RESEARCH METHODOLOGYDr. Erqian Zhu

The School of International Business

Beijing Language and Culture University

FROM A STUDENT TO A RESEARCHER Undergraduate student Graduate student Researcher What is research and researcher?

Research (Dictionary.com) :diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications

Research (Webster Dictionary): investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws

Research (Oxford): the systematic study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

Researcher: a scientist who devotes himself to doing research

INTRODUCTIONABOUT THE RESEARCH METHOD

The subject of this course is how we find out about social reality.

Looking for Reality Inquiry is a natural human activity. Much of ordinary

human inquiry seeks to explain events and predict future events.

When we understand through direct experience, we make observations and seek patterns of regularities in what we observe.

Much of what we know, we know by agreement rather than by experience. In particular, two important sources of agreed-on knowledge are: Tradition Authority

ERRORS IN INQUIRY, AND SOME SOLUTIONS

Inaccurate Observations Overgeneralization

Replication Selective Observation Illogical Reasoning

Gambler’s fallacy

THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

Social theory attempt to discuss and explain what is ,not what should be. Theory should not be confused with philosophy or belief.

Social science looks for regularities in social life. Social scientists are interested in explaining human

aggregates, not individuals. Theories are written in the language of variables.

Attributes： a characteristic Variables： a logical set of attributes

Level of Education Percent saying Homosexuality is Always Wrong

Less than high school graduate 72%

High school graduate 62%

Junior college 56%

Bachelor’s degree 44%

Graduate degree 30%

Source： Bureau of Statistics (China) www.stats.gov.cn Bureau of Census (USA) www.census.gov

Birth Rate: China vs. the United States

Year Birth Rate

China USA

Some Common Social Concepts

Female Age

Upper class Chinese American

Young Occupation

Social class Gender

Race/ethnicity Plummer

Variable Attributes

Age Young, middle aged, old

Gender Female, male

Occupation Plummer, lawyer, data-entry clerk

Race/ethnicity Chinese American, Asian, Latino

Social class Upper, middle, lower

THE PURPOSE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH

Three major purposes of social research are explorations, description, and explanation.

Studies may aim to serve more than one of these purposes.

THE ETHICS OF HUMAN INQUIRY

It is important to recognize from start that ethical issues, particularly with reference to protecting subjects, may rule out certain research procedures and/or require certain element in the research design.

SOME DIALECTICS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

Whereas idiographic explanations present specific cases fully, nomothetic explanations present a generalized understanding of many cases.

Inductive theories reason from specific observations to general patterns. Deductive theories start from general statements and predict specific observations.

Quantitative data are numerical; qualitative data are not. Both types of data are useful for different research purposes.

Both pure and applied research are valid and vital parts of the social science enterprise.