Doing Social Research: A Global Context 0077126408, 9780077126407

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Doing Social Research A Global Context

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Doing Social Research A Global Context Edited by Claire Wagner, Barbara B. Kawulich and Mark Garner

Hill Higher Education London Boston Burr Ridge, IL Dubuque,lA Madison, WI New York San Francisco 5t. Louis Bangkok Bogota Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon Madrid Mexico City

Milan Montreal New Delhi Santiago Seoul Singapore Sydney Taipei

Toronto

Doillg Social Research C laire Wagner, Barbara S. Kawulich and Mark Garner ISBN-13 978-0-07-712640-7 ISBN- 100-07-7 12640-8

Higher Education published by McGraw-Hili Education Shoppenllangers Road Maidenhead Berksh ire SL62QL Telephone: 44 (0) 1628 502 500 Fax: 44 (0) 1628 770224 Website: www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk

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Library of Congress Catalogi ng in Publicatio n Data The Li brary of Congress data for this book has been applied for from the Library of Congress Executive Editors: Shona Mullen and Natalie Jacobs Development Editor: Kiera Jamison Editorial Assistant: Richard Townrow Marketing Manager: Kevin Walt Production Editor: Alison Davis Text Design by HL Studios Cover design by Adam Renvoize Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YV

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Published by McGraw-Hili Education (UK) Limited, an imprint of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2012 by McGraw-Hili Education (UK) Limited. All righ ts reserved. No pa rt of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system , without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hili Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission , or broadcast for d istance learning. Fic ti tious names of companies, prOducts, people, characters and/ or data that may be used herein (in case studies or in examples) are not intended to represent any real individual , company, product or event. _ ,

ISBN-13 9780077126407 ISBN-l00077 126408 © 2012. Exclusive rights by The McGraw-Hili Companies, Inc. for manufacture and export. This book cannot be re-exported from the country to which it is sold by McGraw-HilI.

The McGraw 'HiII Companies

Brief Table of Contents

Contributors Acknowledgements Foreword

Guided tour Online learning centre

•••

VIII •

ox

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2

Getting Started in Sociol Research Introducing social research

1

in a global context Claire Wagner

2

Developing a research topic and planning the research project

Writing a literature review

Qua li tative research Jan Niellwell!lII;s and Brigitte 5111il

124

11

Document analysis Adilia S. F. Silv(/

140

12

Collecting data through observation

150

Barbara B. Kmvlllicil

13

Selecting a research approach: paradigm, methodology and methods Ethical considerat ions in conducti ng research

161

12 Part 3 Analysing and Presenting Data:

Exercises in Analysis and Interpreting

28

Your Research

14

Descriptive statistics

175 176

Melody Mentz mId A Ilia Bollia

51

15

Inferential statistics

203

Melody M elltz alld A Ilia Botiia

8agele Chilisa and Barbara B. Kawl/lich

5

Multi-method research

Charles Potter

Anthony f. Ouwuegbuzie (lnd Rebecca K. Frels

4

114

10

Claire Wagner, Allin Bot/Ia ami Melody Melltz

3

Experimental research

Craig A. Mertler

XIV

Part 1

1

9

16 62

Tamra Ogletree alld Barham B. Kawlllich

Qualitative data analysis

228

Barbara B. Kawllli ch alld Lal/rel Hollalld

17

Writing up your research

2-16

Mark Gamer (lml Alllle Ryen

Port 2 Identifying 0 Useful Methodology and Methods

6

Measurement

73 74

Melody Mentz alld Allja Rot/w

7

Methods of sampling

86

SlIInaya Laller alld Allja Bollm

8

Survey research Melody Mentz

100

Appendix A: Areos under the normal curve Appendix B: Critical values of t Appendix C: Critical values of r (Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient) Glossary References Index

260 264 266 268 276 289

Detailed Table of Contents

Contributors

Acknowledgements Foreword Guided tour Online learning centre

•••

5

VIII •

'x x x,• • x,v

Historical stud ies leading to development of ethics committees and codes of et hics Issues to co nsider in ethical research Chapter sII1mnary Chapter review questions

Part 1

1

GeHing Started in Social Research Introducing social research in a global context

Co ncep ti ons of socia l science research Why is lea rnin g about research important? Social research in a global context Fundamental co ncep ts in social science research

Chapter summary Chapter review questiolls

Ethical considerations in conducting research

2 2

Part 2 Identifying a Useful Methodology and Methods

6

Measurement

Variables and operational definitions Levels of measurement

3 5

Reliability and validity

Limitations of measurement Chapter summary

8 9

Chapter review qllestiollS

10

Developing a research topic and

planning the research project

The research process Statement of the problem Formulating a research question Generating a hypothesis Research design Chapter slimmary

Chapter review questions

3

Writing a literature review

12 12 lS 18 21 21 26 27

7

South African context

Chapter summary Chapter review qllestiollS Useflll websites

28

4

Selecting a resea rch approach: paradigm , methodology and methods Pa radigm, methodology and methods Paradigms and philosophical underpinn ings Selecting a research paradigm and research methods Clwpter sfllllfnary Chapter review questiolls

28 29

8

29 45 48 -19 49 51 S2 53 58 60 61

Methods of sampling

Selecting a sample size Choosing a sampling technique Probability sampling Non·probability sampling Implications·of sampling An example of poor sampling Challenges to sampling in a

Myths associated with co nducting literature reviews What is a literature review? The seven Review of Literature Evaluative Steps (ROLES) Academic writing styles The finished product: a rigorous literature review Chapter summary Chapter review ql/estio/lS

62 64 71 72

1

Usefill websUes

2

62

9

73 74 75 77

80 83 83 84 85 86 87 89 89 92 93 95 95 98 99 99

Survey research Types of survey research Questionnaires Interviews Principles of effective questionnaire design Principles of effective question design C losed question formats Chapter s/lmmary Chapter revi('w qlll'StiollS

100 100 101 102•

Experimental research Use o f expe rimenta l research Classica l experime ntal research Quasi·experimental researc h Fundamentals of experimental and quasi·experimental resea rch Experimental designs

114 115 115 115

103 104

11 0 112 113

116 117

Detailed Table of Contents

Quasi-experimental designs The com monality between experimental and quasi-experimental designs Threats to internal and external validity Strengths and limitations of experimental research designs

Chapter SllmH/ary Chapter review questiol1s 10

Qualitative research Finding a good qualitative research question Towards a definition of qualitative research Qualitative research designs Ways of collecti ng qualitative data Ensuring trustworthiness and credibility

Chapter summary Chapter review questiolls 11

Document analysis The nature of documents The analysis of documents Examples of document analysis Some methodological aspects of documentary research Limitations of documentary research

C/wpter SHIrl/nary C/wpter review questions Useful websites 12

Collecting data through observation Types of observations How and why do we use observation? Advantages, disadvantages and limitations of observation Writing field notes Developing an observation guide Analysis of observation data

Chapter summary Chapter review questions

119 120 14 121 122 123 123 124 124 126 127 132 137 138 139 140 140 141 145

15

Multi-method research What is mixed methods research? Mixed model research Triangu lation Designing and implemen ting research and evaluative studies The lllulLi-method research paradigm Multi-method research design Triangulation in practice The logic of multi-method data collec tio n and analys is

16

153 154 ISS

159 160 160

Chapter summary Chapter review qllestiol1s Useful websites .

161 161 162 162 163 166 168 168 172 173 174 174

Part 3 Analysing and Presenting Data: Exercises in Analysis and Interpreting Your Research Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics Measures of cent ral tendency Meas ures of variabi lity Picture thi s! Representing your research results graph ically Constructing graphs Types of distributions Diggin g deeper: using cumu lati ve indices to compare data Compiling a cumulative indices table Describing bivariate data: the correlation coe ffi cient Characte ristics of correlatio ns Calculat ing correlati o ns Representing a co rrelation graphically

Inferential statistics Hypothesis setting and testing Probability The normal distribution What is statist ica l significance? T-tests to investigate differences between groups Testing the significance of correlations Using non-parametric statistical tests

Chapter silln/flary Chapter review questions Useful websites Qualitative dota analysis Narrative analysis Thematic analysis Phenomenological analysis Discourse analysis Trustworthiness of the data

Chapter SlIlIIfI/{//)' Chapter review questiolls 17

13

VII

Chapter slImmary Chapter review questio1/s

146 147 148 148 149 150 151 151

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Writing up your research Preliminary difficulties An outline structure Managing the writing-up process Plagiarism

Chapter SIIII1H10ry Chapter rev;el-V questiol/s Appendix A: Areas under the normal curve Appendix B: Critical values of t Appendix C: Critical values of r (Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient) Glossary References Index

175 176 176 177 179 183 186 188 189 190 195 195 197 200 201 202 203 204 207 207 212 217 223 225 225 226 227 228 229 231 238 241 243 244 245 246 246 247 255 256 257 259 260 264 266 268 276 289

Contributors

Edito rs Mark Garner, University of Aberdeen, UK

Barbara Kawulich, University of West Georgia, USA C laire Wagner, Unive rsity of Pretoria, South Africa

Con t ri buto rs Anja 80tl13, University of the Free State, South Africa Bagele Chi lisa, University of Botswana, Botswana Rebecca Frels, Lamar University, Texas, USA Anja Groenewald Botha, University of the Free State, South Africa Laurel Ho ll and, University of Georgia, USA Sumaya Lailer, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa Melody Mentz, University of the Free State, South Africa

Craig A. Mert ler, Lynn University, Florida, USA Jan Nieuwenhuis, University of Pretoria, South Africa Tam ra Ogletree, University of West Georgia, USA Anthony Onwuegbuzie, Sam Houston State University, Texas, USA Charles Potter, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa Anne Ryen, University of Agder, Norway Adilia Silva, Independent Consultant ,

Brigitte Smit, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

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Acknowledgements

OUf th anks go to the following reviewers for their comments at various stages in the text's development:

Floretta Boonzaier, University of Cape Town Lyndal Booth, UlIiI'ersity tile Witwatersrand Nicole Israel, Ullil'ersity of tI,e Witwatersrand Ashraf Kagee, Ste/Jellboscl1 University Eli zabeth Kem pe n, University ofSolltiJ Africa Gert Kruger, University of /ol1mmesbllrg Corne Meintjes , Monash South Africa Veena P Rawjee, DlIrban University of Techl1ology GH van Rensburg, Ulliversity ofSulltll Africa

or

Brigitte Smit, University ofjohmmesbllrg Ga ry Steele, RIJOdes Ulliversity

Michael Temane, North- West University, Potchefstroom Campus Marth a Sophia va n der Walt, North-West University, Potcllefstroom Campus Maggie Williams, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership of copyrigh t and to clear permission for materia l reproduced in this book. The publishers will be pleased to make suitable arrangements to clear permission wit h any copyrigh t holders who m it has not been possib le to contact.

Foreword

Un iversilies throughout the English-speaking world are increasingly stressing th e importance ~f a s?und training in h ow to co ndu ct resea rch . Until relatively recently it was wid~ly assumed that sOCl~l .sclen ce students would acqu ire sufficient expertise through readin g the research literature, and the specifiC study of Research Methods (RM) was undertaken only by those with a specialist interest in methodological questi ons. Now, however, RM, either discip line-speci fic or generic, is commonl y a co mpul sory component of postgraduat e and , in creas ingly, undergraduate programm es" This has crea ted a need f~r teaching ma.ter~als that will ha ve wide appeal for as many stud ents as possible. rh ere are man y who reqUire some conv ll1cll1g that an und ers tanding of meth odology is essential to good research, and that it can even be interesting. Unfortunat ely, our expe rience of teaching RM, over man y yea rs and in several co ntin ents, ha s led us, th e editors, to th e concl usion that such materi als are rare. What is available is largely decontextualised and too theoreti ca l. This may contribute to students' almost universal lack of enthusiasm for the subject (Larkin and Pines, 2004). This is borne out in a survey cond ucted among South African academics in the social sciences by the publisher, McGraw-Hili, which found that a formal text providing a practical and realistic criti ca l-thinking approach to research methods is a common ly felt need that is not met by existing stand-alone texts. This book is intended to meet that need by providing a variety of exercises that can be used to en hance the teaching practice of research methods and provide teachers, particularly earlyca reer teachers, with class-based resources. Ball and Pelco (2006, p. ] 47) emphasise that' ... any instructor who relies on a teaching approach based solely on a passive text-lecture-exam format runs the risk of driving studen t motivation and interest even lower'. In develo ping th e idea for this book we did not want to compete with the multitude of available research methods textbooks. While there are pl ent y o f tex ts on how research is done by experts, ours attempts to take th e learner's perspective and needs as the starting point for developing research skill s. It encourages students to engage immediately with research-in-practice, by working through exercises on each aspect of th e resea rch process, including objecti ves for each exercise and questions for co nsiderat ion by students. The aim is to help them think criti cally about th eir application of the exercises to designing and imp lementing research stage by stage. They are challenged to renecl on th e methodological and eth ical choices they make in terms of th e theori es and concep ts presented in each chapter. Our aim is to provide multi-disciplinary and generic applications for many co ntexts. The rea l·life exa mples come from a wide range of social science disciplines, and they focus on the developing world cont ext. Our aim is to make the book useful for teac hing RM not on ly in developing countries, but also in co nt exts in which students are ex posed to social and cultu ra l environments markedly different from their ow n or stu dy marginalised groups and minorities. The book is organised according to th e broad chronology of develop ing and conducting a typical student research project. The authors of the cha pters are experi enced researchers and RM teachers. There are questions th roughout the book for students to practise with , and there are some indicative, fully worked examp les where relevant. Brief com ments on th e sorts of research and pedagogical issues to be addressed and the sorts o f exercises and activities that ca n be used to address them are prOvided. Where re levant; sectio.ns include ~p pr opriate chart s, graph s o r il lustrati ons to exemp lify key co ncepts. For example, for teaching observatio n, several types o f observation guides are incl uded that might be useful in helping th e student take fi eld notes of what is observed . The book mi ght be used as a prim ary prescribed tex t as we ll as a source o f inspi ratio n to teachers to develop th ei r ow n exercises. We hope that this book serves YO li well on your jo urney of teaching a crilica l RM or becoming a renective resea rcher. Claire WlIK"er, Barbllm Kmvulicll

(111(/

Mark GlIruer

Guided Tour

The aim of this chapter is to

o

Explain the research process;

•

Iden tify sources of research

•

Discuss the process of deciding

•

Identify practical considerations

•

Demonstrate how to formulate a

•

Discuss generating a hypoth esis;

•

Discuss research designi and

o

Each chapter opens with a set of Chapter aims, helping you to plan your study and quick1y grasp the essential ideas and skills covered in the Chapter.

Demonstrate how to achieve

Test your understanding

Test Yaur Understanding These questions and exercises enco urage YOli to refl ect on your progress, cementing your learning through practice.

Poorly constructed research questions answer the question. This is why the n ing of your project is paramount In rest of your study will take. Using the you identify why these research • • • • •

Box 2.1

Should the United States have sent Why do some people drink coffee Would Warner Brothers still exist What can be done to prevent How d oes poverty affect children ? I

An example of coherence of Hoffmann, Myburgh, and Poggenpoel who have lived through the loss of a . logical research approach because it experiences In their life-worlds. They study on the campus of a university in researcher, five individuals fitted the lIy collected by face ·to·face Interviews. a collage of her experience. The the story and stimulate her memory to I the data and nine lived

A range of boxes provide case studies and examples to help guide you in your own research pro ject.

of

Evaluation of Step 5: Summarise and

Task

Evaluate

Organise your literature

Did you number corner or by "",iln Were you careful to collected literature? In your electronic spre organise selected works each article in your 0 If you did not use your of the article so that yo readers with a page nm

Templates These assist you in creating your own research documents, providing an example of how you might structure material.

Rephrase and summarise your articles

x;;

GUIDED TOUR

Exhibit 3.2 Electronic bibliographic databases sodal and heolth !;.ciences

Description

Database Academic Search Premier (EBSCO Host) African Journal o f Legal Studies (ProQuest)

Legal collection

Business Source

Scholarly busln.,

to African Wem"

A number of exhibits are provided in each chapter to help you visualise the various research models, and to illustrate and sum~ martse important concepts.

Premier (EBSCOHost)

CINAHL

concept in such a (see Chapter 7 for a probably familiar with th' and Salager-Meyer appropriately used to oped' or 'the North'. The ing for the kind of ideal. A preferred term is advanced (Chan and No netheless, we

Making the Connections These icons are found in the margin next to chapter references. They indicate relevant information explored in other chapters and help you draw associations between different topics.

descriptive, or explanatory. Topics by doing exploratory or relationship. When there is research can be conducted in the form of numbers. Data is used ';ps between variables and look for cae in the form of words. TypicalJy it is ph,mom,"•. Mixed methodologies approaches within the same study. or reproductive. Deductive reasoning sco'c hypotheses from the theory and phenomenon. With inductive .

•

These are highlighted in bold and collected together in the Glossary at the back of the book.

CHAPTER SUMMARY Chapter Summary Thi s briefly reviews and reinforces the main topicS you have covered in each chapter to ensure you have acquired a so lid understanding of the key topics.

,

•

Conceptions of social research • It is difficult to fonnulate a condse • Severa l definitions of research we re tion and compare It to those typ,;ca

Why is learning about • Having an understandin g of the sden< used to generate knowledge about • Being a good consumer of researcher

Guided Tour

XIII

CHAPTER REVIEW 1 Explain why the research process viewing the research process In a ftxed 2 Discuss the different sources of research 3 Make a visual representation of the p,o, process that you have included In your 4 Provide some questions that should research project. S Wha t makes a good research question? 6 Discuss the characteristics of a good 7 Explain what the term 'research design'

These questions encourage you to review and apply the knowl· edge you have acquired from each chapler an d can be undertaken to test your understanding.

USEFUL WEBSITES Useful Websites A list of websites at th e end of some chapters provides you with resources and furt her read ing to exten d your kn owledge.

Appe

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ix

the Normal

Statistical tables can be found in the appendices to the book. •

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Coullselillg Psychologist, 35(2), 236-64. Crcswell, j.W., Plano Clark, V., Gutmann M. and Hanson , W. (2003) 'Advanced mixed mNhods research designs'. In A. Tashakkori and C. Teddlie (cds) Halldbook of mixeti metlwds ill social alld bellavioml research. Thousa nd Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 209-40. Crigger, N.J., Holcomb, L. a nd Weiss, j. (2001) 'Fundament alism, multi· cultural ism and problems of conducting research with populat io ns in developing nations'. Nursillg Ethics, 8(5 ), 459- 68. Crolt y, M. (1998) Tile fOllll(latiolls of social researe/I: MeanillS alld perspective ill tile research process. London: Sage. Crowl, T. (1993) Flmdamflltals of Educatiollal Research. Dubuque, IA : WCB Brown and Benchmark. Cza rniawska, B. (200-l) 'The uses of narrative in social science research'. In M. Hardy and A. Bryman (cds) Handbook of data analysis. London: Sage, pp. 649-66. Dash, N. K. (2005). 'Module: Selection of the research paradigm and methodology'. Ol/lille research met/u)(ls reSOtlrce for teacliers (/1/(1 tmillets. Retrieved from http://www.celt.mmu.ac. uk/researchmethods/Modules/ Selectloll_oLmethodologyl index. phI'. Daya, S. (2002) 'The standard normal distribution'. Evidl'llce-based

obstetrics alld gyl/ecology, 4(4), 165- Critical

thlnklnq approach will help you relleet on the ethical and methodoloqical

choices you face as you undertake your research proJect

> Examples are drawn from a range of disciplines across the social sciences to provide a qenulnely multi-disciplinary text

> Editors and contributors are experienced teachers and researchers drawn from leadinq universities across Southern Africa, USA and Europe

LearningCentre

Support materials are available at our Online Learning Centre: www.mcCJraw-hll,.co.uk/textbooks/wICJner