Sociological ResearchMethods and Techniques

Bridgette SandersJ. Murrey Atkins Library

Doing Sociological Research

Sociological research is a tool sociologists use to answer questions.

The method of research used depends on the kind of question you ask.

Sociology and the Scientific Method

Sociological research derives from the scientific method.

Sociological research does not necessarily proceed in a sequence of rigid steps.

Sociological studies may be based on surveys, observations, and other forms of analysis, but they always depend on an empirical foundation.

The scientific method includes selecting a researchable problem, reviewing the literature, formulating a hypothesis, choosing a research design, collecting the data, analyzing the data, and stating conclusions.

Topic selection & Narrowing

First Steps Before you begin any research, it pays to write down all possible search terms that come to mind related to your topic. Library catalogs, indexes and databases work best if you use the correct terminology. Add to this list of terms as you begin exploring your topic. This strategy works whether you’re writing a brief paper or your thesis.

BrainstormingWork from general to specific.Don’t limit your ideas or the word flow.Keep track of all related terms...

They may be useful in a variety of resources.

Example of narrowing your topic and brainstorming search terms

Tips For Choosing Good Sources

Know the difference between acceptable and unacceptable Internet research.

Internet research can be tricky. Acceptable Internet research includes professional on-line journals, professional on-line articles that have been peer reviewed, and information published on-line by professional organizations. You will not want to rely on sources such as blogs, commentary, and self-published articles.

Severely limit your use of encyclopedias, especially your use of Internet encyclopedias such as Wikipedia.org; they should only be used in very specific circumstances.

Tips For Choosing Good Sources

You should only use information from encyclopedias as a way to either illustrate a point or provide the reader with information on a concept or technique that is not well known. Encyclopedias should not be used as your primary source for research, even if it was ok in high school.

Choose a variety of mediums for your sources; a mixture of professional journals, books, and newspaper articles work well.

Tips For Choosing Good Sources

When completing your research paper, you do not want to rely solely on one type of source. If you have a wide variety of research material that supports your position and discredits the opposing point of view or thesis, your case will be much stronger.

Make good use of references you might find in professional journals, books, or other articles.

Most articles in professional journals and/or peer-reviewed research publications will normally include long lists of references. Often, these references are primary sources.

southorangemiddleschoollibrary.wikispaces.com

Principles of SearchingSimilar ideas are expressed in a word with different endings.

sociol* will retrieve all of these words in an article

socioletsociolinguistics

sociologysociological

The asterisk * is a wild card or truncation symbol. All words starting with the letters before the asterisk will be retrieved

Socio-economicsOR

Family background

Anything in either of these circlesIs recovered

familybackground

socio-economics

Boolean Searching

Combine search terms

“OR” yields the most results

“AND” makes your search more specific

Only the overlap of the circles arerecovered

socio-economics

familybackground

Same combined

search terms

“AND” yields less results but articles are more specific.

Add a third search term

Even fewer results are presented.

Databases for SociologySociological Abstracts

JSTOR

Academic Search Complete

PsycInfo

Social Services Abstracts

Project Muse and more….

Proquest: Social Sciences the * acts as a wild card so that rac* will search for race, racial, racism etc.

Full text and Peer review are both checked limiting results.

Fields to be searched are set Set date range

As needed

Examining the resultsSuggested subjects for further searching.

Citation only record: allows you to search for full text.

Link to full text

Preview screen: direct access to the abstract, subjects and other info

Tips for Searching Databases

Students are sometimes frustrated by the lack of articles on cutting edge subjects that interest them. Academic studies often take months or years to write and publish — so it may be a while before researchers publish articles on Operation Iraqi Freedom or the spread of Sars.

If you can’t find academic articles on how instant messaging affects teen romance or how file-sharing is affecting the music culture, you might need to go back in time and look for historical similarities, such as how telephones affected teen romance in the 50s and 60s, or how the use of recorded music on the radio affected professional musicians in the 20s and 30s.

If you get too many result, try adding additional, more specific terms. (If you get 5000 hits for “transportation safety”, try “automobile safety” or “alcohol automobile” or “seat belts”).

If you get too few results, try using synonyms; or, try using more general terms. (For instance, if you find nothing under “car safety”, try “automobile safety”. If you find nothing under when you type in the name of the latest file-sharing service, try “file sharing” or “music copyright” or “copyright law” or just “copyright”.) When you do find some good sources, try new searches using the subject headings under which that article is filed.

Any database will have a “help” button that describes how to use operators like OR and NOT, how to restrict your search to a particular language or date range, etc. If your instructor wants you to use a source published within a specific date range, look for a  ”help” or “advanced search” link.

Cite Your SourcesTo provide

evidence for your

arguments and to add

credibility to your work.

To help readers find your sources

& go through some of the steps you took to reach your conclusions.

To show your lecturers the

work that you have done

To help avoid charges of plagiarism.

What to cite?Anything that you read

in any format:- books, journal articles, web

pages, etc.

Anything that is presented or spoken:

- speeches, lectures, personal interviews, performances,

etc.

Other works like films, songs, dramatic performances, etc.

- that are the intellectual property of someone else.

You don't need to cite: - what would be considered common knowledge, such as facts, events, concepts, etc. that are widely known and

accepted as true.

APA Style When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that

the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

APA Citation StyleIn-Text Citations

A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses.

Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...

(Wegener & Petty, 1994)

A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite the source.

(Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993)

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

(Kernis et al., 1993)

APA Citation StyleIn-Text Citations cont. Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in

the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks.

A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).

Note: In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.

Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.

According to the American Psychological Association (2000),... If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets

the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations. First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000) Second citation: (MADD, 2000)

APA Reference ListJournal Articles

Single Author

Last name first, followed by author initials.

Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 7-10.

Two Authors

List by their last names and initials. Use the ampersand instead of "and."

Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048.

Three to Seven Authors

List by last names and initials; commas separate author names, while the last author name is preceded again by ampersand.

Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T., & Bach, J. S. (1993). There's more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: The importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.

APA Reference ListBooks

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.

Note: For "Location," you should always list the city and the state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods (New York, NY).

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Edited Book, No Author

Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Edited Book with an Author or Authors

Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals. K. V. Kukil (Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.

APA Reference ListArticle From an Online Periodical with DOI Assigned Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal,

volume number, page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 or http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000

Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41, 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161

Wooldridge, M.B., & Shapka, J. (2012). Playing with technology: Mother-toddler interaction scores lower during play with electronic toys. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 33(5), 211-218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2012.05.005

Article From an Online Periodical with no DOI Assigned Online scholarly journal articles without a DOI require the URL of the journal home

page. Remember that one goal of citations is to provide your readers with enough information to find the article; providing the journal home page aids readers in this process.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved from http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/

Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8. Retrieved from http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html

APA Reference ListFor articles that are easily located, do not provide database information. If the article is difficult to locate, then you can provide database information. Only use retrieval dates if the source could change, such as Wikis.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Smyth, A. M., Parker, A. L., & Pease, D. L. (2002). A study of enjoyment of peas. Journal of Abnormal Eating, 8(3), 120-125. Retrieved from http://www.articlehomepage.com/full/url/

MLA Citation StyleIn-text citations: Author-page style MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This

means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).

Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).

Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

MLA Works Cited PageBasic Format The author’s name or a book with a single author's name appears in last

name, first name format. The basic form for a book citation is: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of

Publication. Medium of Publication.Book with One Author Gleick, James. Chaos: Making a New Science. New York: Penguin, 1987. Print. Henley, Patricia. The Hummingbird House. Denver: MacMurray, 1999. Print.Book with More Than One Author The first given name appears in last name, first name format; subsequent

author names appear in first name last name format. Gillespie, Paula, and Neal Lerner. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Peer Tutoring.

Boston: Allyn, 2000. Print. If there are more than three authors, you may choose to list only the first

author followed by the phrase et al. Wysocki, Anne Frances, et al. Writing New Media: Theory and Applications for

Expanding the Teaching of Composition. Logan: Utah State UP, 2004. Print.

MLA Works Cited PageArticle in a Scholarly Print Article

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.

Bagchi, Alaknanda. "Conflicting Nationalisms: The Voice of the Subaltern in Mahasweta Devi's Bashai Tudu." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 15.1 (1996): 41-50. Print.

Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillo's White Noise." Arizona Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127-53. Print.

MLA Works Cited PageArticle From an Online Database Cite articles from online databases (e.g. LexisNexis, ProQuest, JSTOR,

ScienceDirect) and other subscription services just as you would print sources. In addition to this information, provide the title of the database italicized, the medium of publication, and the date of access.

Junge, Wolfgang, and Nathan Nelson. “Nature's Rotary Electromotors.” Science 29 Apr. 2005: 642-44. Science Online. Web. 5 Mar. 2009.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal 50.1 (2007): 173-96. ProQuest. Web. 27 May 2009.

Contact Me!There are various sources available to use. Please

feel free to contact me if you need assistance with finding articles and citing something that is not in the examples above.

Also, take a look at the guide here - http://guides.library.uncc.edu/content.php?pid=559688 for additional information.

Bridgette Sandersbtsander@uncc.edu