Innovation in Social Research Methods

-Malcolm Williams and W. Paul Vogt

Presented by: Priyanka, Arpita and Usman

Aims and Objectives

To survey the social research methods current bearings

To project the future of the social research methods

How the methods are socially constructed

...use of method in a discipline' is influenced by the

character of the discipline and its problems

a method shapes the discipline. The topics and the

questions asked are driven by the methodological

possibilities and starting positions.

Cultural Turn
In sociology, Cultural turn changed the course and character of

the discipline.
In the decade of 1980s and 1990s quantitative methods were

ruled out.
In a content analysis of leading British Sociology journals, it

was found that only 6% used quantitative methods.

Benefits of this shift or turn

Positioning of the researcher and
Reflexivity method

Social Research now

Now the academia is more open to innovations in

methods than in past quarter century.

Now the methodological quality of the output of social

research is greater.

Reasons for the improved research

scenario
The end of Paradigm wars
The development of mixed methods
Technological developments
Statistical and scientific developments
Greater Publishing opportunities

Paradigm Wars & Post War Settlement

Change in styles of post-war social research
Paradigm Wars:
Contest between scientific & humanistic perspective
Late 1960s to early 1990s
Idiographic vs Nomothetic which underlie qualitative and

quantitative methods respectively

Epistemological exclusivity
Damage to credibility?

Pointless war emergence of mixed method

approach

Paradigm Wars & Post War Settlement

Value neutrality being challenged
Opening to influence of realism, feminism
Three method groupings
Naturalistic tradition
Interpretivist tradition
Mixed methods

Mixed
Methods

Methodological
Pluralism

Methodological choice is not determined by

epistemological commitment; rather by selecting
the best method in hand.
Combine qualitative &
quantitative approaches
True hybrid approaches:
NVIVO, QCA software

Methodological integration
without crossing qualitativequantitative divide

Focus re-shifted to research problems rather than the

legitimacy of social enquiry

Technological developments
Development of SPSS
Freeware for data analysis
R Software

Statistical and Scientific Development

Until 1960s- Small number of cases and variables
Single researcher collecting the data
Methods of quantitative analysis restricted to small

number of cases
Overgeneralization from small sample as main

concern

 Today researchers use huge data

Collection of own data- Experimentalists and

Qualitative data
Quantitatively oriented researcher use secondary data
Availability of such data changes the nature and

questions if research
Hypothesis testing Adequacy testing

Development in Quantitative Analysis

Multilevel modeling

(MLM)
To analyze multi-level
problems or contextual
ones

Structural Equation

Modeling (SEM)
To test causal models and

latent constructs
Use of factor analysis

Soft wares readily available

( Raudenbush and Bryks

HLM package, MLWIN)
Huge data + Fast computing + Statistical technique

Publishing Opportunities
Mid 20th century- Social research a slow process,

limited journals and books

1990s- Exponential growth in publication
Increased online journals- faster output, easy access

Global connection
Limitation- market flooding and cognitive

Methodological Futures
Future course depends on historical, social and

technical conditions
Wider social world
Funding- government/private
Training and communication
Public participation or non-participation