Research Methods - Research Strategies and Designs

8/13/2019 Research Methods - Research Strategies and Designs

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UNIVERSITY OF ARTS, BELGRADE

Masters program in management in cultureCourse in social research methods

Research strategies and

designs

Slobodan Cvejic, PhD

Belgrade University, Faculty of Philosophy

[email protected]


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RESEARCH METHODS: researchstrategies and designs

TOPIC 7 - METHODS

METHODS For collection of data

Qualitative (participant observation, in-depth

interviewing, focus groups) Quantitative (structured interviewingface to face,

CATI, structured observation, content analysis, secondaryanalysis)

For analysis Functionalism (key term - roles)

Structuralism (key term -positions)

Historical analysis (key termsgenesis, path)


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TOPIC 8RESEARCH

STRATEGY QUANTITATIVE STRATEGY

Role of theory: deductive - testing of theory

Epistemological orientation: natural science model - positivism

Ontological orientation: objectivism (social phenomena and tehir

meanings have an existence that is independent of social actors) QUALITATIVE STRATEGY

Role of theory: inductive - generation of theory

Epistemological orientation: interpretivism

Ontological orientation: constructionism (social phenomena and theirmeanings are continually being accomplishedproduced and revised - bysocial actors; even researchers own accounts of the social world areconstructions)


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TOPIC 9RESEARCH DESIGNS

Experimental design Complete control over conditions and variability of variables

Experimental and control groups

e.g.Exposure of the groups with same structure to different culturalcontents

Quasi-experiments (esp. natural experiments) Using incidents and natural occurances as means of altering

social arrangement

No posibility to randomly asign units to experimental andcontrol group

e.g. Research on a festival audinces perceptions and behaviour


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Cross-sectional design (social survey design) Collection of data on more than one case(ussually

several hundreds or tousands) and at a single point

in time, in order to collect a body of quantitative orquantifiable data in connection with two or morevariables(usually several dozen), which are thenexamined to detectpatterns of association

Social survey designquestionaire and structuredinterviewing applied in cross-sectional design

Reliability, replicability and validity


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Longitudinal design Repetition of cross-sectional design on the same sample for at

least one more time

Rarely used becouse of the time and cost involved

Panel studies and cohort studies Improved internal validity (possibility to establish time order),

decreased external validity (sample attrition due to death, mobility,etc.)

The British Household Panel Study: repeated every year, starting

from 1991 on 10.000 individuals in 5.500 households; topics:household organization, labour market behaviour, income and

wealth, housing, health and socio-economic valueswww.iser.essex.ac.uk/bhps


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Case study design

The detailed and intensive analysis of a single case,

concerned with the complexity and particular nature

of the case in question

Topics: single community, single school, single

family, single organization, a person, a single event

Types of case: critical case, typical case, unique case Reliability, replicability (longitudinal?) and validity

(external?)


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Comparative designThe study using more or less identical methods on

two contrasting cases

Could be either qualitative or quantitative Usually cross-time, cross-cultural or cross-national

researches

Reliability, replicability and validity same as with

cross-sectional design (importance of repeating samemethods, instruments and procedures)

Qualitatively: multiple-case study

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Research Methods - Research Strategies and Designs