{"id":98,"date":"2020-01-16T14:04:59","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T19:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/?post_type=chapter&p=98"},"modified":"2024-08-01T14:15:10","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T18:15:10","slug":"key-takeaways","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/chapter\/key-takeaways\/","title":{"raw":"Key Takeaways","rendered":"Key Takeaways"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n

Takeaways<\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\nResearch methods <\/strong>are a systematic process of inquiry applied in such a manner as to learn something about our social world.\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n\r\nApplied research <\/strong>makes a contribution by shaping social life.\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBasic research <\/strong>makes a contribution to sociological theories for knowledge, without having a specific application as a goal.\r\n\r\nResearch ideas <\/strong>come from a variety of sources, and usually start with a general question of how or why.\r\n\r\nOntology <\/strong>is concerned with the what is <\/em>or the nature of reality. There are two main classifications of ontology: objectivism and subjectivism.\r\n\r\nObjectivism <\/strong>means that social entities exist externally to the social actors who are concerned with their existence.\r\n\r\nSubjectivism <\/strong>means that social phenomena are created from the perceptions and actions of the social actors who are concerned with their existence.\r\n\r\nEpistemology <\/strong>has to do with knowledge. Rather than dealing with questions about what is<\/em>, epistemology deals with questions of how <\/em>we know what is. In sociology, there are many ways to uncover knowledge.\r\n\r\nA paradigm <\/strong>is a way of framing what we know, what we can know, and how we can know it.\r\n\r\nPositivism <\/strong>assumes that society can and should be studied empirically and scientifically. It calls for a value- free sociology in which researchers aim to abandon their biases and values in a quest for objective, empirical, and knowable truth.\r\n\r\nInterpretivism <\/strong>assumes that what is necessary for researchers to understand the differences amongst humans as social actors. The emphasis is on conducting research among people, as opposed to objects.\r\n\r\nSocial constructionism <\/strong>posits that \u201ctruth\u201d is a varying, socially constructed, and ever-changing notion. Key to the social constructionist perspective is the idea that social context and interaction frame our realities.\r\n\r\nCritical paradigm <\/strong>is focused on power, inequality, and social change, and posits that social science can never be truly objective or value-free. This paradigm operates from the perspective that scientific investigation should be conducted with the express goal of seeking social change.\r\n\r\nPostmodernism <\/strong>is difficult to define, because to do so would actually violate the postmodernist\u00b4s perspective that there is no definite terms, boundaries, or absolute truth. A postmodernist would also claim that we can never really know such truth because, in the studying and reporting of others\u2019 truths, researchers put their own truth on the investigation.\r\n\r\nInductive <\/strong>approaches to research begin with observation to look for patterns, from which a tentative hypothesis is developed, to create a theory.\r\n\r\nDeductive <\/strong>approaches begin with a theory to develop hypotheses. Observations then lead to confirmation or refutation of the hypotheses.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Michel Foucault is a French philosopher and historian. He is considered one of the most influential and controversial scholars from the Post-World War II era.\u00a0\u00a0 See Michel Foucault on Britannica<\/a> and Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/div>","rendered":"
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\n

Takeaways<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
\n

Research methods <\/strong>are a systematic process of inquiry applied in such a manner as to learn something about our social world.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Applied research <\/strong>makes a contribution by shaping social life.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Basic research <\/strong>makes a contribution to sociological theories for knowledge, without having a specific application as a goal.<\/p>\n

Research ideas <\/strong>come from a variety of sources, and usually start with a general question of how or why.<\/p>\n

Ontology <\/strong>is concerned with the what is <\/em>or the nature of reality. There are two main classifications of ontology: objectivism and subjectivism.<\/p>\n

Objectivism <\/strong>means that social entities exist externally to the social actors who are concerned with their existence.<\/p>\n

Subjectivism <\/strong>means that social phenomena are created from the perceptions and actions of the social actors who are concerned with their existence.<\/p>\n

Epistemology <\/strong>has to do with knowledge. Rather than dealing with questions about what is<\/em>, epistemology deals with questions of how <\/em>we know what is. In sociology, there are many ways to uncover knowledge.<\/p>\n

A paradigm <\/strong>is a way of framing what we know, what we can know, and how we can know it.<\/p>\n

Positivism <\/strong>assumes that society can and should be studied empirically and scientifically. It calls for a value- free sociology in which researchers aim to abandon their biases and values in a quest for objective, empirical, and knowable truth.<\/p>\n

Interpretivism <\/strong>assumes that what is necessary for researchers to understand the differences amongst humans as social actors. The emphasis is on conducting research among people, as opposed to objects.<\/p>\n

Social constructionism <\/strong>posits that \u201ctruth\u201d is a varying, socially constructed, and ever-changing notion. Key to the social constructionist perspective is the idea that social context and interaction frame our realities.<\/p>\n

Critical paradigm <\/strong>is focused on power, inequality, and social change, and posits that social science can never be truly objective or value-free. This paradigm operates from the perspective that scientific investigation should be conducted with the express goal of seeking social change.<\/p>\n

Postmodernism <\/strong>is difficult to define, because to do so would actually violate the postmodernist\u00b4s perspective that there is no definite terms, boundaries, or absolute truth. A postmodernist would also claim that we can never really know such truth because, in the studying and reporting of others\u2019 truths, researchers put their own truth on the investigation.<\/p>\n

Inductive <\/strong>approaches to research begin with observation to look for patterns, from which a tentative hypothesis is developed, to create a theory.<\/p>\n

Deductive <\/strong>approaches begin with a theory to develop hypotheses. Observations then lead to confirmation or refutation of the hypotheses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Michel Foucault is a French philosopher and historian. He is considered one of the most influential and controversial scholars from the Post-World War II era.\u00a0\u00a0 See Michel Foucault on Britannica<\/a> and Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"menu_order":9,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-98","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/98\/revisions\/1022"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/98\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/jibcresearchmethods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}