Introduction to Social Science Research

Induction (inductive reasoning)

• ‘the real science is inductive’ – positivist paradigm
• reasoning from a specific case or cases and deriving a general rule. It draws inferences from observations in order to make generalizations.
• Stages:
• Observation: collect facts, without bias.
• Analysis: classify the facts, identifying patterns o of regularity.
• Inference: From the patterns, infer generalizations about the relations between the facts.
• Confirmation: Testing the inference through further observation.

Definition of scientific research

• A research process is scientific, if it is
• undertaken within the framework of a set of philosophies (according to the specific field of science),
• using procedures, methods and techniques that have been tested for their validity and reliability,
• designed to be unbiased and objective.
• It is empirical.

Some notions form the definition

• Set of philosophies: paradigm
• Reliability: the quality of measurement
• Validity: ‘Do we measure the right thing?’
• Unbiased: a built in error in sampling or in the method of analising
• Objective: independent from the personal characteristics and attitudes of the researcher

Some specifications of the social sciences

• Hardness of controlling variables: the role of experiences is very limited.
• Subjectivity is harder to be eliminated.

Characteristics of research

• Controlled: to link the effect to the cause (and vice versa) one should minimize the effect of factors other than want to measure. Or in social sciences, you have to measure as many factors as you can.
• Rigorous
• Systematic: one should follow a certain logocal sequence.
• Valid and verifiable
• Empirical
• Critical: process, procedures and conclusions have to be able to whitstand critical scrutiny.