DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Research Questions to Research

Design (SY7034)

Edmund Chattoe-Brown

ecb18@le.ac.uk

Thursdays 1500-1700 (Brookfield 0.24)

WEEK 1

1. Plan

• Administration.

• The structure and logic of the module.

• The assignment.

• Expectations and common starting points.

• The importance of research questions and research design.

2. Administration

• Blackboard.

• Email.

• Drop In Hours.

• Module Outline.

• Absences.

• Catching Up.

• Mitigation/Extenuation.

3. The structure of the module

• Weekly classes based on readings for discussion. (Be ready to present.)

• Formative assignment/feedback to support summative assignment (also some class exercises later in semester).

• Summative assignment.

• More detail in the module outline.

4. The logic of the module• Chance to work on dissertation in a structured way.

• Not much required reading (but it is required.)

• 150 hours of study for a “typical” student to get a “typical” grade. (How long does it take you to read an article?)

• Most weeks: Textbook chapters, useful research design and one source you have found yourself that is relevant to your dissertation.

• I’m not in the business of wasting your time!

5. The assignment

• In simple terms a “research proposal”.

• More precise guidance will be forthcoming (but you actually don’t need it yet as long as you do the indicated reading/preparation).

• You are not committing yourself but …

• I am not your supervisor and your summative assignment needs to be a provisional document.

6. Exercise 1 (20 minutes)

• One side of A4 maximum (but more than a couple of sentences). Please write neatly. Include your name.

• If you already have a research question (however approximate) please describe it and explain its significance.

• If you don’t have even an approximate research question, please describe an area of sociology you are interested in and on which you think you might do your dissertation.

• THERE ARE NO WRONG ANSWERS!

7. Break

• 10 minute “comfort break”. (But please don’t be late back.)

8. Commonest dissertation “fails”

• Dissertations almost never “fail” because they don’t reference Buchanan (1932). Most things are fixable.

• Running out of time (not enough hours put in).

• Wrong research method for question.

• “Broken” research design/faulty logic.

• No clear research question/pointless research.

• Inadequate samples/failure to recruit.

• Ineffective/mistaken use of supervision.

9. Expectations/common starting points• You all have roughly the same qualifications but almost certainly differ

quite widely in actual skills/knowledge/motivation unfortunately.

• This makes teaching quite tricky. (Lectures versus discussions? PD?)

• Some of what I need to do is make sure you are all roughly in the same place. If not, you may have to do extra to catch up.

• Example: Plagiarism. (To bore or not to bore?)

• Don’t ask in 5 weeks time about things already in the module handbook.

• Don’t ask 2 days before the assignment deadline what you are supposed to do.

• We are sympathetic to legitimate ignorance and will fix our own mistakes as fast as we can but we are not sympathetic to laziness and disorganisation. (Nor will your future employers be.)

• What do I sound like?

10. Exercise 2 (10 minutes)

• One side of A4 maximum (but more than a couple of sentences). Please write neatly. Include your name.

• Explain as clearly and concisely as you can the difference between qualitative and quantitative research.

• Not really understanding this is a very common dissertation “fail”.

11. I’m doing it too• How to support you in difficult tasks without just telling you the

answers?

• I am going to do the same “exercises” you do on the topic of gossip/rumour. I will also present them in the appropriate classes.

• My basic idea: Gossip and rumour are the other (dark?) side of knowledge. They may be equally influential with very harmful effects (suicide?) In a complex industrial society, there are far more matters we don’t really know about than matters we do. Does gossip and rumour fill the gap? I think I’m interested in this because of my scientific commitment to reliable knowledge.

• Example: What is the most serious world maritime disaster in terms of lives lost? Can you name others?

12. Maritime disasters by death toll• Wilhelm Gustloff (Germany, 1945): 9400. [W?]

• Armenia (USSR): 7000. [W?]

• Doña Paz (1987, Philippines): 4387.

• Kiangya (1948, China): 2750-3920. [W?]

• Principe Umberto (1916, Italy): 1926. [W]

• Le Joola (2002, Senegal): 1864.

• Neptune (1993, Haiti): 1700.

• Sultana (1865, US): 1547.

• Titanic (1912, UK): 1517.

• Castillo de Olite (1939, Spain): 1476. [W]

• Gallia (1916, France): 1338. [W]

• Luisitania (1915, UK): 1198. [W?]

13. The importance of research questions

• Warning: Contested notions. (Sociology foot shoot?)

• Science as progressive: Not “reinventing the wheel”.

• Added value established through (fallible) peer review.

• You can’t assess the value and interest of research without knowing what it is supposed to find out.

• Research takes resources.

• What do we really need to know and who should pay for it? (“Impact”.)

• Ethics: Wasting the time of respondents.

• Is “rubbish research” irresponsible?

14. The importance of research design

• Assuming you have got a “good” research question (important, original, “decent”) why would you want to spend all that time actually failing to answer it?

• A combination of design and methodology is how we make sure we really did answer our question and can rely on the results.

• Example: Criminals are stupid because the average IQ of prisoners is lower than the average IQ of the population.

• No amount of good methodology will rescue a flawed design.

15. Wrapping up

• Reading.

• For next week.

• Comments?

• Questions?