Major Types of Social Research

MAJOR TYPES OF SOCIAL
RESEARCH
PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

SPRING 2020
DR. ALP YÜCE KAVAS
SOCIAL RESEARCH CLASSIFICATIONS
 Use and Audience of Research
 Purpose of Research
 Types of Case Research
 Types of Timeline in Social Research

USE AND AUDIENCE OF RESEARCH
 Basic Research
 Applied Research
BASIC RESEARCH
 Also called as «academic search» or «pure research»
 It aims to advance to advance fundamental knowledge about the social World
 Researchers use this method to support or refute theories related to social sciences
 Although it may take time and Money (other material resources) for a basic research, it
constructs a foundation for knowledge and broad understanding on many fields.
 Generally, it is used to expand knowledge, not to get immediate scientific outcome.

APPLIED RESEARCH
 Generally adresses to a specific concern
 It may offer solutions to questions raised by employers, local communities or a

social cause.
 Because it aims generally to achieve practical results, does not take too much
time.
 Businesses, government agencies, healthcare sector, political organizations

generally prefer this type of research.
APPLIED RESEARCH
There are three sub-types of applied research:
 Evaluation Research: Most widely used sub-type of applied research. Large bureaucratic
organized used it to learn new ways of functionning. Most social programs require this kind
of research.
 Action Research: It treats the knowledge as a power. The people who are studied are
generally active participants. It aims generally to study inequal power relations in the society
and attract ordinary people’s attention.
 Social Impact Assessment: SIA estimates the social consequences in advance of a planned
change. Generally it is part of larger environmental impact statement (EIS) demanded by
governmental agencies. SIA is required for locating and building schools, hospitals, prisons,
factories, highways, railroads, airports, parks, reservation areas etc.
PURPOSE OF RESEARCH
 Exploratory Research
 Descriptive Research
 Explanatory Research
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
 It is used when the subject is very new, and there is little or no knowledge about it.
 Because it has few guidelines, it is difficult to find direct answers in this kind of
research
 Researchers who focused on exploratory research must be creative, open-minded

and flexible trying to explore every aspects of the subject researched.
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
 It represents the specific details of a situation, social setting or relationship.
 Mostly it focuses on «how» and «who» questions to find definitive answers.
 Most of social research could be cited as the examples of this kind of research.
 Descriptive researchers mostly use data-gathering sources such as surveys, field

research, historical and comparative research
EXPLANATORY RESEARCH
 This type of research focuses on finding why an issue already known and
described is happening/happened.
 It looks for causes and reasons.
 Researchers may prefer providing empirical evidence to support or refute a

novel explanation already expressed.
 In some researchs, the comparison between two or more explanations in light

of concrete evidence(s) would be in place.
TYPES OF CASE RESEARCH
 Case Study Research
 Across-Case Research
CASE STUDY RESEARCH
 It examines many features of few cases.
 The cases would be derived from individuals, groups, organizations,

movements, events or geographic units.
 Most case study research are qualitative but does not to be that way all the
time.
STRENGHTS OF CASE STUDY RESEARCH
 Conceptual Validity: It helps to demonstate variables or concepts moving towards their core
 Heuristic Impact: It helps constructing new theories or developing-extending concepts
 Causal Mechanism Identification: It can make visible the details of social processes and
mechanisms by which one factor affect the others.
 Ability to Capture Complexity: It helps demonstrating highly complex, multi-factors

concepts/events.
 Calibration: It helps researchers concretizing abstract concepts via living experiences.
 Holistic Elaboration: It permits the incorporation multiple perspectives and point of views.
ACROSS-CASE RESEARCH
 Most quantitative researchs gather information from a large number of cases

and focus on a few matters.
 It generally compares selected features across numerous cases.
 Researchers times may prefer both case study and across-case research
studying the same issue.
TYPES OF TIMELINE IN SOCIAL RESEARCH
Cross-Sectional Research
Longitudinal Research
CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH
 It can be exploratory, descriptive or explanatory but most

consistent with descriptive research.
 It gathers data in one time point.
 It is generally the costless and simplest type of research but

rarely captures social processes and change.
LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH
 It can be also used for exploratory, descriptive and explanatory purposes.
 This type of research is more complicated and costly regarding to cross-

sectional research and on the other part more powerful.
 There are three types of longitudinal research:
 Time-series Research
 The Panel Study
 Cohort Study
TIME SERIES RESEARCH
 Data are collected on a category of people or other units across

multiple time points.
 It enables reserachers to examine the stability or the change in the
feature of the units.
 It is useful to recognize and determine changes in social life matters.
PANEL RESEARCH
 It is more powerful but more difficult than conducting time series

research.
 Researchers gather data exactly on the same people, groups or
organisations across multiple time points.
 We can gather very impoetant and valubale information by this type
of research.
COHORT STUDY
 It is similar to panel study but this time it studies a category of people

with similar traits and life experiences in a specific period insted of
the same people or other units.
 Researchers focus on «cohorts» in a defined category (people in the
same regroupings),simplifiying the observation process.
SOURCE
NEUMAN, Lawrence W., Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative

Approaches, Essex, Pearson Education Limited, 2014.

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MAJOR TYPES OF SOCIAL

PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

 Use and Audience of Research

 Types of Case Research

 Types of Timeline in Social Research

 Also called as «academic search» or «pure research»

 It aims to advance to advance fundamental knowledge about the social World

 Generally, it is used to expand knowledge, not to get immediate scientific outcome.

 Generally adresses to a specific concern

 It may offer solutions to questions raised by employers, local communities or a

 Businesses, government agencies, healthcare sector, political organizations

There are three sub-types of applied research:

 Researchers who focused on exploratory research must be creative, open-minded

 It represents the specific details of a situation, social setting or relationship.

 Mostly it focuses on «how» and «who» questions to find definitive answers.

 Descriptive researchers mostly use data-gathering sources such as surveys, field

 It looks for causes and reasons.

 Researchers may prefer providing empirical evidence to support or refute a

 In some researchs, the comparison between two or more explanations in light

 Case Study Research

 It examines many features of few cases.

 The cases would be derived from individuals, groups, organizations,

 Heuristic Impact: It helps constructing new theories or developing-extending concepts

 Ability to Capture Complexity: It helps demonstrating highly complex, multi-factors

 Calibration: It helps researchers concretizing abstract concepts via living experiences.

 Most quantitative researchs gather information from a large number of cases

 It generally compares selected features across numerous cases.

 It can be exploratory, descriptive or explanatory but most

 It is generally the costless and simplest type of research but

 It can be also used for exploratory, descriptive and explanatory purposes.

 This type of research is more complicated and costly regarding to cross-

 There are three types of longitudinal research:

 The Panel Study

 Data are collected on a category of people or other units across

 It is more powerful but more difficult than conducting time series

 It is similar to panel study but this time it studies a category of people

NEUMAN, Lawrence W., Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative

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