Lahore University of Management Sciences SOC 320 Quantitative Research Methods Spring 2010 Instructor: Lamia Irfan Office: 210 New HSS Wing Office hours: TBA E-mail: lamiairfan@hotmail.com Aims and objectives This unit is designed to: describe the key components of social research it will allow students to develop skills and knowledge about quantitative social research; and identify criteria used to evaluate the quality of social research. Essential reading Bryman, A. Social Research Methods. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2008) Further reading Babbie, E. The Basics of Social Research (Canada: Wadsworth 3rd edition 2005) Dooley, D. Social Research Methods (New Dehli: Prentice Hall 4th edition 2007) Frankel, J. & Wallen, N. How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education (USA: MacGraw-Hill, Inc. 2nd edition 1993) Learning outcomes: At the end of this course after finishing the essential readings and activities students should be able to: Formulate researchable questions. Define a research strategy and define a research project to answer a research question. Display knowledge of the practice and principles of quantitative research. Use skills and knowledge to evaluate the quality of published research by other social scientists and sociologists. Assessment
Projects: 40% Two research projects one using primary data and one using secondary data. Designing a survey and tabulating and presenting the data using SPSS. The research projects should use a mixture of methods to answer a specific research question. This project should be presented in the form of a report and a presentation. Mid term exam: 15% On the main themes and perspectives. Final Exam: 35% An unseen written examination. Class participation and attendance: 10% Attendance More than two unexcused absences will result in your losing your attendance points (3 unexcused absences means you lose half the points; more than 3 unexcused absences means you lose all the points). Absences are only excused in case you are unwell (a note from the LUMS doctor is required) or if you are representing LUMS through your participation in an event (an official letter is required). The contexts of social research: Social research as a professional activity. The market for social research outputs. The contexts of data collection. Social research and academic sociology. Philosophy and the practice of social research. The cultural context and ethnocentrism. Developing research proposals in context. Models and Modelling in Social Research: Ontological and epistemological status of models. Models and researchable questions. Exploratory and Confirmatory approaches to model building. Flexibility in Research Design. The use of models in quantitative and qualitative social research Concepts in Social Research: Approaches to concept formation in Sociology. Theory and concepts. Induction and deduction. The use of concepts in qualitative and quantitative social research. Coding qualitative data. Operationalising concepts. Complex concepts: property spaces. Quantitative Social Research: Sources of quantitative data: the social survey, administrative and official statistics. Secondary analysis of survey data. Designing social surveys. Quasi-experimental designs. Units and levels of analysis. Graphics and visualising data. Explanation and causal inference. Deciphering and Evaluating Social Research Outputs: The components of a social research publication. Identifying components. Reconstructing the research project. Validity in quantitative research. Sessions Concepts in Social Research:
SESSION 1: Introduction to the course SESSION 2: The nature of inquiry Differences between human iquiry and science. Differences between social and sociological problems. The foundations of social science. Some dialectics of social research. Paradigms, theory and research. SESSION 3: Social research strategies chapter 1 Theory and research, epistemological considerations, ontological considerations, research strategy, quantitative and qualitative research. SESSION 4: Research designs chapter 2 Criteria in social research: reliability, replicability, validity and relationship with research strategy. Types of research designs: Experimental, Cross sectional Longitudinal, Case study and comparative. SESSION 5: Planning a research project and formulating research questions. Chapter 3 Helping the students understand the steps involved in a research project so they can start thinking about their own project. This will include Hypothesis testing, formulating research questions, writing a research proposal, preparing research and analysing and presenting it. SESSION 6: Getting started: Reviewing the literature. Chapter 4 Reviewing existing literature, searching for research reports, understanding research reports and referencing. SESSION 7: Ethics and politics in social research Chapter 5 Ethical principles and research values, ethics and the issue of quality, the difficulties faced by researcher, politics in social research. Quantitative Social Research: SESSION 8: The nature of quantitative research chapter 6 Introduction to quantitative research and the main steps involved. Concepts and their measurement. Concepts and indicators in quantitative research. Issues of validity and
reliability. The main focus of Quantitative research: Measurement, causality generalisation and replication. Critique of quantitative research. SESSION 9: Sampling chapter 7 Introduction to survey research. Introduction to sampling and sampling error. Types of Probablity and non- probability sampling along with the advantages and disadvantages of each. Limits and error in survey research. SESSION 10: Structured interviewing chapter 8 Introduction to structured interviews. Focus on interview context, conducting the interviews, and the limitations of this approach. SESSION 11: Self completion questionnaires and asking questions Chapter 9 & 10 Intro to self completion questionnaires or postal questionnaires. Comparison with structured interviews. Designing the self completion questionnaire. Diaries as a form of self completion questionnaire. Types of questions. Rules of designing questions, piloting and pre-testing questions. SESSION 12: Structured observations chapter 11 Introduction to structured observation. The observation schedule. Strategies for observing behaviour, sampling, issues of reliability and validity. Field stimulations as a form of structured observation. Criticism of structured observation. SESSION 13: Content analysis, secondary analysis and official statistics chapters 12&13 Introduction to content analysis. What are the research questions? Selecting a sample. What should be counted. Coding in content analysis. Critique of content analysis. Advantages and limitations of using other researchers data, and official statistics for secondary analysis. Quantitative data analysis SESSION 14: Univariate analysis Quantification of data, types of variables, frequency tables, diagrams, measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion. SESSION 15: Bivariate and Multivariate analysis. Bivariate: Relationships not causality. Contingency tables, Pearson s r, Spearman s rho, Comparing means and eta. Multivariate analysis and statistical significance.
Computer workshops SESSION 16: Defining variables in SPSS; chapter 15 This will include variable names, missing values, variable labels and value labels. Along with recoding variables and computing new variables Session 17: Data analysis with SPSS Generating a frequency table, generating bar charts, pie charts, and histograms. Calculating Airthmetic mean, median, standard deviation, and range. SESSION 18: Contingency testing in SPSS Generating a contingency table, Chi square, Pearson s r and Spearman s rho. Comparing means and eta. SESSION 19: Correlation analysis in SPSS Bi-variate and tri-variate correlation analysis. Scatter diagrams. SESSION 20: Using SPSS with MS Office. Transporting tables to Excel, data display in Excel. Transporting tables to MS Word and Power point. Qualitative Research SESSION 21: The nature of Qualitative research chapter 16 Introduction to Qualitative research; theory and research; reliability and validity in Qualitative research; the main preoccupation of qualitative researchers; the critique of qualitative research. SESSION 22: Methods of Qualitative research chapters 17-22 Brief overview of methods of research. Ethnography and participant observation; Interviewing in Qualitative research; Focus groups; Language; and Documents as source of data in Qualitative research Reading and Writing Social research SESSION 23: Comparision of Quantitative and Qualitative research chapter 23 Differences and similarities in the two approaches. Comparison of the methods used by the two approaches. SESSION 24: Breaking down the quantitative/ Qualitative divide chapter 24
Problems with the quantitative/ qualitative contrast. The mutual Analysis of quantitative and qualitative research. Quantification in qualitative research. SESSION 25: Mixed Methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research chapter 25 The debate about mixed methods research. Approaches to mixed methods research, the argument against it, Deciphering and Evaluating Social Research Outputs: Session 26: E- research & Writing up Social research chapter 27 & 26 Using the internet as object and method of data collection. Qualitative and quantitative research using the internet. Critique. Framework, structure and argument. Organisation of the report. Writing up qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research. Session 27. Presentations Session 28. Presentations