Читать книгу Social Work Research Methods - Reginald O. York - Страница 57

research process follows the same basic path as good problem solving and critical thinking. If you are engaged in good problem solving, you will start with the identification of the problem and the objectives to be achieved by solving it. You will then identify methods for solving the problem. Following implementation of the solution, you will evaluate the results. One of the common pitfalls in basic human problem solving is for us to state the problem in terms of only one solution. In doing so, we are starting with a solution rather than with the identification of the human condition to be addressed.

Social research begins with the formulation of the problem resulting in the articulation of the research question. After the research question has been clearly identified, we determine the methods to be used in the pursuit of the answer to our question. One of the mistakes commonly made by the novice researcher is to begin a process of inquiry with a research instrument. It is not uncommon for a student of research to review a set of research instruments that measure certain psychological conditions and become especially interested in the use of a certain instrument in some kind of research.

The process of research conceptualized in this book starts with problem formulation and moves logically to research methodology, then to data collection and analysis, and ending with conclusions. Obviously, we should not start with conclusions about the research question. We have covered this mistake in our examination of the purposes of scientific inquiry (discovery rather than justification). Likewise, it is not logical to start with data and formulate a research question that fits the data. (However, it is legitimate to use an exploration of data as a springboard for focusing a set of questions that guide the investigation of the literature.) Furthermore, as mentioned above, we should not start the process with the selection of study methods. We need to know our research question before we can select the optimal means of measurement of our variables.

Let’s go over the critical steps in the social research process. First, we decide on the purpose of our study. Do we want to describe the members of a class of students in a university program, so that we will know the distribution of these people by age, gender, race, and so forth? Or do we want to examine whether males and females are different with regard to satisfaction with life? Or do we want to know if after-school tutoring helps at-risk children improve their grades? The first of these examples is about descriptive research—our attempt to describe people. The one about gender and life satisfaction is sometimes referred to as explanatory research because we wish to explain whether there is a relationship between variables, which would help us explain the variables. The one about tutoring is evaluative in nature because we are examining if a service program is effective with regard to the objectives it is seeking to achieve.