Fundamentals of Social
Research
Today’s topic:
- Non-Reactive Research
THE WHOLE RESEARCH PROCESS
RESEARCH DATA COLLECTION DATA ANSWER to
QUESTION ANALYSIS the
RESEARCH
QUESTION
DATA ORIGINAL DATA COLLECTION Quantitative and
How to formulate a COLLECTION Qualitative data
good research FROM EARLIER analysis.
question: STUDIES: QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
LITERATURE RESEARCH RESEARCH DESIGN
DIFFERENT REVIEW DESIGN
THEORETICAL AND
METHODOLOGICAL The stages and Typical Methods: Typical Methods:
PERSPECTIVES IN techniques of
SOCIAL RESEARCH. literature search Surveys. Open-ended Interviews.
and basic review
of research Questionnaires. Field Research.
articles.
Non-Reactive Non-Reactive Methods:
Methods: Quantitative Qualitative and critical
content analysis and content analysis.
observation.
”REACTIVE” RESEARCH
In surveys, we ASK people what they
do/think/believe etc.
“REACTIVE” RESEARCH
The researcher acts/asks
the informant answers/re-acts.
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH (NRR)
In NRR, we try to find out what people do/think/believe
WITHOUT asking them.
?
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH (NRR)
NOTE, however:
NRR is NOT identical to Direct Observation of People.
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH (NRR)
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH (NRR)
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH (NRR)
“traces” left behind
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH (NRR)
“Traces” left behind (or not left behind)
tell us about the people who live in that environment.
Garbage left behind or not left behind for example can tell us a society’s
attitude towards ………….. ?
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
In SURVEYS: FOR EACH VARIABLE WE ASK AT
LEAST ONE QUESTION.
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
In NRR:
FOR EACH VARIABLE,
we look for at least one specific ………… ?
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
Survey:
For each Variable >> Construct a question.
NRR:
For each Variable >> Construct a non-reactive measure
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH (NRR)
Survey:
For each Variable >> Construct a question.
NRR:
For each Variable >> Construct a non-reactive measure/indicator
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH -
EXAMPLES
1. Cemeteries
What can we learn from the “traces” people
leave in “cemeteries”?
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
Birth rates and death rates in a local area.
Cultural attitudes about death.
Whether men and women are treated differently.
Importance of kinship: are people from the same
family buried together or not?
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH -
EXAMPLES
3. Internet and Social Media
What can we learn from the “traces” people
leave on internet?
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
Internet:
likes and dislikes;
re-tweets;
Citation indexes.
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
Google: ‘click’ analysis.
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
Facebook: social networks..
Moodle Assignment
Identify 2 non-reactive indicators (‘traces’) you can derive from an Internet
Platform of your own choice (such as Instagram or Facebook user-pages)
and describe what kind of variable(s) you can study with the help of those
indicators. Clarify.
NRR-indicator1:
Variable 1:
Clarification of how this indicator/trace can be useful for measuring the
given variable:
NRR-indicator 2 …
Moodle assignment
Variable 1: Popularity
NRR-indicator1: Follower number of an account
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
Examples of Nonreactive Measures
PHYSICAL TRACES
ARCHIVES
OBSERVATION
“CONTENT” ANALYSIS
“Content” of what?
“TEXTS”
“CONTENT” ANALYSIS
“TEXT”
Anything that is PUT TOGETHER BY PEOPLE
Anything that has a MEANING
ANYTHING THAT CAN BE “READ”
What is a “text”?
The text is anything written, visual, or spoken
that serves as a medium for communication. It
includes books, newspaper or magazine articles,
advertisements, speeches, official documents,
films or videotapes, musical lyrics, photographs,
articles of clothing, ...
NON-REACTIVE RESEARCH
CONTENT ANALYSIS
gathering and analyzing the content of texts.
The content can be words, meanings, pictures,
symbols, ideas, themes, or any communicated
message.
Quantitative Content Analysis
Producing a numerical description of the content in
a text.
It’s like mapping out the ingredients of a food item:
Quantitative Content Analysis
Producing a numerical description of the content in
a text.
Example: Number of different words in a text:
Quantitative Content Analysis
Producing a numerical description of the content in
a text.
Example: Number of violent scenes in a movie:
QUALITATIVE Content Analysis
The ”meaning” of a TEXT is NOT FIXED.
(double contingency)
QUALITATIVE Content Analysis
The ”meaning” of a TEXT is NOT FIXED
GIVE EXAMPLES OF THREE CONTEXTS where a blood test report will
have different meanings.
QUALITATIVE Content Analysis
QUALITATIVE Content Analysis
- NARRATIVE ANALYSIS How people give unity/meaning to their worlds.
- World and Life-World.
- ”GROUNDED THEORY” – Content analysis of informant’s narratives.
- Intra-textual // Inter-textual // Non-textual Relationships
Critical Content Analysis
Texts can naturalize and legitimize ideologies and domination.
Critical Content Analysis
Texts can naturalize and legitimize ideologies and domination
Critical Content Analysis
Texts can naturalize and legitimize ideologies and domination
Critical Content Analysis
Texts can naturalize and legitimize ideologies and domination
“Modern myths”
- Advertisements
- Pop Culture and Movies
- Media
- “Fashion industry”
• presenting the status quo as “natural”.
• covering up conflicts and domination in society.
Critical Content Analysis
Texts can naturalize and legitimize ideologies and domination
“I am at the barber’s, and copy of Paris-Match is
offered to me. On the cover, a young black man
in a French uniform is saluting [the French flag].
All this is the meaning of the picture. But whether
naively or not, I see very well what it signifies to
me: that France is a great Empire, that all her sons,
without any color discrimination, faithfully serve
under the flag, and that there is no better answer to
the detractors of an alleged colonialism than the zeal
shown by this black soldier in serving his so-called
oppressors ...”