Social Research Methods - Essay Example

Research Method: Answer In any research, a hypothesis is generally considered to be a tentative response to the research question that is advanced.The purpose of constructing a hypothesis corresponding to a research question is to test whether the presumed answer to the question actually holds good in reality. A hypothesis is built in such a way that it can be tested. (Bryman , 2008; Pretty, 1994; Burns, 2000) Here five research questions have been made. If one carefully looks at the research questions, then the research question B seems to be not appropriate for building a hypothesis corresponding to it. Hence, it is the research question B which is least suitable for hypothesis testing. The research question B is as follows: How do households in the communities surrounding the park make their livelihoods? The purpose is to find out different sources of income that are being currently utilized by the households, living in the communities surrounding the national park. The question is mainly exploratory in nature. It would not be appropriate to predict one particular livelihood as the answer of the question and develop a hypothesis on the basis of such prediction. For each of the remaining four questions, the hypotheses may be look like as follows: Hypothesis corresponding to question A: There has been a change in forest composition since the park was created. Hypothesis corresponding to question C: Households’ engagement with the commercial agricultural production increases with increase in the proximity of transport routs. Hypothesis corresponding to question D: Environmental education causes significant changes in the behavior of local people. In other words to say, environmental education makes local people more environment friendly. Hypothesis corresponding to question E: The Third species of tomato among the three proposed varieties of tomato is the most suitable variety for the local farming system for the purpose of cash cropping. Appropriate research design for each stated hypothesis: Research design for the hypothesis corresponding to question A: Longitudinal. Since the basic objective here is to find out what changes have occurred in the composition of the forest over time since the creation of the park. Here composition of the forest is the variable to be examined. Research design for the hypothesis corresponding to question C: Cross sectional Comparison. Here relationship between two variables – the distance from the transport routs and nature of livelihood- will be examined. The objective here is to find out whether people living in proximity to the transport routs have a tendency to adopt commercial farming as their livelihood. Hence Cross sectional Comparison would be appropriate for testing this hypothesis. Research design for the hypothesis corresponding to question D: Longitudinal. Here objective is to find out whether environmental education has made people more environment friendly. Hence, here longitudinal research design would be appropriate. Research design for the hypothesis corresponding to question E: Experimental. Here purpose is to find out which variety of tomato is suitable for local farming system. It can only be known by conducting an experiment. (Burns, 2000) Answer 2: Experimental design to test for yield differences between the three varieties: Purpose is to find out which variety of the tomato proposed for cash cropping in the areas adjacent to the park is best suited to the local farming system. The extent of suitability will be measured in terms of the yield that each of the variety is capable of producing within a particular time period using same local technique under same environmental and other required conditions for farming. The best way to examine the extent of suitability of each of the three varieties of tomato is to conduct an experiment under local conditions. (Frankfort-Nachimias and Nachimias 1992) The hypothesis is that “the third species of tomato among the three proposed varieties of tomato is the most suitable variety for the local farming system for the purpose of cash cropping”. Hence, here independent variable is species of tomato, while the yield is the dependent variable. We need to examine how yield varies with the species of tomato under local conditions. A particular portion of the agricultural field of each of the districts adjacent to the national park will be selected first. Then in the each district, the selected portion will be subdivided into 3 plots for the purpose of the experiments. For the convenience we may name the three varieties of tomato as variety 1, variety 2 and variety 3. Variety 1 will be cropped in one plot, variety 2 will also be yielded in another plot, and variety 3 will be cropped in the remaining plot. Each plot is identical in terms fertility, availability of water and other environmental conditions affecting farming. (Frankfort-Nachimias and Nachimias, 1992) We need to isolate the effect of variety of tomato on the yield from the effects of other factors that can influence crop yield. Other factors affecting crop yield are controlled. These are temperature, availability of water, and fertility of soil, fertilizer and pesticides applied and finally the farming technique. Here other factors have been controlled by the selection of identical plot for each of the species in each district. Along with these similar farming technique will be applied and same amount of pesticides and fertilizer will be applied. Thus the control principle of the experiment will be met adequately. As far as the other two principles, replication and randomization, are concerned, these have also been met in the case of present experiment. The criterion of replication has been met by the selection of agricultural field in each of the district adjacent to the park. As a result, the result of the experiment can be generalized. On the other hand, randomization a criterion has been met by selection of the portion of agricultural filed in each district as well as the plots for the farming of different variety randomly. Here dependent variable will be measured in nominal value, say in terms of kilo gram. Answer 3: i. To compare the populations of Beetle X (a Coleoptera species) in the park north of the river, south of the river and the buffer zone stratified random sampling will be employed. The area is stratified into north, south, buffer zone with respect to the river and method applied is stratified sampling. ii. The sample size depends on the variability in a population, the degree of confidence and the level of margin of error allowed in the research. There is a standard formula which is used for the determination of sample size for any research. If the purpose of the study is to measure mean value of any variable, then the sample size that is required for simple random sample is generally derived by the application of the following formula: n = [ zc/ x]2 where, n = required size of the sample z = z score for any given confidence interval, where z is considered to be the standard normal variable. If confidence interval is considered to be 95 percent, then the value of z is equal to 1.96. c = coefficient of variation. Coefficient of variation for any variable is calculated by dividing the standard deviation of the variable by its mean value. Mathematically the formula can be presented as [(the standard deviation/ the mean)*100). And x = precision required in relation to the occurrence of error. It actually stands for the required precision as regards to percentage error allowed. (Vogt, 1993) In the present case, sample sites will be selected in simple random way from each of the three regions – north of the river, south of the river, and the buffer zone. Here again objective is to measure mean value of population of the species Beetle X in each of the segment. Hence, the formula presented above can well be applied in the present case. Here, required level of precision with regard to the error allowed is 10 percent. Hence, x is equal to 10. Now, normally to calculate coefficient of variation, values of mean and standard deviation from some similar survey in the past are taken into account. Here, it is given that in published studies of trapping using the same methodology in similar forest ecology mean numbers of beetle X per sample site have been found to be 20 with variance of 7. Therefore, in the present case, coefficient of variation is [( √7/20)*100] = [(2.65/20)*100] = 13.25 (approximately). Therefore the sample size is = [(1.96*13.25)/10] = 3 (approximately) Hence, from each of the segment of the forest three sample sites will be chosen. iii. Here, population of one area will be getting compared to the population of another area. iv. To ensure that population estimates achieved at each locality can be compared, similar type of sampling technique, similar size of sample have been adopted. Answer 4: Sampling strategy: The present research is basically qualitative in nature as the aim is to find out the nature of livelihood or sources of income of the people living in the district adjacent to the forest. To measure sample size, two vital things have to be kept in mind. First, the sample size should be such that it can be handled by the size of the research team who will be delegated the duty of collecting required information from the sample, and second same percentage of population from each of the district should be included in the sample. Here four teams comprising of five members each will be delegated the duty of collecting necessary information from the selected members of the sample. There are twelve districts adjacent to the park, each with more than 10,000 populations. So it is quite clear that in relation to the number of districts and the extent of population in each district, the number and man power of the research teams are not very adequate. Hence, for the current research, it would be quite difficult to handle a large sample within the time period of one month only. (Poate and Daplyn, 1993; If each of the members of the research team is capable of surveying at least 20 members in a day, then it would be possible to select at least 10 percent of population for constructing the sample. Since, one of the major aims of the NGO is to disaggregate the findings at district level, it would be justified to include same proportion of people from the total population of each of the districts to avoid any kind of biases in the number of members included in the whole broad sample. Suppose, for the present research 15 percent of population from each of the twelve districts will selected to construct the sample. For the present research cluster random sampling will be used. Here the aim is to find out the nature of livelihoods or the sources of income of the people living in the adjacent districts of the forest. Now it can well be assumed that the nature of livelihoods for the people who are living very close to the forest, and those who are living in some places which are not very close to the forests will be different. For the purpose of the present study each of the districts will be selected into three cluster – the first cluster is comprised of those villages which lie within 10 k.m. from the park, the cluster is comprised of those villages which lie beyond 10 k.m. but within 25 k.m. from the park, and the third cluster is comprised of those villages which lie beyond 25 k.m. of the park. Now from each of the cluster equal amount of people will be selected randomly for each district. Answer 5 i. For quantitative research, secondary survey can be used here. Improvement in livelihood can be measured by increase in come. Hence, a longitudinal survey of secondary data can be conducted, where researcher can examine the difference in the income between the time prior to the road improvements and after road improvements. Secondary data regarding income are published by government. On the other hand, if occupational data is available, then it would be also possible to find out whether there is a tendency of the people to move towards more commercialized occupation with improvements of roads. ii. For conducting any qualitative research, the most suitable research method is primary survey. Qualitative research generates data that is based on the participants’ own categories of meaning, it is useful for studying a limited number of cases in depth, and tends to collect data in naturalistic settings. Types of data collected generally involve the opinions and beliefs of the researcher and the subjects that are being examined, through the use of various instruments. Instruments used to collect the data include case studies, interviews, focus groups and observation. An appropriate way of gathering primary data is to conduct interviews with selected candidates with the help of a properly structured questionnaire. For conducting primary survey, the first step is to select a particular sample. After selection of the members of the sample is done, interviews might be conducted with each of the selected candidates. Interview is considered to be a very useful and powerful tool for conducting researches, particularly qualitative researches. During any research, interviews of the selected people are conducted to find out what a person actually think regarding a particular issue. Interviews enable researchers to access the perspective of the people who are being interviewed. Through interviews it is possible to find out certain important things relevant to the studies that can not be obtained or observed directly. Interviews also help in uncovering and exploring the meanings of certain things related to the people’s behaviour, feelings, routines etc. (Onwuegbuzie and Leech , 2007; Kemmis , and McTaggart , 1988) Furthermore, interviewing also stands for a measure of systematic data collection by asking different sort of questions, listening to them carefully and recording and noting all the answers accurately. Through in interviews researchers get a access to a wide range of experiences, different kinds of circumstances and a range of knowledge that could otherwise not be obtained. During an interview, there exists a great chance that an interviewee would describe some private or sensitive behaviours, relevant to the topic of interview, that took place in past or in some locations which are inaccessible for the interviewer. Interviews are also able to provide certain information regarding the means or definitions that people give to different events or behaviour. (Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2007) As far as the techniques adopted for interviews in primary surveys in are concerned, there exist three particular techniques of conducting interviews- Structured interviews, Semi-structured interviews, unstructured interviews. Structured interviews: Closed, fixed response interviews. In this method, structured questions are administered to all the respondents with the option of selecting responses from similar alternatives. Semi-structured interviews: Standardized, open-ended interviews where a standard set of open-ended questions is administered to all the respondents. Unstructured interviews: Informal conversational interviews where questions to be asked are not formulated in advance. Since the present research is mainly explanatory in nature, a semi-structured interview technique had been undertaken. This kind of interviews is capable of exploring relationships between different aspects relevant for the study. (Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2007) Semi-structured interviews generally consider a number of open-ended questions in different categories selected by the researcher. Open-ended questions must be framed in detail and have to be straight to the point so that the level of confusion can be minimised in the best possible manner. iii. For the quantitative method the major obstacle is that income data might not be available at individual level. Then, it would difficult to find out improvement in livelihood at individual level. In case of qualitative method, it would be difficult to obtain adequate responses from the members of the selected sample. Very often people are reluctant to disclose information relating to occupation or income. Hence problem night arise in the process of data gathering. References: 1. Bryman A (2008) Social research methods. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 2. Pretty J. N (1994) Alternative systems of inquiry for a sustainable agriculture. IDS Bulletin 25(2) 37–46. 3. Frankfort-Nachimias C., Nachimias D. (1992) Research methods in the social sciences. Edward Arnold. 4. Onwuegbuzie A.J., Leech N.L. (2007) A call for qualitative power analysis. Quality and Quantity 41 105–121. 5. Poate C.D., Daplyn P. F. (1993) Data collection: some general issues. In: Poate CD, Daplyn PF Data for agrarian development. Cambridge University Press. 6. Poate C.D., Daplyn P. F (1993) Sampling frames. In: Poate CD, Daplyn PF Data for agrarian development. Cambridge University Press, pp. 43–49. 7. Burns (2000) Introduction to research methods. Sage Publications Ltd. 8. Kemmis S, McTaggart R (eds) (1988) The action research planner. 3rd edn, Victoria, Deakin University. 9. Mason R.D., Lind D.A., Marchal W.G. (1999) Statistical techniques in business and economics. Irwin, pp. 258−259. 10. Vogt PW (1993) Dictionary of statistics and methodology: a non-technical guide for the social sciences. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Read More