Key Concepts in Social Research Methods

Roger Gomm

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780230214996
• eBook ISBN: 9781350314870
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

An in-depth glossary, this accessible book successfully introduces students to the key concepts and terms used in social research. Terms are organised alphabetically and fully cross-referenced for use of ease. Suggestions for further reading help to consolidate knowledge and aids understanding.

Aa

α (alpha)

See Alpha level, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, Statistical significance, Type 1 and Type 2 errors.

A&HCI (Arts & Humanities Citation Index)

See Citation indices.

A,B,C1,C2,D,E

See Market research categorisations.

Abduction/Abductive reasoning

(1) The kind of reasoning which finds the best explanation for a set of given facts, much as with the denouement in detective fiction; may involve sequences of deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning and analytic induction. Also referred to as ‘inference to the best explanation’. Very similar to Heuristic Thinking (Arnold 2006) – see also Reasoning. (2) Used interchangeably with retroductive reasoning/retroduction and hypothesis method to refer to the development of theory through the generation and testing of hypotheses, hence similar in meaning to hypothetico-deductive method, but more likely to be used by writers espousing realism (Suarez 2005). (3) As above but with abduction reserved for qualitative research – hence similar in meaning to analytic induction and constant comparison, with retroductive reserved for quantitative research (Blaikie 1993). (4) The revision of existing beliefs in the light of additional evidence, as with Bayesian inference.

Arnold, T. (2006) ‘Heuristic Thinking’, Hyponoetics Philosophical Essays. www.hyponoesis.org/download/Heuristic_Thinking.pdf

Blaikie, N. (1993) Approaches to Social Enquiry, Cambridge: Polity Press

Suarez, M. (2005) ‘Experimental Realism Defended: How inference to the most likely cause might be sound’. http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00002252/

ABER

See Arts based inquiry.

ABI

See Effect size (ES) measures, Risk, relative and absolute.

Absissa

See X-axis.

Absolute harm increase / decrease

See Effect size (ES) measures, Risk, relative and absolute.

Absolute poverty

See Poverty, absolute.

Absolute risk, Absolute risk increase / reduction

see Effect size (ES) measures, Risk, relative and absolute.

Absolute value

The value of a number ignoring whether it is plus or minus, usually indicated by being enclosed within two vertical bars; |x|.

Abstract empiricism

See Theory.

A/B Testing

Market research. Procedure for testing the effectiveness of advertisements and public service information. Responses to one advert (A) compared to responses to another (B).

Webmaster Tutorials (n.d.) ‘A/B testing’ www.sitetoolcenter.com/google-adsense-optimization/ab-testing.php

ACASI (Audio Computer Assisted Self-Administered Interview)

See Questionnaire administration.

Access

Refers to procedures necessary to contact and work with the subjects of research. See Criminal records, Ethics committee, Gate-keepers, Key informant.

Account

(1) Description or explanation of an event or process. (2) In social science specifically, refers to utterances that serve to justify or excuse something which might otherwise be regarded as discrediting. For example, ‘It’s not usually such a mess, but we’ve got the builders in’ is an account which issues an instruction: ‘don’t judge us on immediate appearances’ (Scott and Lyman 1968). Accounts are of research interest in themselves as an everyday feature of social life, but also as likely to appear as misleading responses to questionnaires and interviews – see also Bias, self-serving.

Buttney, R. (1993) Social Accountability in Communication, London: Sage

Scott, M. and Lyman, S. (1968) ‘Accounts’, American Sociological Review (33): 46–62

ACORN (A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods)

Categorisation of neighbourhoods on basis of house size and type, ownership and renting, family size, age profile, ethnicity, car and consumer durable ownership and much else, resulting in 17 basic categories and around 56 different neighbourhood types, with titles such as ‘Flourishing Families’, ‘Aspiring Singles’, ‘Settled Suburbia’ and ‘Inner City Adversity’. Profiles available for most postcodes in the UK, via the CACI website www.caci.co.uk/acorn/ or the Up-My-Street website www.upmystreet.com. and see:

Businessballs (2007) Demographics classification, http://www.businessballs.com/demo-graphicsclassifications.htm

For the alternative system used by the UK Office for National Statistics see Area classification of output areas.

Acquiescence bias/set

See Bias, acquiescence.

Actant

See Actor network theory.

Action

Activity explicable in terms of the interpretations of those who perform it, sometimes contrasted with ‘behaviour’ where that implies reactions beyond someone’s control. For some writers a ‘social action approach’ is roughly synonymous to an interpretative approach. However, the term ‘social action approach’ is also widely used in macro-sociological writing such as American functionalism of the 1930s to 1960s. Different from the ‘action’ in action research. See also Actor, Behaviourism, Intentionalism, Interpretivism.

Action research (AR)

Making some real world intervention and studying the results of this. For example, making an organisational change or pursuing a political campaign. At the most rigorous level, action research is modelled on experimental method, with pre and post measurements, controls and other devices to avoid confounding (see Control, direct and statistical, Design experiments). More usually AR researchers are more interested in the practical success of the action than in creating high quality general knowledge. AR is then often indistinguishable from organisational development, political activism, social work, community work or other practical activities. In educational action research, the primary objective is usually for the researcher and collaborating subjects to develop skills or have experiences. Then AR is almost indistinguishable from ‘practice learning’, or ‘personal and professional development’ and ‘organisational development’ (McNiff 2002). Action research is commonly associated with participative and emancipatory research. Practitioner research also usually takes an AR form. See also Consciousness raising, Rapid appraisal, Rapid institutional appraisal.

McNiff, J. (2002) Action research for professional development: Concise advice for new action researchers. www.jeanmcniff.com/booklet1.html#2

The Reconnect Action Research Kit from the Australian Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2003) provides an example of action research procedures. www.facs.gov.au/

Reason, P. and Bradbury, H. (eds) (2001) Handbook of Action Research, Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Actor

(1) One of the many terms referring to the human subjects of social and psychological research. Implies an interest in what actions mean to those who perform them. See Action, Agency, Intentionalism, Interpretivism, Subject. (2) In Actor network theory may refer to instruments, documents, committees and so on, as well as to human actors. The term actant may be used here instead. See also Agency.

Actor network theory (ANT)

A major theory in social studies of science and technology which conceptualises the development of scientific ideas and techniques in terms of networks which involve conjunctions of people, techniques, instruments, buildings and forms of social organisation – so-called material-semiotic networks. Thus a laboratory is, at one and the same time, a building furnished with material objects, a social organisation and a site within which meanings are created, and for some purposes can be thought of as ‘an actor’ (actant) with agency.

Law, J. (1992) Notes on the theory of actor networks, http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/research/resalph.htm

Act...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• The Key Concepts
• Index