Research Basics

James V. Spickard - University of Redlands

Other Titles in:
Educational Research | Research Methods | Sociological Research Methods

October 2016 | 424 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in Six Steps offers a fresh and creative approach to the research process based on author James V. Spickard’s decades of teaching experience. Using an intuitive six-step model, readers learn how to craft a research question and then identify a logical process for answering it. Conversational writing and multi-disciplinary examples illuminate the model’s simplicity and power, effectively connecting the “hows” and “whys” behind social science research. Students using this book will learn how to turn their research questions into results.

For Instructors: Why This Book?

What Lies Ahead

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Why a Six-Step Formula?

Looking Ahead

PART ONE THE SIX STEPS

Chapter 1 Step 1: Develop a Good Research Question

Start With a Research Topic

From Topic to Question

An Example: Mass Transit

Making Decisions

Search the Literature

Recraft Your Research Question

Questions Based on the Literature

Three More Possibilities

Start Your Research Proposal

The Parts of a Proposal

A Proposal in Brief: The Concept Paper

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 2 Step 2: Choose a Logical Structure for Your Research

Three Examples

1. Comparing Outcomes

2. Systematic Description

3. Seeking Correlations

Ten Logical Structures for Research

1. True Experiments

2. Quasi-Experiments

3. Ex Post Facto Research

4. Correlational Research

5. Descriptive Research

6. Case Studies

7. Historical Research

8. Longitudinal Research

9. Meta-Analysis

10. Action Research

Matching Logical Structure to the Research Question

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 3 Step 3: Identify the Type of Data You Need

Fourteen Types of Data

1. Acts, Behavior, or Events

2. Reports of Acts, Behavior, or Events

3. Economic Data

4. Organizational Data

5. Demographic Data

6. Self-Identity

7. Shallow Opinions and Attitudes

8. Deeply Held Opinions and Attitudes

9. Personal Feelings

10. Cultural Knowledge

11. Expert Knowledge

12. Personal and Psychological Traits

13. Experience as It Presents Itself to Consciousness

14. Hidden Social Patterns

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 4 Step 4: Pick a Data Collection Method

Match Your Method to Your Data

Data Type 1: Acts, Behavior, or Events

Data Type 2: Reports of Acts, Behavior, or Events

Data Types 3, 4, and 5: Economic, Organizational, and Demographic Data

Data Type 6: Self-Identity

Data Types 7 and 8: Shallow and Deeply Held Opinions and Attitudes

Data Type 9: Personal Feelings

Three Examples (that include data types 10-12)

Example 1: Mass Transit and Property Values

Example 2: Mass Transit and Street Life

Example 3: Best Places to Work

Data Type 13: Experience as It Presents Itself to Consciousness

Hidden Social Patterns

Research Ethics

Unethical Research

Implementing Ethical Practices

Institutional Review Boards

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 5 Step 5: Choose Your Data Collection Site

Demographic and Economic Data

Opinions, Identities, and Reports of Acts at a Shallow Level

Populations and Samples

Sample Size, Margin of Error, and Confidence Level

Observable Behavior

Deeply Held Opinions and Attitudes

Cultural and Expert Knowledge

Hidden Social Patterns

The Remaining Data Types

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 6 Step 6: Pick a Data Analysis Method

Preliminary Questions

What Kind of Analysis Does Your Research Question Require?

What Form Does Your Data Take?

What Is Your Unit of Observation? What Is Your Unit of Analysis?

Working With Numeric Data: Describing

Working With Numeric Data: Comparing

Interval/Ratio Data

Ordinal and Categorical Data

Identifying Cause

What Statistical Test Should I Use?

Three Fallacies

Working With Qualitative Data

Respondent-Centered Versus Researcher-Centered Analysis

Coding

Internal Versus External Coding

Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Software

Warnings

Review Questions

Summarizing the Six Steps

Notes

PART TWO COLLECTING AND ANALYZING DIFFERENT TYPES OF DATA

Chapter 7 Comparing: Economic, Demographic, and Organizational Data

About Comparing

Comparing San Antonio and Portland

Comparing the 50 U.S. States

About Correlations

Three Examples

Comparing Places: Do Walkable Neighborhoods Improve Health?

Comparing Organizations: Does Treating Employees Well Increase Company Performance?

Comparing Schools: Do Charter Schools Improve Student Test Scores?

Research Ethics

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 8 Surveying: Shallow Opinions, Identities, and Reports of Acts

Three Reminders

Two Examples

Studying School Safety

Kids’ Attitudes Toward Reading

Survey Data Analysis

Analyzing Interval/Ratio Survey Results

Analyzing Ordinal and Categorical Data

Practical Matters

Creating Your Questionnaire

Sampling (Again)

Surveying Online

Research Ethics

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 9 Interviewing: Deep Talk to Gather Several Types of Data

Hermeneutic Interviews

An Example: “Motherloss”

How to Write an Interview Protocol

Coding Your Data

Interviews With Experts

Critical Incident Interviews

Focus Groups

Phenomenological Interviews

An Example

How Is It Done?

Other Types of Data

How Many Subjects?

Research Ethics

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 10 Scales: Looking for Underlying Traits

Scales of Psychological Well-Being

Creating Scales

Using the Scales

Analyzing Scale Research

T-Tests and Analysis of Variance

Control Variables

Research Ethics

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 11 Recording Behavior: Acts and Reports of Acts

Watching People

Watching Gender Speech

Collecting Self-Reports

A Variation: The Beeper Studies

Watching Animals

Watching Chimps

Ravens and Elephant-Shrews

What If They Hide?

Experiments

Experiments About Stereotype Threat

Experiments About Discrimination

Rules for Experiments

Research Ethics

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 12 Finding Hidden Social Patterns: In Life, Texts, and Popular Culture

About Hidden Patterns

Analyzing Texts

Dreams as Texts

Other Texts

Analyzing Discourses

Critical Discourse Analysis

Two Examples

Analyzing Popular Culture: The Soaps

Research Ethics

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 13 Ethnography: Exploring Cultural and Social Scenes

The Three Goals

Goal One: Seeing the World as the Participants See It

Goal Two: Watching What Participants Do

On Taking Field Notes

Goal Three: Understanding Hidden Patterns

What Doesn’t Matter

Steps to a Successful Ethnography

Gaining Access

Developing Rapport

Listening to Language

Being an Observed Observer

What About Objectivity?

Writing Your Results

A Word About Grounded Theory

Research Ethics

Review Questions

Notes

Chapter 14 Extended Example: Counting the Homeless

What Caused the Homeless Crisis?

Who Is Homeless?

How Can We Find and Count Street Homeless?

Peter Rossi’s Chicago Count

Martha Burt’s Weeklong Method

Counting San Bernardino

Conflicting Results

Correcting National Figures

Research Ethics

Reflections

Summary of the Six Steps

Notes

Research Guides and Handouts

Six-Steps Graphic: From Research Question to Data Analysis

What Is a Concept Paper?

How to Choose a Data Collection Method

A Template for Field Notes

How to Write an Interview Protocol

How Many Subjects? (for interview studies)

Interview Rule-of-Thumb Flowchart for Nonrandom Samples

What Statistical Tests Should I Use?

Glossary

Author Index

Subject Index

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site
Calling all instructors!
It’s easy to log on to SAGE’s password-protected Instructor Teaching Site for complete and protected access to all text-specific Instructor Resources. Simply provide your institutional information for verification and within 72 hours you’ll be able to use your login information for any SAGE title!

Password-protected Instructor Resources include the following:

- A Microsoft® Word test bank is available containing multiple choice, true/false, short answer, and essay questions for each chapter. The test bank provides you with a diverse range of pre-written options as well as the opportunity for editing any question and/or inserting your own personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding.
- Editable, chapter-specific Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides offer you complete flexibility in easily creating a multimedia presentation for your course. Highlight essential content and features.
- Discussion questions help launch classroom interaction by prompting students to engage with the material and by reinforcing important content.
- Lively and stimulating class activities that can be used in class to reinforce active learning. The activities apply to individual or group projects.
- EXCLUSIVE! Access to certain full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected for each chapter. Each article supports and expands on the concepts presented in the chapter. This feature also provides questions to focus and guide student interpretation. Combine cutting-edge academic journal scholarship with the topics in your course for a robust classroom experience.
- Video and web resources include links to multimedia that appeal to students with different learning styles.

Student Resource Site
Use the Student Study Site to get the most out of your course!
Our Student Study Site is completely open-access and offers a wide range of additional features.

The open-access Student Study Site includes the following:

Mobile-friendly web quizzes allow for independent assessment of progress made in learning course material.
EXCLUSIVE! Access to certain full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected for each chapter. Each article supports and expands on the concepts presented in the chapter. This feature also provides questions to focus and guide student interpretation. Combine cutting-edge academic journal scholarship with the topics in your course for a robust classroom experience.
Video and web resources include links to multimedia that appeal to students with different learning styles.

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James V. Spickard

Jim Spickard is Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Redlands, in California, where he teaches courses on research design and methods, social theory, the sociology of religion, homelessness, and world hunger. Most of his research focuses on the role that religion plays in contemporary society. He also investigates movements for social change. He has written or edited several books, most recently on non-Western sociological theory, on the transnational dynamics of African Pentecostalism, on social statistics, and on reflexive ethnography. More About Author

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Research Basics
Design to Data Analysis in Six Steps

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