Table of Contents
What is research in social science PDF?
Social science research is a method to uncover social happenings in human societies. Through social research, new knowledge is derived to help societies progress and adapt to change. Today, the concept of social science research has become important to researchers especially for those in the social sciences. Social science research is a systematic method of exploring, analyzing and conceptualizing human life in order to extend, correct or verify knowledge of human behavior and social life. Social research enables us to analyze social behavior, understand the causes, and accelerate its evolution. Social research expands our knowledge to drive discovery and innovation. It contributes to the growth and development of a nation or the entire human society. The branches of social science include anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Social scientists study how societies work, exploring everything from the triggers of economic growth and the causes of unemployment to what makes people happy. Social science research cannot investigate certain topics because of taboos or other considerations. Some examples of limitations are small samples, shortage of data, researcher biases, fluency, and access. The four most important goals of social research are (1) description, (2) exploration, (3) explanation, and (4) evaluation.
What do you mean by social science research?
Social Science Research is the activity of gathering, analysing and interpreting information for a variety of social, economic, educational and political purposes. Social research also helps in the solution of social problems it is the research through which we can find the causative factors of an existing social problem and guide us about his solution. Structural Changes. Social research is responsible for bringing structural changes in a social life. Specific topics within social studies that are studied in school coursework include geography, anthropology, economics, history, sociology, political science, and civics. The problem is that when researchers do not have adequate training, knowledge, and experience, their social scientific studies are often poorly designed, neglect vast bodies of social scientific knowledge, and are full of methodological flaws. These are (1) selecting a topic, (2) defining the problem, (3) reviewing the literature, (4) formulating a hypothesis, (5) choosing a research method, (6) collecting the data, (7) analyzing the results, and (8) sharing the results. They are civics, history, economics, geography, and sociology.
What is the process of social science research?
Several stages compose the sociological research process. These stages include (a) choosing a research topic, (b) conducting a literature review, (c) measuring variables and gathering data, (d) analyzing data, and (e) drawing a conclusion. Research process consists of a series of steps or actions required for effectively conducting research while formulating the research problem, extensive literature survey, developing hypothesis, preparing the research design, determining sample design, collecting data, execution of the project, analysis of data, … The first step in the research process is choosing a topic. There are countless topics from which to choose, so how does a researcher go about choosing one? Many sociologists choose a topic based on a theoretical interest they may have. Professionals use research methods while studying medicine, human behavior and other scholarly topics. There are two main categories of research methods: qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods. Quantitative research methods involve using numbers to measure data.
What are the aims of social science research?
The aim of social research, like research in natural sciences, is to discover new facts or verify and test old social facts. It tries to understand human behaviour and its interaction with the environment and social institutions. The purpose of research is therefore to find out what is known, what is not and what we can develop further. In this way, scientists can develop new theories, ideas and products that shape our society and our everyday lives. The key components of social studies content knowledge include history, geography, economics, civics, and government. It puts a strong emphasis on important and enduring ideas, events, and people that now affect students’ lives and serve as a foundation for the future. The most common social science subjects include Anthropology, Archaeology, Economics, Geography, History, Law, Linguistics, Politics, Psychology and Sociology. Social sciences can help uncover useful insights into society in a variety of ways – from understanding how minds work, to how societies as a whole function. These elements of critical social research are abstraction, totality, essence, praxis, ideology, history and structure. The social studies certification process focuses on the core areas: history, geography, economics, civics and political science.
What is the nature and scope of social research?
Thus, social research has a reference to an investigation focused on social phenomena processes and organization which aims to discover new facts about social reality or verify old ones, to analyse their sequence, interrelationships, causal connections and laws governing them by means of logical and systematized … Share: David Emile Durkheim is considered the father of Social Sciences or Sociology for their remarkable works in laying a foundation on practical social research. Most research can be divided into three different categories: exploratory, descriptive and causal. The term social science first appeared in the 1824 book An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness; applied to the Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth by William Thompson (1775–1833).
What is the nature of research?
Research must turn the facts and data into knowledge; this includes finding relationships between new and existing facts and data, explanations, verifications, and logical conclusions. Every research project must be objective, logical, comprehensive, unbiased, and based on reliable data. An understanding of the basic elements of research is essential for good research practices. Among the most important elements to be considered are variables, associations, sampling, random selection, random assignment, and blinding. Good research is replicable, reproducible, and transparent. Replicability, reproducibility, and transparency are some of the most important characteristics of research. The replicability of a research study is important because this allows other researchers to test the study’s findings. Your research objectives should be SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-constrained. Data types and sources There are two general types of data – quantitative and qualitative and both are equally important. You use both types to demonstrate effectiveness, importance or value.