Social Science

Research Matters

Editors: Franel du Plooy-Cilliers,

Corne Davis and
Rose Marie Bezuidenhout
ISBN: 9781485102014

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Chapter 1: What is research?
• How does research matter to you?
• How does research matter to us all?
• Defining research
• The research process
– Identifying and analysing the question or problem
– Conducting a literature review
– Formulating a research question
– Deciding on a research approach
– Writing your research proposal
– Pre-testing data collection methods or instruments
– Analysing and interpreting your data
– Writing your research report
• The implications of your research
• Summary

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Chapter 2: Research paradigms and
traditions
• What is a paradigm?
• Ways of generating knowledge
• The three dominant research traditions
– Positivism
– Interpretivism
– Critical realism
• Summary

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Chapter 3: Theory in research
• Defining theory
• Types of theories
• The nature of theory
– Theories are abstractions
– Theories are constructions
• The basic components of theories
– Assumptions
– Concepts
– Relationships
– Explanation and prediction
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• Functions of theories
• Evaluating theories
– The theoretical scope
– Appropriateness
– Heuristic value
– Validity
– Parsimony
– Openness
• Theories versus models
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• Characteristics of theories
– Direction of theorising
– Levels of analysis
– The paradigm or tradition
• The systems approach: a group of theories
– Defining systems theory and relationships in
systems
– Concepts used in systems theory
– Some assumptions of the systems theory
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• The theoretical framework
– Functions of a theoretical framework
– Strategies for developing a theoretical framework
• Summary

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Chapter 4: From topic to research question

• Identifying a research topic

• Direct experience and observation
– Social contexts
– Tradition and culture
– Theories and previous research
– The media
• The research problem as the golden thread

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• Research traditions and the research problem
– Identifying problems in the positivistic tradition
– Identifying problems in the interpretivist tradition
– Identifying problems in the critical realist tradition
• Criteria for formulating a research problem
• The problem statement
– Identifying and stating sub-problems
• From research problems to research questions
• Summary
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Chapter 5: The aims of research
• The multiple purposes of research
– Pure (or basic) research
– Applied research
• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research

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• Correlational research
• Explanatory research
• Predictive research
• Pragmatic research
• Summary

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Chapter 6: Formulating hypotheses
• What is a hypothesis?
• Theories, laws and hypotheses
– Theories
– Laws
• When are hypotheses required?
• Types of hypotheses

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• Hypotheses and variables
• Formulating a hypothesis
• Accepting and rejecting hypotheses
• Summary

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Chapter 7: The research rationale
• The research rationale and the research
design
• Making choices during your research
• Your research tradition
• Applying theories
• The topic of your research

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• The problem to investigate
– Asking questions about your research problem
• The population
• The purpose of your research
• The objectives of your research
• Summary

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Chapter 8: The literature review
• What is a literature review?
• The purpose of a literature review
• Types of literature review

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• The literature review process
– Searching for literature
– Reading the literature with a purpose
– Summarising the literature
– Writing the review
• Summary

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Chapter 9: Conceptualisation
• Concepts and constructs
• Language
– Linguistic relativity
– Natural and scientific language
• Meaning
• Conceptualisation

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• The ontological tradition
– The operationalising tradition
– The sensitising tradition
– The hermeneutic tradition
– The adaptive alternative
• Summary

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Chapter 10: Constructing arguments in
research
• Your stance as a researcher
– Insider or outsider
– Expert or learner
– On, for, or with people

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• Structuring your arguments
– Claims
– Data
– Warrants
– The backing, qualifier and rebuttal
– The Toulmin model
• Types of reasoning
• Misuse of reasoning and evidence
• Summary
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Chapter 11: Sampling
• The population
• Sampling
– Probability sampling
– Non-probability sampling
• Sampling methods
– Probability sampling methods
– Important considerations
• Summary

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Chapter 12: Quantitative data collection
• Survey research
– Survey designs
– Types of survey
– Surveys using questionnaires
– The use of scales in a questionnaire
– Advantages and disadvantages

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• Experimental designs
– Elements of experimental designs
– Quasi-experimental and true experimental designs
– Advantages and disadvantages
• Content analysis
– Advantages of content analysis
– Quantification of the data
– A research design for content analysis
– Steps in content analysis
• Summary
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Chapter 13: Qualitative data collection
• The goals of qualitative research
• Field research
• Field research approaches
• The range of participation in field research
• Conducting field research

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• Focus groups
• In-depth interviews
• Non-reactive or unobtrusive research
– Qualitative content analysis
– Historical research
• Summary

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Chapter 14: Action research
• Defining action research
• Characteristics of action research
• Purpose and types of action research

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• Paradigms, approaches and methods
• The action research cycle
• Strengths and challenges of action research
• Applications of action research
• Summary

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Chapter 15: Quantitative data analysis
• Why do we need statistics?
• Hypotheses
– The null hypothesis
– The alternative hypothesis
• Data sets
• Units, the sample and the population

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• Describing the data
• Range
• Central points
• The spread of the data
• The correlation coefficient
• Probability
• Drawing conclusions from data
• Hypothesis testing
• Presenting data
• Summary
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Chapter 16: Qualitative data analysis
• The nature of qualitative data analysis and
interpretation
– Qualitative research is textual
– Qualitative research is iterative
– Qualitative research is hermeneutic
– Qualitative research is subjective
– Qualitative research is constructed and symbolic

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 – Qualitative data analysis methods
– Qualitative content analysis
– Discourse analysis
– Conversation analysis
– Multimodal conversational analysis
– Semiotics
• Data presentation
• Summary

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Chapter 17: Validity and reliability
• Validity, reliability and trustworthiness
• Validity and reliability in quantitative studies
– Reliability in quantitative research
– Validity in quantitative research
• Trustworthiness in qualitative studies
• Summary

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Chapter 18: Ethics in research
• The importance of ethics in research
• Ethical issues: participants
– Informed consent
– Collecting data from participants
– Dealing with sensitive information
– Providing incentives
– Avoiding harm
– Confidentiality versus anonymity

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 – Deception
• Ethical issues: the researcher
– Falsifying information
– Distorting results
– Bias
– Misusing information
– Using inappropriate research methods
• Ensuring ethical research
• Summary
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Chapter 19: Limitations, delimitations and
recommendations
• The scope of the research study
• Limitations
• Delimitations
– How to identify delimitations

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• Recommendations
– How to identify recommendations
• Two types of recommendations
• Summary

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Chapter 20: The research proposal
• Defining a good research proposal
• The title
• The context of the study
– The purpose of the study
– Background and rationale of the study
• Brief literature review and theoretical
framework
– Conceptualisation of key terms
– The problem statement
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• The research methodology
– Data collection method(s)
– Data analysis method(s)
• The feasibility of the study
• Ethical considerations
• Limitations of the study
• Anticipated contributions of the study
• References
• Summary
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Chapter 21: The research report
• What to include in the research report
– Using evidence-based information
– Using non-evidence-based information
• Compiling a research report
– Be clear about the instructions
– Planning the structure
– Writing the first draft
– Rewriting the first draft

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 – Proofreading the report
– Editing the report
• The structure of a research report
– Overall introduction
– The main body of the research paper
– Conclusions and recommendations
– The reference list/bibliography
– Appendices
• Technical considerations
• Summary
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Chapter 22: Referencing
• The importance of referencing
• When to reference
• Different referencing systems
• Components of referencing
– In-text referencing
– The reference list or bibliography

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• Referencing different sources
– Books
– Scientific journal articles
– Newspaper articles
– Electronic sources
• Plagiarism
• Summary

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