Why do Social Scientists need Research Methods - Article Example

Why do Social Scientists need Research Methods? Insert Name: Course Name: Tutor: Date: There are a number of occupations that are categorized under social science. Many changes occur in the day to day life and thus other fields are likely to sprout or come up to serve given purpose. Examples of fields that fall under social science as opposed to other sciences like natural sciences include sociology, anthropology, archeology, political science, geography and history. The list highlighted here may not be exclusive. Before endeavoring to establish the connection between these fields with research methods, it would be of great importance to understand what each field entails and hence establish their point of connect. What follows is that it would be very well thought to look at what particular information each social science requires or uses and how it uses it or in what form it is used to aid in decision making in that particular field. On the other hand, research methods must be able to provide the information or help in putting the information already available to the social scientist in a better fashion that will aid in the decision making process. Or it may provide the tools needed to gather the information. One huge step towards achieving this is to understand the principles by which projects in the social sciences are devised and executed (Chris 1995). Overview of Research Methods Generally, the field of research methods is an intermarriage of the scientific method with research. It entails carrying out a diligent inquiry or a critical examination of a given phenomenon following a rigorous impersonal mode of procedure without overlooking the demands of logic while making conclusions (Russell 2001). This implies that it is involved with collection, analysis, and interpretation of data systematically to arrive at an effective solution to problems. The whole process is referred to as research process and its main goal is to generate new knowledge. It may take any or a combination of three main structures. One is that the research may be an exploratory research whose aim is to structure and identify emerging or new problems. If it takes the form of a constructive research, it will attempt to develop answers to the identified problems. Thirdly, the process may be of the form of an empirical research where it aims at testing how feasible an identified solution is. This is arrived at by use of empirical evidence. Overview of Social Science and it connection with Research Methods Social scientists are concerned with the study of all aspects of society—from historical events and accomplishments to human behavior and associations among groups. The research they carry out provides clear perceptions into the diverse ways individuals and groups as well as institutions make decisions, use power, and act in response to change. In the course of their studies and investigations, social scientists give suggestions that can act as solutions to social, business problems, and individual dilemmas, governmental and environmental problems. In fact, many social scientists are engaged in policy analysis for both the government and private organizations. Consider, for instance, anthropologists who make use of the scientific (objective) as well as the interpretive (or subjective) methods in the diverse researches they carry out. As scientists social scientists (for instance anthropologists) methodically collect information to offer response specific research questions. They furthermore put their work into documentation their work so that other researchers can benefit from it. Other researchers in the field of anthropology also conduct diverse kinds of informal research where they do impromptu discussions with the people they study while observing them. In these tasks, they must employ various types of anthropological research methods including analyzing how the people they study interact with their respective environments. They also carry out linguistic analysis; they analyze human biology, do archeological analysis in addition to immersion in culture. This is an area in the life of the social scientist where research methods comes in as a powerful tool to enable thorough understanding and interpretation of the information collected from the field and allow comparison with existing data if any hence aid in the process of decision making. Many social scientists require research as a major activity of their work given that the array of methods provided by the research methods is essential in helping the social scientist to assemble all the facts and hence come up with some theories or validate already existing theories. Through the use of applied research, the social scientist is able to benefit from its intricate design to produce information which will facilitate better decision making and effective management of affairs by people. One and initial task which the social scientist is faced with is to collect the information that is already available concerning the problem identified. This is the first step into the scientist’s task of carrying out his research. The process of collecting information does of course take a variety of forms which includes using questionnaires, conducting interviews to assemble demographic and opinion data and statistics, living and working amongst the population under study, executing other field surveys and conducting experiments with human respondents or animal subjects in given settings for instance laboratory settings. All these are a good application of the research methods in social science. In addition, social scientists are interested in the detail of the data they collect, for example they might be interested in studying further the data collected. They may also want to reanalyze the data that already exists. If there are some historical records or documents that might need examination or maps to be interpreted or even bringing understanding of how culture and other aspects of society are affected by location (Chris 1995). Mentioning all these indicates an intersection between the social scientist and research methods. Research methods come in handy to help the social scientist in carrying out the tasks. Considering the political scientist and the task that faces him in researching about some political phenomena, for instance when carrying out a public-opinion survey, one finds that the scientific method is needed in the whole task to evaluate the election results and make predictions into the political future (Adrian, 1999). In order to come up with conclusions that stand to give predictions with minimum error, the political scientist as a social scientist will need to employ the use of research methods in collecting accurate information, analyzing it accurately and then presenting it diligently so that it is useful in political decision making, implementation of public policy and help in the betterment of the operation of governments through formulation of ideal structures. Along the line, the political scientist may have to interview relevant public officials after which he analyzes the information collected and then puts it in a way that will be helpful in shaping the existing political systems. Sociologists on their part study the society and social behavior through examination of people, groups, social institutions, business organizations and cultures. In addition, they are interested with the social, political, and religious activities of the people and business organizations. They need research methods to help them in the analysis (historical analysis and analysis of social patterns, comparative analysis not forgetting the use qualitative and quantitative techniques) and present data that can help educators, policymakers and administrators in their decision making (Chris 1995). Geographers need research methods in their analysis of distributions of both physical and cultural phenomena. This could be on local scale, on regional level, continental or global range. In the case of the political geographer, research methods are of great importance in establishing the relationship subsisting between geography and political phenomena. Examination of climatic variations as carried out by the physical geographer requires the aid of research methods to accomplish. In the study of causes and control of disease outbreaks as done by the medical geographer, research methods come in as handy tool in the entire investigation and it is helpful to the urban geographer too who studies the economical, or physical characteristics of a given urban area. Historians, on the other hand, examine and interpret the past. They bring many sources of information into use when doing this. This includes the use of government records, institutional accounts or reports, newspapers, interviews, diaries and letters, periodicals among other manuscripts. Relevance and reliability are important throughout such an exercise and therefore the historian will need research methods in the exercise of collecting information in the sources without compromising on relevance, reliability and logic. Social sciences share a lot, in terms of social theory perspectives, in common with research methods. This said one will find that the two fields share a variety of types of critical theory, intellectual criticalism in addition to scientific criticalism. This therefore is an indication of how social science is intermarried with research methods to guarantee effectiveness and efficiency in the execution of the social scientist’s task or duty. In many a times, the social scientist will need to use a wide assortment of either quantitative or qualitative methods or both (and in most cases both quantitative and qualitative methods are required) to assess and evaluate give or collected information. If the social scientist is carrying out a quantitative research, then he might just need techniques like questionnaires as mentioned, field-based data collection and statistical analysis besides other methods like laboratory-based collection of data (Hermine and Dudwick 2000). There are quite a number of types of researches which social scientists carry out and which need closeness of research methods In Cultural immersion, the researchers are trained in cultural anthropology and they make use of it alongside a number of methods when they are carrying out studies of other cultures. Though the field is traditionally concerned with observation (long term and direct), known as participant observation, this method of collecting data avails the researcher with an insider’s view of how and why other cultures or people do what they do (Berg, 2001). Thus, participant observation has become a powerful tool and integral part of research methods applied by many social scientists in their work of research since the days of Malinowski who used it between 1915 and 1918 in his study of the people of the Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea (BLS 2009). Eve today the researchers in the field of anthropology still collect vital information relevant in their study through asking questions informally to get what they want to know from the people they live with during their period of study. Through such process, the researchers must be wary of the biases that people characteristically have in giving explanation about their own cultures (Penn, 2003). At other points, the researcher may find it necessary to record the broad life histories of persons with whom they have amicable relationships- they can do this through interviews. Anthropologists also use other tools of research like maps and diagrams to have a better perspective of cultural complexities and patterns which may deem difficult to explain in the absence of such tools. An anthropologist may wish to carry out research on human ecology where large amounts of data are likely to be involved which will ultimately need to be analyzed, interpreted and put in a way that will be understood clearly. After interpretation of the data, predictions can easily be made into the future and it can also help in policy making (Russell 2001). For instance, if an anthropologist carries out a study about given people and finds out that there have been wars among members of a locality occurring in regular number of years and which are connected with use of land, it can help put policies and strategies into place to help alleviate the problem by handling the root cause of the issue that happens in definite cycle. Linguistic Analysis requires the use of diverse methods to examine the details of a given people hence the researcher will employ the use of research methods in researching and documenting the information found; for example the sound properties of spoken words in phonology (Russell 2001). In Archaeological Analysis, the social scientist uses specialized research methods as well as tools for the rigorous excavation and documentation of the hidden (most probably buried) remains of the past cultures. The archeologist employs the use of rigorous methods which enables determination of the relative age relationships exhibited among various types of artifacts basing on respective shapes and styles- process called seriation. These activities may require sampling where the social scientist must consider variability (or dispersion), the level of confidence, the number of sub-groups, the size of the population, the parameters of interest and the whole cost of the research (BLS 2009). To an archeologist who has some prior knowledge or training in cultural anthropology research methods would be helpful in interpreting his findings of archeology. In conclusion, after having seen how various sub-branches of the social science branch make use of research methods, it is worth noting that research methods form a major part of the social scientists’ activity. The social scientists investigate all facets of the society. They scrutinize past events, examine past achievements as well as human behavior and group dynamics. The research they carry out gives insights into individual behavior, better understanding of group dynamics, environmental problems, and political systems among other issues (Ember and Carol 2000). Thus, social science has a strong intermarriage with research methods. Reference List: Berg, B.L. 2001. Social Sciences and the Qualitative Research Methods. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon Publishers. Adrian, B. D. 1999. How Political Science uses Research designs in Theory and Practice. 2nd ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Chris, G. J. 1995. Research methods and design in psychology. NY: Wiley& Sons. Russell, B. H. 2001. Anthropology and Research Methods. 3rd ed. AltaMira Press. US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 2009. Research Methods and the Social Sciences: Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition. Accessed from URL: - http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos054.htm Hermine, G. D. and Dudwick, N. 2000. Dilemmas in Fieldwork. University of Wisconsin Press Ember, M. and Carol R. 2000. Research Methods in Cross-Cultural Studies. Oxford: AltaMira Press. Penn, H. W. 2003. Quick Ethnography. Revised edition. Oxford: AltaMira Press Read More