitudinal Designs: Repeated Cross-Sectional Design (Trend study) 1. A sample of domestic violence cases is drawn from a population of cases at time 1, and data are collected from the sample. 2. As time passes, some people leave the population and others enter it. 3. At time 2 a different sample of cases is drawn from this population.

23. Longitudinal Designs: A Cohort Study Cases in Cases in In a cohort study, the follow-up samples (at one or more times) are selected from the same cohort— Cohort: People who have experienced a similar event or a common starting point (Example: Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers)

24. Example of a Cohort

25. Real-life Example • Data collected from high school students from Baltimore, Maryland • Studies the difference in initiation of tobacco use between a cohort of adolescents that started working for pay and a cohort of adolescents that did not work. • The results suggest that adolescents who work for pay have a higher risk of initiating tobacco use. Ramchand, R., Ialongo, N. S., & Chilcoat, H. D. (2007). The effect of working for pay on adolescent tobacco use. American Journal of Public Health, 97(11), 2056-2062.

26. Unit of Analysis • The major entity that you are analyzing in your study. For instance, any of the following could be a unit of analysis in a study: • Individuals • Groups • Artifacts (books, photos, newspapers) • Geographical units (town, census tract, state) • Social interactions (dyadic relations, divorces, arrests)

27. Units of Analysis and the Domestic Violence Example Cases = individual arrests Cases =precincts Precinct #1 Precinct #2 Precinct #3 Individuals as Unit of Analysis Groups as Unit of Analysis

28. Two Research Fallacies A fallacy is an error in reasoning • The ecological fallacy occurs when you make conclusions about individuals based only on analyses of group data. • If you measured the math scores of a particular class and found that they had the highest average score in the district. • Later you meet one of the kids from that class and you think "she must be a math genius.” • Fallacy! Just because she comes from the class with the highest average doesn't mean that she does well in math. • She could be the lowest math scorer in a class that otherwise consists of math geniuses!

29. Two Research Fallacies • An exception fallacyis sort of the reverse of the ecological fallacy. • It occurs when you reach a group conclusion on the basis of exceptional cases. • This is the kind of fallacious reasoning that is at the core of a lot of sexism and racism (stereotypes). • The man who sees a woman make a driving error and concludes that "women are terrible drivers. • Fallacy!

30. Errors in Reasoning

31. Ethical Considerations • Honesty and Openness • Should not conceal motives to subject • Full disclosure of researcher identity • The Uses of Science • How will findings be used? • Who controls final report? • Who controls publicity? • Confidentiality • Informed consent agreement • Identifying information is available only to designated research personnel for specific research needs • Institutional Review Board (IRB) • Federally funded research

32. Conclusion: The Process of Researching the Effects of Mandatory Arrests

33. For Your Own Research… • Contemplate: • the question, • the strategy, • the theory, • the design, and • the ethics of the project. Start planning!