Research Methods and Epistemology in Social Sciences
Research Methodology
META: towards; ODOS: path – path towards
A series of ordered steps that we follow to achieve our goal.
- Deductive Method: From the general to the particular.
- Inductive Method: From the particular to the general.
Types of Induction
- Complete Induction: The general conclusion is made based on the study of all individuals of the given class.
- Incomplete Induction: The general conclusion is obtained based on a certain number of objects.
Techniques in Research
A set of tools, procedures, and instruments used to obtain information.
Research Methods
- Method of Agreement: Reasoning about the cause based on the comparison of circumstances that accompany the appearance of the phenomenon. Method of Observation.
- Method of Differences: If in two cases, one in which the phenomenon under study appears and the other does not, they agree in all their circumstances except one or in certain sets.
- Method of Concomitant Variations: Every change in a cause will cause a corresponding change in the effect if there is no other cause acting in the opposite direction.
- Method of Residues: If a complex phenomenon is the result of a complex cause and a part of the phenomenon is due to a part of the cause, the other part of the former will be due to the other cause.
Other Methods
- Historical Method: It characterizes the object by its outer features, through their evolution and development.
- Synthetic Method: A process where apparently isolated facts are related, and a theory is formulated to unite its different elements.
- Analytical Method: Extraction of the parts of a whole with the object to study and examine them separately, to see the relation between them.
- Dialectical Method: All phenomena are ruled by dialectical laws.
Models of Qualitative and Quantitative Research
Thomas Kuhn: Models are based on paradigms. They serve as a reference in research, determining the what and the how.
Quantitative Approach
- Experimental Research: It focuses on the control of sources and the manipulation of variables.
- Non-Experimental Research: It only observes, it does not measure the variables.
- Descriptive Method
- Correlational Method: Relationship between two or more variables without being manipulated.
- Comparative-Causal Method: Relationship between cause and effect.
Qualitative Approach
Phenomenological, inductive, holistic, subjective.
Characteristics of the Problem Statement
Background, delimitation, justification, hypothesis, objectives.
Epistemology
A philosophical and scientific discipline that considers knowledge as an object of study.
Mario Bunge: “Epistemology is not on top, not under science, but we find it in its roots, in its fruit, and in the mere root of the science tree.”
Knowledge
The way we understand the object as different from what we figure out it is not.
Types of Knowledge
- Direct: It is the result of being in the presence and immediate contact with the object through the senses.
- Indirect: It is the result of a description or transmission of experience through somebody else.
Types of Knowledge (Expanded)
- Empirical: Based on experiences.
- Religious: Based on beliefs, spontaneous and systematic.
- Philosophical: Total reality. It delves into the reasons and causes of everything that exists.
- Scientific: It uses controls and verification of its own activity, and a conclusion separated from subjectivity.
Characteristics of Scientific Knowledge
- Objective: Seeks the truth.
- Verifiable
- Fallible: It is not definitive or immovable.
- Systematic: A system of related ideas.
Types of Studies
- Descriptive: Used to describe phenomena, situations, contexts, and events.
- Phenomenological: Seeks to know the meanings that individuals give to their experience, and the important thing is to learn the interpretation process.
- Ethnometodology: Attempts to study social phenomena incorporated into our discourses and our actions.
- Exploratory: Used when the research object is to examine a little-studied topic.
- Correlational: Allows knowing how various phenomena relate to each other.
- Grounded: Tries to discover theories, concepts, and hypotheses based on data.
- Biographical: Aims to show the subjective testimony of a person.
- Experimental: Seeks to verify the effects of a specific investigation.
Case Study: Harassment of Women in Mexico
Background
During the last three decades, according to data from the 1970 General Population Census and the National Employment Surveys of 1991 and 2002, Mexico has registered a sustained increase in the rate of participation of women in employment: in 1970, 17 out of every 100 women carried out economic activities, but currently, the number has increased to 35.
In 1826, a magazine called “El Abanico” appeared, which was the first feminist magazine in Zacatecas.
At the beginning of the decade, the concept of feminism began to be heard, a concept associated with women’s suffrage. It is highlighted that women faced different forms of discrimination in 1851.
Hypothesis
If most of the men of San Luis Potosí were aware that it is necessary to protect women and not harass them, therefore in their education they would understand the importance of respecting them and thus most women would feel safer to leave to do their daily activities without worrying about being harassed.
General Objective
To analyze harassment towards women and how it affects different aspects of their lives, such as work, social, and school, and how beauty stereotypes psychologically affect Mexican women.
Specific Objectives
- Analyze the types of harassment, such as sexual, work, and school, among others, and the consequences it has on the daily lives of women in Mexico.
- Critically analyze the relationship between harassment and the representation of the perfect body of women.
- Emphasize the psychological impact on women that results from this type of act.