Research Methodology | ISC Class 11 Sociology Notes

This note covers research methodology in sociology and anthropology: why method matters, objectivity and reflexivity, the definition and importance of social research, the scientific method and its steps, the comparative, statistical, historical, field work and case study methods, sampling and surveys, and the tools of data collection (questionnaire, interview, observation and documentary research) with the merits and demerits of each.

Why is research methodology important in sociology and anthropology?

More than any other discipline, sociology deals with things that are already familiar to most people. All of us live in society and already know a lot about social groups, institutions, norms and relationships through our own experience.

So what makes the sociologist a social scientist? As with all scientific disciplines, the crucial element is method, the procedures through which knowledge is gathered. Sociologists differ from lay persons not because of how much or what they know, but because of how they acquire their knowledge.

Method and methodology

The word methodology is often used as a synonym of 'method', but it actually refers to the study of method. Methodological questions are about the general problems of scientific knowledge-gathering that go beyond any one particular method, technique or procedure.

Definition: Methodology. The study of method: the general principles and problems of gathering scientific knowledge, beyond any single technique.

Insider and outsider points of view

Sociology is deeply interested in the lived experience of people. When studying friendship, religion or bargaining in markets, the sociologist wants to know not only what a bystander can observe, but also the opinions and feelings of the people involved.

Sociologists try to adopt the point of view of the people they study, to see the world through their eyes. This need to understand both the outsider's and the insider's points of view is another reason why method is particularly important in sociology.

Method in anthropology

The early anthropologists were 'armchair scholars'. They organised information about distant communities they had never visited, using reports by travellers, missionaries, colonial administrators and soldiers. James Frazer's famous book The Golden Bough was based entirely on such second-hand accounts.

Towards the end of the 19th and in the first decade of the 20th century, many early anthropologists began systematic surveys and first-hand observation. Field work as a rigorous scientific method played a major role in establishing anthropology as a social science.

How do sociologists handle objectivity and bias?

In everyday language, objective means unbiased, neutral or based on facts alone. Subjective means based on individual values and preferences. Every science is expected to be objective, but this is much harder in the social sciences than in the natural sciences.

A geologist or botanist is not part of the world of rocks or plants. Social scientists, by contrast, study the social world in which they themselves live. This creates special problems for objectivity.

Sources of difficulty

• Bias: a sociologist studying family relations will herself be a member of a family, and her experiences are likely to influence her.
• Prejudices of one's own context: when studying another caste or religious community, the sociologist may be influenced by attitudes prevalent in her own social environment.
• Many versions of truth: a shopkeeper and a customer may have very different ideas about a 'good' price. Sociology is interested in what people think and why.
• Many paradigms: sociology is a multi-paradigmatic science, in which competing and mutually incompatible schools of thought coexist.

Reflexivity

One safeguard is reflexivity (or self-reflexivity): the researcher's ability to observe and analyse oneself. The sociologist continuously examines her own ideas and feelings and tries to look at her research through the eyes of others.

A practical aspect of reflexivity is carefully documenting every procedure and formally citing all sources of evidence. This lets others retrace the steps taken to a conclusion and see for themselves if it is right.

Because unconscious bias is always possible, sociologists also mention the features of their own social background that might bias the topic. Readers can then mentally 'compensate' for it.

The old notion of an 'objective, disinterested' social science is widely considered outdated. Objectivity is now thought of as the goal of a continuous, ongoing process rather than an already achieved end result.

What is social research, and why is it important?

Social research is the systematic and scientific study of social life. It discovers new facts about society, verifies existing facts, and explains the relationships and causes behind them.

Definition: Social research. A systematic method of discovering new facts or verifying existing facts about social life, and of finding their sequences, interrelations and causes.

Importance of social research

• Adds to knowledge: it discovers new facts and tests existing theories about society.
• Replaces common sense with evidence: it checks popular beliefs and prejudices against facts.
• Identifies hidden problems: some problems become visible only through research, such as the falling child sex ratio, seen only when statistics for large populations are put together.
• Helps planning and policy: governments use surveys, such as those of the National Statistical Organisation, on family expenditure, employment and unemployment.
• Serves public life: surveys are used to predict election results, devise marketing strategies and find popular opinions.
• Helps prediction: by finding patterns, research allows reasoned forecasts about social trends.

How are research methods classified?

These classifications are a matter of convention, and the dividing lines need not be sharp. The recent trend is to use several methods on the same problem from different vantage points. This is called triangulation.

There is no single unique road to sociological truth. Rather than arguing about which method is superior, the researcher should ask whether the chosen method is appropriate for the question being asked.

What is the scientific method, and what are its steps?

Sociology has from its beginnings understood itself as a science. The scientific method is a systematic sequence of steps that lets research be checked and repeated by others.

The steps below are illustrated with one research question: do people living in smaller, more intimate communities show greater inter-community harmony than people in larger, more impersonal ones?

1. Formulation of the problem: the researcher chooses a topic and states clearly what is to be studied, for example harmony in small and large villages of one state.
2. Observation: facts are collected systematically through tools such as questionnaires, interviews, observation or documents.
3. Classification: the facts are sorted into groups by shared features, for example villages classified as small or large.
4. Hypothesis: a tentative statement about the relationship between facts is framed for testing, such as the statement that living in smaller, more intimate communities produces greater inter-community harmony.
5. Verification: the hypothesis is tested against evidence; it is accepted, modified or rejected.
6. Prediction: a verified finding allows reasoned forecasts about similar situations in future.

Definition: Hypothesis. A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more facts, framed so that it can be tested by evidence.

Limits of the scientific method in sociology

Social scientists cannot usually run laboratory experiments on human groups, and people can change their behaviour when they know they are being studied. Social situations are also complex and keep changing.

Sociologists therefore treat the scientific method as a guide rather than a rigid formula, combining it with reflexivity and with several methods at once.

What are the comparative and historical methods?

The comparative method

The comparative method studies similarities and differences between societies, groups or periods to find general patterns and causes. Since sociologists cannot experiment on whole societies, comparison acts as a substitute for experiment.

Emile Durkheim regarded comparison as central to sociology. In his study of suicide he compared suicide rates across social groups, using statistics about the social characteristics of individuals rather than their personal intentions.

Max Weber compared world religions to understand why modern capitalism first developed in the west. Anthropologists likewise compare kinship, religion and economy across many cultures.

• Merits: it allows generalisation beyond a single case; it can test causes when experiment is impossible; it corrects the bias of seeing one's own society as normal.
• Demerits: units from different cultures may not be truly comparable; it needs large amounts of reliable data; differences of context can be missed.

The historical method

The historical method studies past events, institutions and processes to understand how present society came to be. Historical methods typically rely on secondary material found in archives, and some can tackle macro phenomena.

The growth of sociology itself can be understood only by going back to the industrial and colonial changes of the 18th and 19th centuries. Marx and Weber both used historical evidence to explain the rise of capitalism.

• Merits: it explains the origins of present institutions; it shows long-term change; it can study societies that no longer exist.
• Demerits: records may be incomplete or biased; the past cannot be directly observed or checked; the researcher may read the past through present values.

What is the statistical method, and how are samples chosen?

The statistical method collects numerical data about large populations and analyses it with measures such as proportions, averages and percentages. The main forms are the census and the sample survey.

A census is a comprehensive survey covering every single member of a population. India's population census is conducted every ten years and involves literally lakhs of investigators. It is not possible to conduct such a gigantic survey very often.

A survey provides an overview of a subject based on information from a carefully chosen representative set of people, called respondents. Its main advantage is that it allows results to be generalised for a large population while studying only a small portion of it.

How is a representative sample selected?

A sample is a subset drawn from, and representing, a larger population. Sample selection depends on two principles.

• Stratification (statistical sense): all relevant sub-groups in the population must be recognised and represented. India's population, for example, is divided into rural and urban sectors; a village may be stratified by class, caste, gender, age or religion.
• Randomisation: the actual person, household or village chosen must depend purely on chance, like winning a lottery. Lots, dice, random number tables and computer-generated random numbers are used.

A sample of only villages near a main highway, or only households one knows, is purposive rather than random. Even a scientific sample differs slightly from the population; this unavoidable sampling error, or margin of error, must be reported with the sample size and design.

The National Statistical Organisation (NSO) conducts sample surveys every year. Every five years it surveys about 1.2 lakh households covering more than 6 lakh persons, only about 0.06 per cent of India's population, yet it can estimate population characteristics because it is scientifically selected.

Aggregate statistics: the child sex ratio

The juvenile or child sex ratio is the number of girls per 1,000 boys aged 0 to 6 years. It has fallen steadily for India as a whole. In Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh it fell sharply between 1991 and 2001 and recovered only partly by 2011, while in Delhi it kept falling.

This is an aggregate or macro variable. It cannot be seen by looking at individual families; it becomes visible only when statistics for large populations are collated through a census or large survey.

• Merits: broad, representative overview with small outlays of time and money; reveals problems visible only at the aggregate level; results can be checked through the stated sample design.
• Demerits: wide coverage comes at the cost of depth; sensitive questions cannot be asked or are answered 'safely'; non-sampling errors arise from faults in design or in how investigators ask questions.

What are field work and the case study method?

Field work, or participant observation, involves a long period of interaction with the subjects of research. The term came from natural sciences such as botany, zoology and geology, whose scientists had to go out into 'the field'.

Since the 1920s, field work has been considered an integral part of social anthropological training and its principal method. Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish anthropologist settled in Britain, is widely believed to have established it as the distinctive method of social anthropology.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Malinowski was in Australia and was technically an 'enemy alien'. He served his internment in the Trobriand Islands, living there for a year and a half in a tent in the native villages, learning the local language and keeping detailed field notes and a daily diary.

What does a field worker do?

• Census: a detailed list of all people in the community, with sex, age group and family, often with a map of the settlement.
• Genealogy: an extended family tree across generations, cross-checked with other relatives, to understand the kinship system.
• Language learning and constant observation of festivals, ways of earning a living, family relations and child rearing.
• Informants: one or two people, called principal informants, who act as the researcher's teachers.
• Field notes: detailed notes written up every day without fail, often with a daily diary.

Sociologists use much the same techniques among all sorts of communities. William Foote Whyte lived for three and a half years in an Italian-American slum, 'hanging out' with a street gang, and wrote Street Corner Society. Michael Burawoy worked for several months as a machinist in a Chicago factory.

The case study method

The case study method is an in-depth study of a single unit, such as a person, family, institution, village or event, in its full context. Frederic Le Play is credited with introducing it in social science through his studies of working-class families.

Indian village studies are classic case studies. M.N. Srinivas spent a year in a village near Mysore he called Rampura and wrote The Remembered Village from memory after his field notes were destroyed in a fire. S.C. Dube, as part of a multidisciplinary team from Osmania University, studied Shamirpet near Secunderabad and wrote Indian Village.

• Merits: gives deep, detailed and holistic understanding; studies the unit over time; suggests hypotheses for wider research.
• Demerits: findings from one case may not apply widely; it takes much time; the researcher's selection of facts may introduce bias.

What is observation as a tool of data collection?

Observation is the systematic watching and recording of behaviour and events as they happen. It is a primary tool, producing fresh data.

Participant and non-participant observation

In participant observation, the researcher lives among the people studied, usually for about a year or sometimes more, as one of them. The goal is to learn the 'whole way of life' of a community, in the holistic way that small children learn about the world.

In non-participant observation, the researcher observes without taking part in the group's activities, for example watching a meeting or a classroom from the side.

Merits of participant observation

• It provides a very rich and detailed picture of life from the perspective of the 'insider'.
• It allows initial impressions, which may be mistaken or biased, to be corrected.
• It lets the researcher track changes and see the impact of different contexts, for example a good and a bad harvest year.
• Full-time engagement avoids many errors that surveys or short-term observation are subject to.

Demerits of participant observation

• It covers only a very small part of the world, usually one village or community, so we cannot be sure whether what was observed is common or exceptional. This is probably its biggest disadvantage.
• We are never sure whether we hear the voice of the researcher or of the people studied, since the researcher selects what is recorded.
• It rests on a one-sided relationship in which the researcher speaks for 'the people'. Some scholars suggest more 'dialogic' formats.
• It is long drawn out and intensive, usually by a single scholar.

Non-participant observation is quicker and keeps the researcher detached, but it may miss the meanings behind behaviour, and people may act differently when they know they are watched.

What is a questionnaire?

A questionnaire is a written list of questions to be asked in a survey or interview. Responses may be sought in writing, through questionnaires brought by investigators or sent by post, and today also by email or the internet.

When an investigator carries the list and fills in the answers during a face-to-face meeting, the form is usually called a schedule. In a survey the questionnaire is sometimes called a survey instrument.

Types of questions

• Closed questions offer fixed answers to choose from, such as yes or no, which are easy to count.
• Open questions let respondents answer in their own words, which gives richer but harder-to-count data.

Merits and demerits

• Merits: it reaches a large and widely spread population cheaply; every respondent gets the same questions; answers are easy to tabulate; a posted questionnaire lets respondents answer privately.
• Demerits: a written questionnaire needs literate respondents; postal questionnaires often get a low response rate; there is no chance to clarify doubts; personal or sensitive questions may be answered 'safely' rather than truthfully.

Because the survey questionnaire is handled by many investigators, it must be designed very carefully. There is little chance of corrections once it is in use, and success depends on the goodwill and co-operation of respondents.

What is an interview?

An interview is basically a guided conversation between the researcher and the respondent. It occupies the ground between a structured survey questionnaire and the completely open-ended interactions of participant observation.

The simplicity of the format can be deceptive, because it takes a lot of practice and skill to become a good interviewer.

Styles of interviewing

• Structured interview: specific questions are asked of all respondents in the same way.
• Unstructured interview: a very loosely structured format with only a checklist of topics rather than actual questions.

Interviews may be recorded on video or audio, noted down during the conversation, or written up from memory afterwards. Recorders can make the respondent uneasy and formal, but less complete methods may miss important information.

Merits and demerits

• Merit, flexibility: questions can be re-phrased, their order changed, rich topics extended and unwelcome ones postponed, all during the interview.
• Merit, depth: intensive interviews can add depth and detail to survey findings, and long conversations with key informants clarify participant observation material.
• Demerit, instability: the same flexibility makes it vulnerable to changes of mood in the respondent or lapses of concentration in the interviewer. It works very well when it works, and fails miserably when it does not.
• Demerit, dependence on rapport: it needs personalised access and mutual trust between respondent and researcher.

What is documentary research, and how do primary and secondary tools compare?

Documentary research uses secondary data: information that already exists in documents, records and artefacts and was not produced by the researcher. Historical methods typically rely on such material found in archives.

Types of documents

• Personal documents: diaries, letters, autobiographies and life histories.
• Public documents: census reports, government records, court records, reports of surveys and newspapers.
• Published research: earlier books and studies, such as village studies.

Merits and demerits

• Merits: it saves time and money; it gives access to the past and to large populations; it can be used where direct contact is impossible.
• Demerits: the data were collected for other purposes and may not fit the question; documents may be incomplete, biased or inaccurate; the researcher cannot check how they were produced.

The choice among these tools is usually dictated by the research question, the preferences of the researcher and constraints of time and resources. To find whether most Indian families are still joint families, a census or survey is best; to compare the status of women in joint and nuclear families, interviews, case studies or participant observation may all be appropriate.

Glossary

• Methodology: The study of method: general problems of scientific knowledge-gathering that go beyond any one technique or procedure.
• Reflexivity: The researcher's ability to observe and analyse oneself, examining one's own ideas and feelings about the research.
• Triangulation: Using several methods on the same research problem from different vantage points so that they complement each other.
• Hypothesis: A tentative statement about the relationship between facts, framed so that it can be tested against evidence.
• Census: A comprehensive survey covering every single member of a population.
• Sample: A subset or selection, usually small, drawn from and representing a larger population.
• Population: In the statistical sense, the larger body of persons, villages or households from which a sample is drawn.
• Randomisation: Ensuring that an event, such as the selection of an item in the sample, depends purely on chance and nothing else.
• Sampling error: The unavoidable margin of error in survey results because they are based on a small sample, not the whole population.
• Non-sampling error: Errors in survey results due to mistakes in the design or application of methods.
• Genealogy: An extended family tree outlining familial relations across generations, used to understand kinship in field work.
• Questionnaire: A written list of questions to be asked in a survey or interview.
• Case study: An in-depth study of a single unit, such as a person, family, institution or village, in its full context.
• Secondary data: Already existing information in documents, records and artefacts that the researcher did not produce.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Method and methodology mean the same thing. Correct: A method is a particular procedure; methodology is the study of method and its general problems.
• Misconception: A bigger sample is always a better sample. Correct: Size matters, but the mode of selection is even more important; a large purposive sample can still be biased.
• Misconception: Sampling error means the researchers made a mistake. Correct: Sampling error is unavoidable because a small sample stands for a large population; mistakes in design cause non-sampling errors.
• Misconception: Sociologists can be completely objective like natural scientists. Correct: Sociologists study the world they live in, so objectivity is a goal of a continuous process, helped by reflexivity.
• Misconception: One method is superior to all others. Correct: Every method has strengths and weaknesses; the question is whether it suits the research question, and triangulation combines methods.
• Misconception: Stratification in sampling means social inequality. Correct: In sampling, stratification is the statistical subdivision of a population into relevant groups such as gender, location, religion or age.
• Misconception: Participant observation results apply to the whole country. Correct: It covers one village or small community, so we cannot be sure whether what was observed is common or exceptional.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Distinguish between method and methodology. [2 marks]

1. A method is a particular procedure or technique through which knowledge is gathered, such as a survey or interview.
2. Methodology is the study of method: the general problems of scientific knowledge-gathering that go beyond any one method or technique.

Q2. What is triangulation in research? [2 marks]

1. Triangulation is the use of multiple methods on the same research problem from different vantage points.
2. The methods complement each other, producing a much better result than any one method could by itself.

Q3. Researcher A wants to find out whether most Indian families are still joint families. Researcher B wants to compare the status of women in joint and nuclear families. Suggest a suitable method for each and justify your choice. [4 marks]

1. Researcher A should use a census or a large sample survey, because the question is about how common joint families are across a large population.
2. A survey gives an aggregated, representative picture with a manageable investment of time and money.
3. Researcher B should use interviews, case studies or participant observation, because the status of women involves attitudes and relationships that are hard to measure.
4. These methods give depth and the insider's point of view, which a survey with a rigid questionnaire cannot provide.

Q4. Explain the meaning of reflexivity and state how it helps sociologists deal with bias. [4 marks]

1. Reflexivity is the researcher's ability to observe and analyse oneself, constantly examining one's own ideas and feelings about the subject.
2. The sociologist tries to look at her own research through the eyes of others, especially the people being studied.
3. She carefully documents all procedures and cites all sources, so others can retrace her steps and check her conclusions.
4. She also mentions features of her own social background that might bias the topic, so readers can compensate for possible bias.

Q5. Distinguish between a questionnaire and an interview as tools of data collection. Give four points. [4 marks]

1. A questionnaire is a written list of questions, while an interview is a guided conversation between researcher and respondent.
2. A questionnaire is fixed and inflexible, while an interview is flexible: questions can be re-phrased or re-ordered during the conversation.
3. A questionnaire can reach large numbers cheaply, while an interview usually covers fewer people but in greater depth.
4. Sensitive questions in a questionnaire may be answered 'safely', while an interview can probe deeper if rapport and trust exist, though it is vulnerable to changes of mood.

Q6. Explain the steps of the scientific method in sociological research. [7 marks]

1. Formulation of the problem: the researcher selects a topic and states clearly what is to be studied.
2. Observation: facts are collected systematically using tools such as questionnaires, interviews, observation and documents.
3. Classification: the collected facts are sorted into groups or categories according to shared features.
4. Hypothesis: a tentative statement about the relationship between facts is framed so that it can be tested.
5. Verification: the hypothesis is tested against the evidence and is accepted, modified or rejected.
6. Prediction: verified findings allow reasoned forecasts about similar situations in the future.
7. Because human groups cannot easily be put into laboratories and people may change behaviour when studied, sociologists use these steps as a guide, combined with reflexivity and multiple methods.

Q7. Discuss the merits and demerits of participant observation as a research method. [7 marks]

1. Merit: it provides a very rich and detailed picture of life from the perspective of the insider, the greatest return on the time it demands.
2. Merit: a long stay allows the researcher to correct initial impressions, which may be mistaken or biased.
3. Merit: it lets the researcher track changes and see the effect of different contexts, such as a good and a bad harvest year.
4. Merit: full-time engagement avoids many errors that surveys, questionnaires or short-term observation are subject to.
5. Demerit: it covers only one village or small community, so we cannot be sure whether what was observed is common or exceptional.
6. Demerit: we are never sure whether we hear the researcher's voice or that of the people, since the researcher selects what is recorded.
7. Demerit: it rests on a one-sided relationship and is long and intensive, usually done by one scholar alone.

Q8. A survey team wants to study whether small villages show more harmony than large villages in one state. Explain how they should select a representative sample, and state the strengths and weaknesses of the survey method. [7 marks]

1. The team should begin with a list of all villages in the state with their populations, which can be obtained from census data.
2. It should define 'small' and 'large' villages, remove the medium ones, and so stratify the list by size, ensuring that both relevant strata are represented.
3. It should then choose, say, 10 villages from each list purely by chance, for example by drawing lots, which is randomisation.
4. Choosing only villages near a highway would make the sample purposive, not random, and therefore unrepresentative.
5. Strength: a survey gives a broad, representative overview of a large population with small outlays of time and money.
6. Strength: it reveals problems visible only at the aggregate level, such as the falling child sex ratio.
7. Weakness: wide coverage comes at the cost of depth, sensitive questions get 'safe' answers, and non-sampling errors can arise from faults in design or in how questions are asked.

Key takeaways

• Sociologists differ from lay persons not in what they know but in how they acquire knowledge, which makes method and methodology central to the discipline.
• Objectivity is harder in sociology because researchers belong to the world they study; reflexivity and careful documentation make it a continuous goal.
• Social research systematically discovers and verifies facts about society and helps planning, policy and the identification of hidden problems.
• The scientific method moves through formulation of the problem, observation, classification, hypothesis, verification and prediction.
• The comparative method substitutes comparison for experiment, while the historical method uses archives and records to explain how the present arose.
• The statistical method uses censuses and sample surveys; a representative sample needs stratification and randomisation, and reports must state the sampling error.
• Field work, established by Malinowski, and case studies such as Indian village studies give deep insider knowledge but cover small units.
• Primary tools are the questionnaire, interview and observation; documentary research uses secondary data; each has distinct merits and demerits.

Test yourself

Why did early anthropologists come to be called 'armchair scholars'?

They organised information about distant communities they had never visited, using second-hand reports by travellers, missionaries, administrators and soldiers.

Where did Malinowski do his famous field work?

In the Trobriand Islands in the South Pacific, where he lived for a year and a half during the First World War.

What are the two principles of selecting a representative sample?

Stratification, so that all relevant sub-groups are represented, and randomisation, so that the actual units are chosen purely by chance.

Why can the falling child sex ratio be seen only through a census or large survey?

It is an aggregate variable; any one family's proportion of boys and girls can be offset by other families, so only collated statistics reveal it.

What is a genealogy in field work?

An extended family tree across as many generations as people remember, cross-checked with relatives, used to understand the community's kinship system.

Which book did William Foote Whyte write from his field work?

Street Corner Society, after living for three and a half years among a street gang in an Italian-American slum.

Why did M.N. Srinivas write The Remembered Village from memory?

His field notes on the village near Mysore that he called Rampura were destroyed in a fire.

Give two examples of personal documents used in documentary research.

Diaries and letters; autobiographies and life histories are also personal documents.