1. CHAPTER 2: DIMENSIONS OF RESEARCH
DIMENSION: A VARIABLE PROPERTY OR QUALITY
FOR EXAMPLE, PHYSICAL OBJECTS HAVE HEIGHT, WIDTH, DEPTH; WEIGHT; MOMENTUM; ETC.

2. DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
USE OF RESEARCH: BASIC OR APPLIED
PURPOSE: EXPLORATORY, DESCRIPTIVE, EXPLANATORY
TIME: CROSS-SECTIONAL, LONGITUDINAL, CASE STUDY
DATA COLLECTION: QUALITATIVE, QUANTITATIVE

3. USE OF RESEARCH BASIC: GENERATE NEW KNOWLEDGE, THEORY
APPLIED: SOLVE PROBLEMS
IN PRINCIPLE, THEY ARE
C0MPLEMENTARY
OVERLAPPING
IN PRACTICE, BASIC RESEARCH IS MORE PRESTIGEOUS

4. BASIC RESEARCH
DEVELOPS OR TESTS KEY TOOLS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE:
THEORIES
CONCEPTS
METHODS

5. APPLIED RESEARCH FOCUS ON SOLVING PROBLEMS TYPES
SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: WHAT ARE THE LIKELY CONSEQUENCES OF A PLANNED POLICY OR PROGRAM?
EVALUATION: OF A POLICY OR PROGRAM – HOW WELL DOES IT WORK?
ACTION:EMPOWERS MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY TO IDENTIFY AND SOLVE PROBLEMS

6. PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY
Engages sociology in conversation with society about values, vision, analysis, direction
Types
traditional – writing or speaking for broad but thin audience
grassroots – working with groups in the community
May combine basic and applied

7. Grassroots Public Sociology and Action Research
Goals are similar: empowerment, social change
Action research often focuses on solving specific problems
Public sociology also creates larger, critical conversations about social vision, values, analysis, and strategies for change

8. PURPOSES OF A STUDY EXPLORATORY – LEARN ABOUT A NEW TOPIC OR QUESTION
DESCRIPTIVE – PROVIDE QUALITATIVE AND/OR QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION
EXPLANATORY – DEVELOP OR TEST THEORY
SEE BOX 2.2 ON PAGE 29
NO NEED TO MEMORIZE, BUT BE FAMILIAR WITH BASIC IDEAS OF EACH PURPOSE

9. THE TIME DIMENSION CROSS-SECTIONAL - SNAPSHOT
LONGITUDINAL – SERIES OF SNAPSHOTS
TIME-SERIES –SAME “UNITS OF OBSERVATION” EACH TIME
PANEL – SAME INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, ETC.
COHORT – SAME LIFE EXPERIENCES SHARED BY MEMBERS

10. THE TIME DIMENSION, continued
CASE STUDIES – ‘CONTINUOUS’ VIDEO
EXAMINE A GROUP, EVENT, ORGANIZATION, ETC. OVER TIME
COMPARATIVE CASE STUDIES

11. DATA COLLECTION QUANTITATIVE EXPERIMENTS IN LAB OR IN ‘REAL LIFE’
USUALLY INVOLVES COMPARING EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS, BEFORE AND AFTER ‘TREATMENT(S)’ GIVEN TO EXPERIMENTAL GROUP(S)

12. DATA COLLECTION, CONTINUED
QUANTITATIVE, CONTINUED
SURVEYS
THE MOST COMMON FORM OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
INVOLVES ADMINISTERING A QUESTIONNAIRE TO A POPULATION OR SAMPLE
CONTENT ANALYSIS – OF ‘SYMBOLIC MATERIAL’
EXISTING STATISTICS – ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUSLY-COLLECTED DATA

13. DATA COLLECTION, CONTINUED
QUALITATIVE DATA
FIELD RESEARCH (OR PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION)
GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH
RECONSTRUCTION APPROACH
HISTORICAL-COMPARATIVE RESEARCH
DATA: ARCHIVES (MEETING NOTES, MINUTES, LETTERS, ETC.), MEMOIRS, BOOKS, NEWSPAPER ARTICLES, INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS, ETC.