Qualitative Methods in Social Research (SO915)

Why did a researcher think it was a good idea to hang around in public toilets observing men who
engaged in illicit sex? Why did a group of researchers film women watching reality TV? How do
researchers try to change the world in the process of researching it? What can we learn about society
through a photo? These questions, and more, are all addressed by this module.

Qualitative researchers state that in order to know the social worlds we study we need to understand
the meanings that people hold. In other words, we need to understand the social world from the
perspectives of its members.

One way to do this, according to some qualitative researchers, is to adopt methods that allow social life
to be studied in its ‘natural settings’. Ethnographic researchers, for example, will often seek to directly
participate in those settings spending years at a time living alongside the people they seek to
understand.

Methods such as these are not straightforward, however, and they often raise a whole host of ethical,
political and practical issues. It is the aim of this module to consider such issues, while providing
postgraduate level social science training in specific methods of qualitative research, such as interviews,
participant observation and visual sociology.

The course is structured around a series of highly participatory lecture-workshops, where emphasis is
placed on learning though active interaction with lecturers and other students. Workshops include small
group discussions, debates, practical exercises and trainings.

"I initially decided to take Qualitative Methods in Social Research as an optional module since qualitative
research is becoming more and more sought after by employees. Although skills in quantitative research
has long been known to be favoured by employees, it has never been my strength because I‘m not a
facts-and-figures person. Hence, this module suited me very well. This module focused on the different
qualitative methods that are used in research. What I liked about this module was the variability in
activities and tasks we’ve had to prepare for many of the weeks, though they were not assessed. It
cultivated practicality as well as many opportunities for group interaction. This module was assessed by
two essays that were due a few weeks apart towards the end of the term."

- Fatima Shehzad, MA Sociology 2017

Quantitative Methods in Social Research (SO916)

Many published articles in leading social sciences journals make use of statistical analysis techniques
applied to social survey data. Since such articles stretch across a very wide range of substantive sub-
fields, it is important to have a sufficiently good technical understanding to critique the content of
articles in your field effectively. And, of course, developing the practical skills needed to carry out such
analyses yourself is a valuable way of enhancing your abilities as a research practitioner.

This module works up from the basics of quantitative social research, to a point where you are able to
carry out reasonably sophisticated analyses that allow you to address the kinds of important research
questions that require the use of multivariate analysis techniques, i.e. forms of statistical analysis which
involve three or more measures simultaneously. These techniques, such as logistic regression and log-
linear models, have been used in many important sociological studies, such as the classic studies of
social class mobility in Britain. So, for example, if you want to understand the reasons for differences
between the educational achievements of children from different family types, and whether these
reflect the differing material resources of such households, multivariate statistical models are essential.
However, the module first provides a useful grounding in a range of standard statistical approaches to
describing and analysing patterns and relationships in quantitative data, which serves to act as a
platform for a sound understanding of how the more sophisticated techniques work.

Students taking the module gain familiarity with powerful but user-friendly statistical software, which
they apply within some of the portfolio of assessment components, and they also have the opportunity
to familiarise themselves with important quantitative data sources and critique published quantitative
articles. Not all quantitative social research is free from flaws, and the process of doing quantitative
research is in itself a lot more messy and challenging than you would imagine from some social statistics
textbooks!

"This was a core module for me and gave me a clear overview of the range of quantitative methods that
are used in Sociology. It was challenging in a positive way, learning about statistical techniques and how
to use computer software to produce research. For someone who has studiously avoided mathematics
for as much of my life as possible, I was pleasantly surprised at how it was an engaging and accessible
topic. There was much more to it than I had initially thought, and I enjoyed how my lecturer Richard
Lampard managed to make a potentially dry subject surprisingly interesting through his personal
interest and expertise in quantitative methods."

- Romain Chenet, MA Social Research 2017

COMPARISON CHART:
BASIS FOR COMPARISON QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
MEANING Qualitative research is a method Quantitative research is a
of inquiry that develops research method that is used to
understanding on human and generate numerical dataand
social sciences, to find the way hard facts, by employing
people think and feel. statistical, logical and
mathematical techniques.
NATURE Holistic Particularistic
APPROACH Subjective Objective
RESEARCH TYPE Exploratory Conclusive
REASONING Inductive Deductive
SAMPLING Purposive Random
DATA Verbal Measurable
INQUIRY Process-Oriented Result-Oriented
HYPOTHESIS Generated Tested

ELEMENTS OF ANALYSIS Words, pictures and objects Numerical Data

OBJECTIVE To explore and discover ideas
used in the ongoing processes
METHODS Non-structured techniques like
In-depth interviews, group
discussions etc.
RESULT Develops initial undestanding
To examine cause and effect
realtionship between variables
Structured techniques such as
surveys, questionnaires and
obsevation.
Recommends final course of
actiion.