The term method is widely used in social enquiry. A great range of research writing and teaching is provided in the social sciences under such titles as Research Methods (Burgess 1993), Methods of Social Research (Stacey 1969), Sociological Research Methods (Bulmer 1984), Survey Methods in Social Investigation (Moser and Kalton 1971), A Methodology for Social Research (Sjoberg and Nett 1968) and Methods of Social Study (Webb and Webb 1932). As a consequence, some clarification is required on the different terms that are used to discuss work on research methodology and research methods, given that both these terms are ambiguous and lack clarity. Some of the key terms that are used in discussions of methodology include general methodology, which is associated with the principles guiding an empirical enquiry; research strategy or research procedure, which refer to the way in which a particular study is designed and conducted; research process, which denotes the interrelationship between the activities that occur within a project and the principles and procedures that are used; and research techniques or methods, referring to specific fact-finding operations that yield social data. These issues are of equal importance in all forms of social research, and need to be considered in relation to each other. Techniques and methods of investigation should not therefore be seen in isolation. They must be linked to the substantive problems that the researcher wishes to investigate. The research problem in an investigation should determine the methods of investigation that are to be used. The methods that are used are also linked to the philosophical and epistemological issues that a project raises, and to the social processes that occur within a project. Issues relating to the research process may lead to the modification of the methods that are used.
Within the social sciences there are a range of methods that can be used, and it is the task of researchers to select which are most appropriate for their studies so that reliable and valid data are collected.
The choice of research methods that are available to social scientists has been well summarized by de Vaus (1986) in terms of experimental methods, survey methods and case study methods. To these approaches we must add documentary and historical methods. The range of methods that are available are outlined in Figure 1. As Figure 1 indicates, there is a range of different styles of investigation based on experiments, surveys, case studies (including ethnography) and documentary and historical methods that include the use of written texts as well as non-text materials. The researcher may use a combination of the different approaches available in order to deal with issues concerned with validity through methodological triangulation (the use of different methods, theories, investigators and data) (Denzin 1970).
Investigators who use different approaches to social research may use similar methods. Interviews, questionnaires, observation and documents are appropriate in many forms of social research. The distinguishing feature of research projects is the way in which the data are collected using these different approaches, and in turn the way in which analysis takes place. Interviews may be structured with specific questions, which include closed (fixed choice) as well as open-ended responses, or unstructured where similar topics are raised through an interview agenda. Structured interviews often involve the use of interview schedules that are completed by an interviewer, while unstructured interviews are frequently tape-recorded and subsequently transcribed (Burgess 1984; 1993; Hammersley and Atkinson 1983).
Figure 1 Research methods in the social sciences
Observation includes systematic observation which includes the use of particular schedules such as Flanders Interaction Analysis (Croll 1986), or may be closer to participant observation as used in many anthropological and some sociological studies (Burgess 1984). The collection of documentary evidence may take a variety of forms including written material, oral histories (collected by interview) and photographic and visual evidence (Scott 1990).
Some writers discuss social research in terms of opposing styles of investigations, and make comparisons to highlight the differences between them. However, researchers will get little benefit by engaging in arguments about the superiority of one technique as opposed to another. Instead, there is a need to focus on research problems using as wide a range of methods of research as are available. Indeed, Mitchell (1977) has highlighted the similarities involved in surveys and case study (ethnographic) research.
Figure 2 illustrates the importance of the researcher in social investigation. While researchers perform an important role in the conduct of social surveys, they play a greater part in ethnographic studies where they are central to data collection. In each case, the researcher has to consider the use of different methods in relation to the particular project. However, researchers also need a knowledge of the key methods associated with the principal styles of social investigation.
Figure 2 Methods of data collection
1 Experiments measure the effects of manipulating one variable on another. Usually, samples are taken from known populations and are allocated to different experimental conditions. Such an approach usually involves hypothesis testing. The problems that such an approach can deal with include internal validity, that is, the extent to which a study establishes that a factor or variable has caused the effect that is found, and external validity, that is, the degree to which findings can be generalized from a sample to a population. Researchers have also developed the quasi-experiment that has been designed to apply the principles associated with experimental work in laboratories to field situations so that comparisons are made between different groups within the field.
2 The survey is probably the most common method of social investigation that is used in social research. It is often associated with the use of a questionnaire or a formal interview. Such schedules are developed, piloted and finalized before a study is actually conducted. Accordingly, questionnaire design, attitude measurement and question wording are important aspects associated with social surveys that may take the form of face-to-face interviews, postal surveys or telephone interviews. Much of the work associated with the conduct of surveys includes the careful design of the questionnaire, the training of survey interviewers, the preparation of the interview schedule and the administration of the research instrument, which has to be coded and analysed. The use of technology increasingly plays a role in the development of such approaches as computer-based interviewing and data analysis using statistical packages.
3 Ethnographic case studies may involve the use of observation, and, more particularly, participant observation, together with unstructured interviews and conversations. The ethnographer is involved in using participatory techniques in order to understand the social situation in which those who are studied are involved. In particular, observation of people in situ forms a large part of this approach, in conjunction with conversational style interviews. Participant observers usually take a role in a particular setting which has resulted in a topology of researcher roles: complete participant, participant as observer, observer as participant, and complete observer. While these roles never exist in their pure form, they do provide an important framework for the ethnographer to use in a field setting. The methods used by the ethnographer to record data are particularly important, for fieldnotes and interview transcripts constitute the data that are subsequently coded and analysed. In the 1990s new technology has played a major role with software programs being developed to assist in the preparation and analysis of ethnographic data (Bryman and Burgess 1994).
4 Documents are produced in all organizations; they are therefore a major source of evidence for the social researcher. They can take a variety of forms and are often classified as primary source material or secondary source material. A distinction can be made between ready-made documents that are automatically available to a researcher, and specially commissioned documents where researchers invite the participants in their study to produce material (perhaps in the form of a diary) that is kept over a short period of time. Interest has been growing in oral-historical approaches, which are very similar to interview-based studies and have links with ethnographic and survey-based approaches of investigation. Increasing use is also being made of non-textual documentary materials, with visual evidence including photographs, film and videos playing an increasing role. In this respect, new technology again becomes an important resource that the social researcher can use (Scott 1990).
5 Mixed Methods. There is a tendency to subdivide the different approaches that have been used in social investigation. However, there are considerable links and overlaps between the different methods of investigation, so much so that some writers have talked about the importance of triangulation or multi-method strategies of investigation (Bryman 1988; Burgess 1984; Denzin 1970). In this respect, researchers need to evaluate the range of methodological tools that can be brought to bear upon the particular problem that they have to investigate. Ethnographic methods can be linked together with survey investigation and with documentary and historical methods, given that they may complement each other, with surveys prefacing fieldwork and informing fieldwork activity. Alternatively, fieldwork activity may generate concepts and questions that are then utilized within the framework of questionnaire design. Two key questions about the data that are collected demand consideration, namely, are they reliable? Are they valid? These are the fundamental issues that any method of social investigation must address.
Robert G.Burgess
University of Warwick
References
Bryman, A. (1988) Quantity and Quality in Social Research, London.
Bryman, A. and Burgess, R.G. (eds) (1994) Analysing Qualitative Data, London.
Bulmer, M. (ed.) (1984) Sociological Research Methods, 2nd edn, London.
Burgess, R.G. (1984) In the Field, London.
(1993) Research Methods, London.
Croll, P. (1986) Systematic Classroom Observation, Lewes.
Denzin, N. (1970) The Research Act, Chicago,
de Vaus, D.A. (1986) Surveys in Social Research, London.
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P (1983) Ethnography: Principles into Practice, London.
Mitchell, C. (1977) ‘The logic and methods of sociological enquiry’, in P.Worsley (ed.) Introducing Sociology, Harmondsworth.
Moser, C.A. and Kalton, G.K. (1971) Survey Methods in Social Investigation, London.
Scott, J. (1990) A Document of Record, Oxford.
Sjoberg, G. and Nett, R. (1968) A Methodology for Social Research, New York.
Stacey, M. (1969) Methods of Social Research, Oxford.
Webb, S. and Webb, B. (1932) Methods of Social Study, London.
Further reading
Agnew, N.McK. (1994) The Science Game: An Introduction to Research in the Social Sciences, New York.
Reinharz, S. (1992) Feminist Methods in Social Research, New York.
Robson, C. (1993) Real World Research, Oxford.
Smith, H.W. (1975), Strategies of Social Research: The Methodological Imagination, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Yin, R. (1989) Case Study Research, Beverly Hills, CA.
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