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Solved by verified expert:Hypothesis1. Bullying reduces suicidal tendencies2.Bullying increases suicidal tendenciesthe power point gives an overview of what the paper is about.It is a 1500 word essay, roughly about 4 pages and it needs a minimal of 4 scholarly articles to back up my statement and it is a literature review. I know I am posting the question rather late as it is due on Friday but if you could please help me out. If this question is to difficult, you could pick any essay question of your choice and it should be 1500 words.
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Quantitative Methods in Social
Research Week 2: Research question
and literature review instructions
Dr Elaine Bauer and Dr Matthew
Bond
6 October 2017
Lecture outline
1. Selecting a research question
2. Literature review and assignment
instructions
3. Research articles
4. Searching for sources
Research Question
Methods are subordinate to
research question
• We start with our research question.
• We select our methods in accordance with
our research question.
• We should always think what methods will
best help us to answer the question we
have posed.
Selecting a Research Question
• Unlike other stages of the research process
there is no “recipe” we can follow.
• It is not obvious what our research question
should be.
• In much of the natural sciences individuals are
told what to study.
• Choice of research question depends on
discipline’s research agenda and ‘what is
happening in the world.’
Important Considerations
• Make sure you can answer your research
question using empirical data.
– For example, many normative questions cannot be
answered using empirical data.
• Make sure empirical data are available
– For many questions about the past data are simply
not available.
• Have an idea what the answers to your question
could look like.
– Gives you a guide what to measure and helps sharpen
hypotheses.
Research interest, research question
and research hypotheses.
• You start off with a research interest.
– For example gun control
• You then develop a research question.
– Does gun control reduce crime?
• In pursuit of answering your research question
you test a number of falsifiable hypotheses.
– Gun control decreases the murder rate.
– Gun control increases the rate of assault.
King, Keohane and Verba’s 2
criteria for selecting a question*
1. ‘a research project should pose a question
that is “important” in the real world”
2. ‘a research project should make a specific
contribution to an identifiable scholarly
literature by increasing our collective
ability to construct verified scientific
explanations of some part of the world.’ p
15
*Designing Social Inquiry 1994
What makes a research topic
relevant?
• Relevance
– Selection of research question can/should be
driven by researcher’s values.
– Selection of research question can/should be
driven by political urgency.
– Selection of research question is driven by
funding agencies.
The role of values
• Max Weber (1864-1920) made classic statements
of the role of values in social scientific research.
• Values should determine choice of topic.
• Values should not determine findings.
• Scientific methodology provides a neutral
language that provides individuals with differing
value commitments a way of arriving at intersubjective agreement about the state world.
Making a contribution
King, Keohane and Verba’s 6 ways
p16-17
1. ‘Choose a hypothesis seen as important by
scholars in the literature but for which no
one has completed a systematic study.’
– For example, Goldthorpe and Lockwood tested
embourgeoisement hypothesis in The Affluent
Worker.
Making a contribution
King, Keohane and Verba’s 6 ways
p16-17
2. ‘Choose an accepted hypothesis in the literature that
we suspect is false … and investigate whether it is
indeed false or whether some other theory is
correct.’
–
–
For example, Donohue and Levitt (2001) argue that
abortion explains more of the crime drop in the US than
other factors such as better policing or higher
incarceration rates.
For example, Acemoglu, Johnson, Robinson and Yared
test the widely accepted modernization thesis that
increasing income leads to democracy and find it
wanting.
Making a contribution
King, Keohane and Verba’s 6 ways
3.
p16-17
Attempt to resolve or provide further
evidence of one side of a controversy in
the literature.
For example, Bearman and Bruckner (2002) contribute to the
nature nurture debate by showing that males with a female twin
are more likely display same sex attraction.
Making a contribution
King, Keohane and Verba’s 6 ways
p16-17
3. Design research to illuminate or evaluate
unquestioned assumptions in the literature.
For example, tipping has been studied because it allows
an evaluation of the assumption of rational choice.
Making a contribution
King, Keohane and Verba’s 6 ways
p16-17
5. ‘Argue that an important topic has been
overlooked in the literature and then proceed
to contribute a systematic study to the area.’
For example, Durkheim (1897) argued that Suicide was a
sociologically relevant topic that had been previously
overlooked.
– 6. ‘Show that theories or evidence designed
for some purpose in one literature could be
applied in another literature to solve an
existing but apparently unrelated problem.’
For example, Gambetta (1993) used tools from
economics to understand the rituals of the Mafia.
Practical Considerations
• Choose a manageable topic.
• One that you have the time and money to
complete.
• Remember you can develop a research agenda
where over time you can answer more of the
questions you want answers to.
– Remember success at smaller studies makes
funding of larger studies more likely.
References
• Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., Robinson, J. and Yared, P. (2009) ‘Reevaluating
the Modernization Hypothesis’ Journal of Monetary Economics
• Bearman, P. and Bruckner, H. (2002) ‘Opposite Sex Twins and Adolescent
Same Sex Attraction’ American Journal of Sociology
• Donohue, J and Levitt, S ‘The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime”
• Durkheim, E. (1897) Suicide
• Gambetta, D (1993) The Sicilian Mafia
• Goldthorpe, J., Lockwood, D., Bechhofer, F. and Platt, J. (1969) The Affluent
Worker in The Class Structure
• King, G, Keohane, and Verba, S. (1994) Designing Social Inquiry
• Schotter, A (1979) ‘The Economics of Tipping and Gratuities’ NYU
• Weber, M. (1949) ‘The Meaning of Ethical Neutrality in Economics and
Sociology’ in The Methodology of the Social Sciences.
Literature review and assignment
instructions
Literature review- What is it?
• Due date 17/11/17 Word count 1500 Words
• A literature review discusses published
information on a specific topic.
• Summarises the material
– Recap information in article
• Synthesises material
– Develop an argument that organises the different
arguments in the different sources you consider.
Choosing topic
• Topics should not be too broad
– Hundreds and thousands of articles on any given
topic.
• The narrower the topic the easier it is to limit
the number of sources.
Focus and thesis
• Develop an organising focus
– Do not simply list sources and describe them
– What are recurrent themes and issues?
– Are there differences in themes and arguments.
• Develop a thesis
– Your thesis is an argument about the central
themes in your sources.
Organisation
• Introduction- quick overview of the topic
• Body- Discuss sources
– Organise chronologically, thematically or
methodologically.
– Should have element of critique.
• Conclusions/recommendations- Discuss what
you have drawn from resources. How could
the research develop?
The body of literature review
• Chronological
– Order by publication chronology but only if it
demonstrates a trend.
– Historical trend
• Thematic- chronology not important but
development of ideas leads organisation
• Methodological- Focus not on content but on
methods used in sources.
Managing sources
• Use evidence- Your interpretation of the
sources must be backed up with evidence.
• Be selective- Select only most important
points in each source to highlight.
• Quotes- Use them sparingly. Try to use your
own voice when discussing the literature.
• Summarise and synthesize
• Paraphrase carefully- Represent authors
opinions accurately and in your own words.
Assignment specifics
• Number of sources- Minimum of 4
• Types of sources- books, journal articles,
government reports, reports by think tanks
and charities.
• Synthesise and summarise using themes
• Provide sub headings.
Research articles
Research articles
A research article is a focussed investigation into a topic
presenting the results of an empirical investigation.
The research article should do five things:
– Establish the relevance of the topic and fit it into a
broader literature.
– Describe the study’s research question.
– Justify and describe the study’s methodology. (In
theory you should be able to conduct the study
yourself.)
– Present its findings.
– Discuss what is novel in the findings and whether they
support the researcher’s hypotheses/expectations.
Research articles: format
Research articles typically have 7 sections:
1)Abstract- A brief overview of the article.
Summarises main features of study and main
findings
2) Introduction and literature review- Outlines
the relevance of the topic and fits it into
broader literature.
3) Theory and hypotheses- Researcher
outlines theoretical position and the
hypotheses/expectations they lead to.
Research article: format cont.
4) Methodology- methodological choices justified
given theoretical position.
5) Results- Findings presented. Quotes, figures
and tables.
6)Discussion- What are the main findings? Are
the results consistent with our theory and
hypotheses.
7) Conclusion- Summary of main findings,
outstanding issues and recommendations for
further research.
Searching for Sources
Literature
• There may be some topics you are interested
in where a literature does not exist.
• If a literature does not exist then it may not be
possible to conduct a literature review
• The clearer your question the easier it is to do
a literature review.
• Your topic should neither be too narrow nor
too broad.
Key words
• The first step in searching the literature is to
select some key words which are central to the
topic you are investigating.
• It is not useful to enter a question.
– For example, don’t enter: ‘What is the mean earning
difference between men and women?’
– Instead enter keywords gender and earnings.
• Key words are likely to bring you better results.
• You should also consider combinations of key
words.
Library resources
• Library catalogue- Search the libraries
collection.
• The library has a wide range of searchable
databases.
• http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/library/
• Also do a Google Scholar search and type in
keyword and PDF
…
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