Research Methods
critical scholars
focus on the execersize of power and look for ways to overcome opression
how do you determine good/bad claims?
for social scientists, claims are weighed based on empirical facts and theory. For interpretive researchers, explanations/research should provide an in-depth description of phenomena and offer coherent interpretation of experiences the richer the better
postmodern turn
postmodernism argues against definitive reality and truth (the metanarrative) -argues discourse constructs reality -focus on study of discourse (which provides an excellent connection for communication studies!) postmodernists believed that reality and truth is permeable, adaptable flexible and the nature in which we engage in comm shapes our reality and truth
what is the purpose of research for interpretivists?
understand how people construct meaning in life and understand experiences -phenomenology or symbolic interactionism, they both study some aspect of meaningful social interaction human actions are meaningless unless considered in their social and cultural contexts ^this exploration of meaning is at the heart of the interpretive paradigm
plagerism
using someone elses words or ideas without giving credit to the person or institution
do humans have free will?
voluntarism: the idea people are able to make conscious choices based on reason researchers much be considerate of feelings and decision-making process. such processes and feelings often reveal how participants understand phenomena and interact with society (symbolic interactionism)
Central Limit Theorem
- Under normal conditions data taken from larger samples is more normally distributed• - As more and more samples are taken from a population you have a greater chance of having the sample represent the population • Random selection is the best way for a sample to represent the population • If you can't get a random sample your amount of error could be much higher based on these factors, we can generalize our findings generalizability: extending our findings, results, or conclusions from the sample in the population
symbolic interactionism
- focuses on relationships between symbols, society, and interaction -Shared meaning is created through interactions and these meanings become reality -the Chicago school of thought - people make sense of their world (family, community, culture, school) through how they interact with others three key ideas: 1. the human mind 2. social interaction 3. help us understand society pg 101
Social scientific theories
- organize and summarize knowledge -focus on the relationships between variables -clarify the observed world -help us predict human behavior -generates more research: heuristic value -theories are abstract and partial -theories represent how people see the world -some theories have a generative function
ethics and human subjects
-main guidelines for research using human subjects - Belmont report: respect for individuals that we are studying , benefit should outweigh the harm, consider the nature of the beneficence, interested in justice -Informed consent: people that were are studying are aware of what we are doing and why -informed participants 1. respect for individuals that we are studying 2. benefit should outweigh the harm 3. participants should be treated fairly always do a research debriefing and explain what the findings were
maintaining power
-power maintained in two ways -repressive state apparatus=the state protects established relationships of production -ideological state apparatus= private powers outside of the state (religion, education, media, etc) -singluar under public control (we can only have one set of laws, courts, police and prisons at one time)
institutional review board (IRB)
-reviews research proposals -responsible for enacting codes of conduct -monitors research in process -every college/campus has an IRB -IRB staff has a varies research background -staff includes at least one outside member
ethics and scientific community
-silencing of science and impact on ethics -moral vs amoral science (eg. Frankenstein) -utilitarian ethics: benifit outweighs harms ex: abuses during ww2 and abuses in US
How do you determine if an explanation is good or bad?
Are the results logical? Replication
How do the social scientists differ from the natural scientists?
Both focus on patterns in behavior -social scientists focus on patterns in human behavior social: describe and predicting human behavior social is more unpredictable natural scientists focus on patterns of other organisms -difficult to predict human behavior due to social variables
Communication vs. Communications
Communication is a process of sharing means with others.(communication with humans, when humans talk to eachother) -sender, message, and a receiver -feedback -noise communications is technological system for transmission of information (comm of technology: when computers talk to eachother) -telephone, cable, TV, fiber optics, the internet
Privacy:
Confidentiality= researcher does not share names about participants Anonymity=even the researcher does not know the names of the participants
content validity
Degree to which a scale/instrument measures all aspects of a behavior, trait or state • To determine content validity, experts in the field analyze the scale and determine if the content is appropriate based on the literature
Do humans have free will?
Determinism: means social scientists believe humans and their actions are caused by identifiable external forces as well as internal attributes - human actions are mainly caused by identifiable external forces as well as internal attributes This means that a lot of our decisions in life are determined by not only by our internal makeup (who we are) but also by our surroundings (culture, people around us, politics, economics, etc.)
criterion-related validity
Does the scale/instrument effectively predict indicators or criterion of a construct • Two kinds- Concurrent validity: when scores are obtained at the same time as the criterion measures Predictive validity: when the criterion is measured after the scores are obtained
Operational Definition
Explanations of methods, procedures, variables, and instruments used to measure concepts -"Rules" researchers give themselves for identifying, analyzing, or measuring concepts fovuses on how the data will be measured
What is theory?
First, a theory can be descriptive, predictive and or casual in its explanations. If a theory is casual, X causes Y because Y and X are related in some way. IF a theory is descriptive or predictive, X is related to Y because A, B, C, D, etc reasons Second, a theory should clearly outline the situations under which it operates and applies EX: one should not use a theory meant to study organizational dissent when studying how intimate partners express disatisatifaction or opinions about organizational issues. Third, a theory should typically have axioms, postulates, and theorems. These statements add to the testable of theories Fourth, a theory should be applicable in various cultural contexts
ways to determine reliability
Intercoder Reliability: Statistical analysis of how similar/different coders are in coding data "necessary criterion for valid useful research when human coding is in place" measured using: -percent agreement (basic measure) -Cohen's kappa (k) -Spearman's rho -Pearson's correlation (r) -Krippendorf's alpha • Alternate Forms: Use two or more instruments to measure the same construct/trait -with 2 independent measures we can better understand individuals motives to communicate and assert that measures are reliable measures of the same construct if results are similar on both tests • Objective is to determine the equivalence or similarity of the scores for the participants • Test-retest: Give same measure(s) to participants at multiple points in time • Measuring similarity and stability of results • Internal Consistency: items on the measure have generally consistent responses from participants
what is reality?
Reality can be observed, identified, and explained by the researcher; it is generally stable, it doesn't change much For social scientists, reality can be observed by the researcher because reality is out there waiting to be observed, explained and identified. if we can see or touch something, then reality is not as complex as its basic root
theory
statement of rules on which a subject is based -explanation of the relationship between variables -various approaches to theory - social scientific, interpretive/humanistic, critical culture
What is the place of value in social science
SS researchers try to be value free (objective). SS strongly believe that research should be free of interference from religious, political, and other personal influences that might alter the objectivity of a researchers process and/or findings. A researcher should be a disinterested party, one who observes and reports on phenomena without allowing values or morals to interfere. -value free research is the ideal for social science -values and morals should not influence research decisions/outcomes (as much as possible) The job of SS is to recognize the place and the impact of values on their research
conceptual definition
Similar to dictionary definitions -Based on previous research and used to create an agreed-upon definition for a concept used in a study focuses on the way the data is understood by the researcher
dialectic
an idea contains its own negation
How do you determine good and bad claims?
claims are weighed based on our knowledge of empirical facts and theory. Refuting claims to knowledge is the never-ending quest that social scientists consider the testing of theory -compare results to previous results -popper said knowledge claims cannot be proven then can only be refuted
ethics: guide, constrain and enflame the practices of what we do that keep us away from engaging in bad conduct
There are many definitions: Aristotle: Living well and doing good Quintilian: A good person who speaks well Hobbes: Maintaining the social contract Cambridge Dictionary: Principles governing our choices Arnett, Harden, and Fritz: Supporting values of human life and conduct Your textbook: actions, thoughts, values principles and how one practices for determining how to interact with others - religions approaches
notion of theory defined by CM:
statement that tries to explain facts and reasoning in the social and scientific world tries to explain whats happening and why
confederate
a person in on the project and assisting with data collection
informed consent
an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate 1. title of project 2. names of researchers 3. contact info for researchers 4. purpose of study 5. procedures 6. risk and benefits 7. anonymity 8. voluntary participation
Cubic face
an interpretive researcher could conduct in-depth interviews with individuals on their understanding of the painting the research will more than likely get numerous responses How have the social interactions, upbringing, and culture shaped participants' perceptions of the face? How does the researcher's background influence how they see the face? The extent to which the researcher is involved in the process is an important factor to consider
crituque
analysis of self and others
identity
argues against binary understandings (boy/girl, man/woman, owner/worker, bourgeoisie/proletariat)
base, superstructure and ideology
base (substructure)=real, material, productive forces and resources available, production superstructure= visible aspects that sharpe society, society doesn't fully acknowledge it even though its the basis of what society was built, reproduce the conditions of production -culture, commerce, beliefs, institutions, business, industry ideology= conceptual component that wraps and layers the superstructure and substructure can drive different components an illusion making the real world hard to see and understand in order for the means of production to keep on producing, labor power requires the material means which to reproduce itself (money). Its needed for workers to present themselves each morning.
types of power
coercive power: threatens some harm (ill beat you up if you don't pay for my food) reward power: giving a reward to do something (if you pay for my lunch, I'll do your homework) legitimate power: getting equal (i bought your lunch last week so you buy mine) persuasive power: making a compelling argument to persuade giving something up (persuading someone to buying you lunch)
what is human nature?
believe patterns exist in human nature, but the patterns are a result of ever evolving meaning systems, norms, and conventions people learn through intentions
random sampling
best for broad generalizations increases your ability to make generalizations over the overall population preferred for generalizability and protects data from error when you choose data in a way that ensures everyone and everything that is part of your data has an equal chance of participating in your study Simple-random-sampling - every case in a population has an equal chance of being included • Systematic sampling - randomly choose a starting point in your data and then include every nth data point • Stratified sampling - identify mutually exclusive groups then divide sample into those groups and randomly sample from those groups' -an item can only be exclusive to one group (sports at MSU, only football players. cant be football and XC) errors for random: expensive, can be time-consuming methodologically impossible, generalizability is not of paramount concern, research may adapt based on findings PROS and CONS pg. 57,58
marxism and two classes
bourgeoise: owns means of production Proletariat: sells out its labor petite bougeoise: middle class the difference is the level of power marx argues that we dehumanize individuals when we reduce those individuals just as tools for mass production bourgeoise becomes the consumers of the goods produced by the proletariat class is defined by a person relationship to the means of production and their level of ownership over the labor
marxism and critical theory
carl marx is important ot understanding critical paradigm his work is a critique of the social and political order he calls capitalism most defining aspect of human is labor.. that we can choose to engage in labor - marx provides a critique of capitalism -humans defined by labor laws -division of labor studied before/after marx marxists beleived that there is a definitive reality or truth
social scientists prefer to conduct research that looks for
casual laws, describes and predicts things, gathers empirical data, and tries to be as value free as possible in research attempt to to be value free.. we have our likes and opinions
subjectivity
condition for a researcher to be involved in or inseparable form the research context - common practice for interpretive researchers is active participation in the research process which means their personal connections (and identification of personal biases) to the research may be part of the research manuscript
archival research
conducting research in a variety of places including the internet, a library, a physical archive
sampling
create a sample that best represents the population to generalize about the population from the sample in order to collect data, must do data sampling when we find perameraters of who we are going to study.. in depth interview 100 people at 2 hours each would take a long time sampling is selecting what one will be interviewed
Traditional approaches to power
critical scholars: focus on the exercises of power and look for ways to overcome oppression traditional understanding sees power as both a thing (an object that people have and use) and a performance (an action people carry out) ex: professor can make choices and decisions on what goes on in class this locates power in the consciousness of the person with power and in the consciousness of the person over whom power is being excersized a focus on the exercise of power a focus on overcoming oppression power defined in multiple ways as a student, we can carry out the power: whether we complete the assignment or not galen approach to power: emphasizes the notion of discourse or dialectic, the give and take of ideas, root of the galen approach is the root of comm and how we can exercise our power within comm
development of social science
dates back to ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt -Positivism: Hume and Mill -logic and scientific research -combined empirical observations and behavior (inductive logic) with deductive logic when confirming and discovering theories used to describe/predict human activity. -Durkheim: science should be value free -Popper: theory falsification
research
detailed or in-depth study of a subject to reach a greater understanding or obtain new information about the subject
main aims of SS studies and key components
discover new theories, test existing theories and to review existing theories. Attempt to explain and predict human behavior so the next time something happens, we can predict the outcome
conducting research:
engaging in a process thats both detailed and in-depth study of a subject. work to collect new information and new data, new insights, new perspectives that help us understanding how comm works alters, changes, and adapts in different contexts, environments and cultures. Using that research, we can add to our existing knowledge, adapt and revise already existing knowledge or we might find out that existing knowledge is flawed and wrong so we might even delete some knowledge. We can add, delete, revise to our knowledge base through research
multiple different methods can be used in the interpretive paradigm
ethnography interviewing focus groups content analysis
IRB and levels of risk
exempt research project=minimal risk to participants, similar to the risks one faces everyday expedited review=reviewed by IRB chair but not full board, participant must consent to the research non-exempt project: more than minimal risk and/or includes at risk participants
Scientific Method
four-step systematic process in which the researcher conducts research which can be done in many ways. FIRST step: proposing a theory: Theory: a conceptual representation or explanation for a phenomenon - attempts by researchers to explain a process SECOND step: hypothesis prediction about what a researcher expects to find in a study -educated guesses about a relationship between two variables -help researchers make predictions on their studies -how you set up your hypothesis is critical THIRD step: testing hypotheses or observation step the method must be empirical, objective, and controlled FOURTH step: making empirical generalizations: descriptions of phenomena based on what you know about them from previous research - your generalizations should build on and refine theory in some way and possibly provide some practical real-world implications from the research you conducted
construct validity
how much the scale/instrument measure the theoretical construct 1. construct: a trait behavior or comm state must be clearly understood and defined 2. the usefulness in measuring the construct must be established
what is human nature?
humans are mammals. We are consciously self interested, rational, take steps to avoid pain, and seek out pleasure try to observe stimuli occurring outside of the animals (humans) "social phenomena are things and out to be studied by things" Durkheim
ideological
ideological power functions as strength in numbers 5 ants vs 1 grasshopper= grasshopper victory 100 ants vs 1 grasshopper=ants victory
Research methods will help
improve ability to locate, critique and use academic materials.
why take research methods?
improved ability to locate, critique and use academic materials, improved writing skills, analytical skills
generalization
inferences about the behavior of the population from studying the sample social scientists (quantitative) create an objective sample that best represents the population For interpretive, critical and rhetorical researchers, generalizations is not an important issue to consider as they focus more on subjectivity small group vs large?? pg 54
data
information collected in a systematic manner varies on kind of study being conducted can be numeric (quantitative) or non-numeric: (qualitative, critical or rhetorical) 4 kinds: texts: written, spoken, performed, or symbolic messages -can be intentional or non-intentional observations: watching human behavior in action - self report: ask individuals to report about their own behaviors -quantitive (on a scale of 1-10) in nature but can be qualitative (open-ended questions on a survey) other reports: ask individuals to report about behaviors of others where to get data: archival research: field: lab:
what is the place of value in social scientific research?
interpretive researchers embrace and analyze their position in the research process. separating values and morals from research decisions/outcomes is impossible not disinterested, objective, a scholar who reports on phenomena, instead an interpretive researcher is a subjective participant who is actively involved in the research process
what is theory?
interpretive theories try to describe or understand the lives of people in their social environment limited generalizations focus on the social and lived experiences
social science
is an organized method of research combined empirical observations of behavior with inductive and deductive logic to confirm and test theories that are then used to describe and or predict human activity - linked to the scientific method for social scientists, describing and predicting human behavior through the testing theory is utmost importance
hermeneutics
it first examined sacred "texts" but the philosophy expanded (in comm, a lot of things can be considered texts, book, movie, magazine) -started with holy books -subjective understanding helps us explore social activity and argues that its impossible to prevent subjectivity from being involved -three key points 1. subjectivity is paramount (NOT PREDICTION, EXPLAINATION, or CONTROL which are key to the social scientific paradigm) 2. a variety of stuff can be considered a text 3. separating the observer from observed is impossible and is the point where subjectivity comes to play
critical analysis
know what the concept means, evaluate the concept and make a judgement about the concept
polysemy
no singular truth; instead multiple truths (sometimes competing truths)
levels of measurement
nominal: Least precise• Lowest level of measurement • Separate mutually exclusive categories• For example: biological sex (male or female ordinal: Rank ordered • Share similar characteristics as nominal variables plus categories can be ranked in some way: highest/lowest, least/most, best/worse, etc. • An example of ordinal data is giving movies 1 to 5 stars interval: Identify a measurable difference between categories and ranks • Can tell the exact distance between data points • Social scientific research uses two main kinds of interval level scales: Likert and Likert-like scales, and semantic differential scales Likert-type Scales-Form of questioning where individuals are provided with a list of statements that range from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" or "never" to "very often" for example Semantic Differential Scales- Indirectly measures thoughts, feelings, or perceptions people have about things using a list of polar opposite adjectives or adverbs -Participants indicate their feelings by marking a space between one of the opposing adjectives or adverbs ratio: Similar to an interval variable, except it has a zero point• The presence of a zero point makes it possible to declare relationships in terms of ratios or proportions
empiricism_ (part of the observation and testing hypothesis stage in scientific method)
notion that a researcher can only research what they observe. Something you cant observe is outside of science like god. -can only research what we can observe/see
inductive reasoning
our logical arguments move from specific observation to more broad generalizations, where one develops a pattern and then develops a theory ex: tus birds and their consumption of sugar water: one tus liked sugar water (observation) tus's like water with sugar (pattern), all tus like sugar water (theory)
communication does overlap with lots of other disciplines
psyc, english, ethnic studies, sociology etc.. am I really focusing on communication research?
what is reality?
reality is created through social interaction. social interaction and reality are primarily what people perceive them to be (experiences and meaning) our subjective experiences create our individual realities while social scientists see the world in an objective, realist, ontological POV, interpretivists take a constructionist perspective meaning people construct reality out of their own experiences the construction of snow differs in different realities/perspectives
deductive reasoning
reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case (The sun rises every morning; therefore, the sun will rise on Tuesday morning.)
Method/Methodology
research is conducted through a certain set rules that are called methods methods are used by researchers to conduct studies methods provide data, and guidance for the process of collecting data methods provide us with the insight we need methods provide us with the means for analyzing that data and also telling us what the data means method: systematic technique/procedure used to do research -each method has rules or principles you need to follow methodology: the study of a method, description of the theory behind the method methodology: theory behind the method of researcher chooses statistical analysis and why that stat works in a particular method or approach is methodology
development of the paradigm
response to social scientific inquiry in the 1800s and 1900s Scientists thought that natural science methods may not be effective for studying human behavior because natural sciences didn't consider cultural norms, symbols, values, or individual social processes. The major flaw was failing to consider the influences of community or society on human behavior three approaches emerged -1. hermeneutics -phenomenology -symbolic interactionism-
sample
smaller group we have taken out of a larger group to make claims about the larger group
3 main paradigms in this book
social scientific, interpretive, and critical/cultural social scientific: identifying the key features of the social scientific paradigm and how those features distinguishes from the two other paradigms of research
how do you determine if explanation is good or bad?
social scientist are fans of replication, interpretive researchers do not see predication as a major necessity. - two closely connected issues are key first, the explanation must make sense to those the researcher is studying - your interpretation of subjects experiences should make sense if they read it second, the explanation should make sense so others can also understand the experiences in the groups you studied
How does the interpretive approach to science differ from natural sciences?
social scientists are interested in predicting, interpretivists are interested in understanding the human experience
Interpretive Paradigm
subjectivity perceptions and understanding reality more about individualized and group perceptions than being about a single characteristic like ss may be different understandings of reality and that comm helps us construct and frame our perceptions of reality difference between interpretive paradigm and scientific paradigm -rationalism vs empiricism -subjectivity vs objectivity role of subjectivity in the interpretive paradigm interpretivists are more interested in understanding experiences and less interested in predicting behavior -more understanding insight than prediction researchers using the interpretive paradigm study the social construction of meaning through analysis of individualized purpose, goals, and intentions in communication rarely use hypothesis, use research question to guide work embrace rationalism
phenomenology
systematic explanation and study of consciousness and subjectivity human experience the study of phenomena is how we experience things in life and the meanings things have for us used to study peoples experiences and the meanings they ascribe to those experiences -study meanings ascribed to experiences -particular focus on take for granted experiences -epoche=setting aside taken for granted assumptions speaking and knowing a language is a take for granted experience
falsifiable
testable through empirical research
what is the purpose of research?
the discovery or testing of theories that explain and predict human behavior and traits - to do this, SS collect data and test the data with systematically developed theories of human behavior and traits - one of the reasons why a theory is never ending is because theories are not perfect -theories are constantly refined as testing methods improve and as our understanding of phenomena changes
oppression
the exercise of power by one entity (person, group or org) for its own benifit over another entity
population
the group of cases/units from which you want to collect data
Objectivity_ (part of the observation and testing hypothesis stage in scientific method)
the need for a researcher to be sure of him or her emotions and personal feeling do not interfere with their research
rationalism
the notion that we gain knowledge through the use of logic and reason -we learn and describe the world around us through a variety of means
interpolate
to insert
social scientific warrants
warrants change based on paradigm we are doing. warrants can change -social scientists aim at finding generalized findings precision: how accurate the measure of your variables is -with the precise measurements, we know -what a variable is not power: Conceptual power -Definitions are powerful when they give detailed insight about a concept not niche detail about small concepts • Methodological power: are we making the right representative sample in our data sets -Better for data selection procedures to be as representative of the population as possible parsimony: a combination of precision and power keeping it as simple as possible be as detailed as possible but concise reliability: instruments should perform the same way over time.. but does not always happen -error: data entry, instrument confusion, random human difference measurement errors: noise or threats to reliability validity: does the measure "measure" what it says it does three kids of validity: content construct criterion-related validity
intertextual
we combine fragments of texts to provide an illusion of the whole
fragments
we only see/hear/understand parts of the whole
Debrifing
when a researcher explains the research process fter the research is completed gives participants an option to ask questions and remove any data if the wish
lab
when me the researcher controls the setting in which the study takes place able to control the whim of the environment
non random sampling
when not everyone or everything that is part of your data has an equal opportunity to participate ability to generalize decreases hard to make broad generalizations about the nature of comm Convenience sample - data is easily accessible -easy to collect and cheap -nongeneralized results -some people cherry-pick their population (all college students standing for an entire population) • Snowball sampling - sample builds on recommendations from participants -relevant to interview data, similar to convenience sampling -sample builds based on participant recommendations - come out of convenience like convenience samples • Purposive sampling - when the focus of the study is specific groups at the exclusion of other groups • Quota sampling - pre-determined categories and how much data you want in each category, then collect just the amount you need - 75 drinkers about drinking, already determined group, drinkers, and determined the number of drinkers.
control_ (part of the observation and testing hypothesis stage in scientific method)
when the researcher makes sure personal biases and other influencing variables do not interfere with a project (or at least they try to prevent it) -makes sure that personal biases do not influence the research study
field
where comm takes place you go out and interview or observe people in their natural habitats better learn identities, bahaviors, day to day activities, and marginalization have to adapt to habitat given me going to Spain surveymonkey could also be a field
