Entire research process follows 8 steps, but often involves the researcher repeating some of teps as s/he refines his/her questions and definitions: 

1. 1. Identifying the problem 

• •The problem may present itself and you may becomes curious about it 
• •The problem may arise from other research you have conducted. 
• •Some problems may be such pressing social issues that some funding agency offers research funds for scholars like you who are interested in researching them. 

2. Defining the scope of the research 

• •Examine possible sociological questions that the problem suggests to you. 
• •Narrow the questions to specific ones that focus on what you want to learn about the problem, importantly, within the constraints placed on you by time, funds, etc. 

3. Reviewing the literature 

• •Review other research that has been conducted on the problem at hand. 
• •Review what general sociological theories say about similar types of problems. 
• 4. Formulating an hypothesis 

• •Arrive at a testable research statement (hypothesis) of what you believe you will find upon further study, specifying concepts and variables whose relationships to each other will be studied. 

• • Identify how each variable or concept will be measured (operational definition) and studied. It is critical that you keep in mind the importance of validity and reliability. 

5. Selecting a research method 

• •Select the way data can be best gathered to test your hypothesis (the text describes personal interviews, observations, surveys, content analysis, historical case studies, etc.). 
• •Design your research strategy. This may involve designing a survey, developing interview questions, specifying key words to identify in newspaper articles, etc. It is important that ethical questions and procedures are followed. 

• •Identify a representative set of subjects (sample) who will be studied-that is they will be surveyed, interviewed, observed, etc.-or the set of documents or historical accounts that will be analyzed for particular keywords, phrases, or concepts. Choosing the sample using random selection techniques will help to insure its representativeness. 
• •Conduct the research-administer the surveys, interview or observe the selected subjects, review the documents or accounts that you have identified. 

• •Data that is easily converted to numbers, a discrete number of categories, or a numeric 

accomplished by using a statistics program like the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) or Microcase. 

• •Qualitative analysis is especially useful for data from historical case studies, observations, interviews, etc. This involves a complex process that is increasingly accomplished by using software programs like QSR Nud*ist, Ethnograph, or WinMAX. 
• •

• •The research process usually ends with the researcher writing a report, which is submi1 to a funding agency or a governing agency, or a scholarly paper, which may be read at conference or submitted to a refereed journal for publication or to a journal whose audience is activists and concerned citizens. 

Key concepts and definitions: 

sociological questions - sociological theories - hypothesis - concepts - variables - 

operational definition - 

validity -the extent to which the operational definitions that you have arrived at actually measure what you intend them to measure. 

reliability -the degree to which the study can be repeated with similar results. ethics - 

sample - 

representative - 

random selection 

quantitative analysis qualitative analysis 

Suggested readings on research methods: 

Babbi, Earl. 1998. The Practice of Social Research. 8th ed. New York: Thompson Learning. Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. 1998. Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry. Bev 

Hills, CA: Sage Publications. 

Glesne, Corrine. 1999. Becoming Qualitative Researchers. 2nd ed. Pearson Publications. Neuman, W. Lawrence. 2000. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative 

Approaches. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson Publications. 

Ragin, Charles C. 1987. The Comparative Method: Movinq beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

Rushing, Beth, and Idee Winfield. 1999. "Learning about Sampling and Measurement by Do ii Content Analysis of Personal Advertisements."Teachinq Socioloqy 27(2):--- 

Strauss, Anselm, and Juliet Corbin. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Ground Theory, 

Procedures. and Techniques. 2nd Newbury Park: Sage Publications.