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CONDITIONS ORIENTATIONS ACTIONSINDIVI-DUALSSOCIALGROUPSANDORGANI-ZATIONSSOCIALOBJECTSSOCIALINTER-ACTIONSsex /age /educationallevel/maritalstatus/occupationsize /structure/locality /cohesiveness/ groupspirit /managementcompositionlength /size/quality /genre/style / composition/frequency of themes.appearance/locality/duration/kinds ofpeople involved /intensityopinions /attitudes/ values/preferences /dislikes/biasesOrganizationalpolicy / functions /regulations andprocedures / companystrategymotivation/goals /motives/strategiesvoting behaviour/strikes /churchattendance /aggression/televisionviewing /educationalattainmentgang crime/company mergers/club activities.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaThe table of units of analysis and of what Babbie refers to as research themescan clearly be expanded by cross tabulating the units of analysis against eachother. Both these approaches illustrate how research problems can begenerated, and also how extensive the research domain of the social sciencesreally is.Another important dimension that determines the unit of analysis is thedimension of time. It is possible to distinguish between diachronic orlongitudinal studies, on the one hand, and synchronic or cross-sectional studies,on the other.* Diachronic/longitudinal studies involve the investigation of units ofanalysis over an extended period of time. This category could, for example, itelude the study of changes in political attitudes over a period of time, orresearch into the origin and development of a particular socio-political move-40
ment such as Inkatha or the Nazi movement in Germany during the periodbetween the end of World War I and that of World War II.Different types of longitudinal studies like cohort studies or panel studies areusually included in this category. Cohort studies refer to research in which aparticular sub-population (for example, people born between 1940 and 1949) isstudied with a view to assessing the changes which occur over time. Althoughthe sample in each study may differ, it will consistently include subjects drawnfrom the sub-population which was originally defined. Panel studies are similarto cohort studies with the exception that each follow-up study would includethe same individuals in the sample. An example of this type of study would beif the political attitudes of a group of constituents were to be investigatedmonth by month for the duration of an election campaign.* Synchronic/cross-sectional studies are those in which a given phenomenon isstudied at a specific point in time. For example, studies of the attitudes ofpeople or the value systems of a particular sample at a certain time.This distinction between synchronic and diachronic research would apply tomost of the cells in the preceding table. It merely serves to illustrate howcomplex the research domain of the social sciences is, and to show the varietyof potential research topics.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaTHREATS TO VALIDITYThe two most important threats to the validity of a study regarding the unit ofanalysis are to be found in (i) the so-called ecological fallacy and in (ii)reductionistic tendencies.(i) The ecological fallacy involves, for example, arriving at conclusionsabout groups when the subjects of the study are individuals. The inverse wouldalso apply where conclusions are reached about individuals when theparticipants in the study are groups. The following is an example of the latterfallacy: Assume that we are conducting a post hoc analysis of election results.Further assume that our interest is in the amount of support received by theonly female candidate in the local city council elections. We have data at ourdisposal on the voting patterns in the different wards and also census data onthe demographic composition of the wards. According to our analysis we findthat there is a greater degree of support for the female candidate in wards witha larger proportion of younger voters. One would be inclined to conclude thatyounger people are more likely to vote for a female candidate. In doing this wewould be in danger of committing the ecological fallacy. It might just as wellhave been the older voters in the wards with greater proportions of youngervoters who voted for the female candidate. The problem which arose is relatedto the fact that we used wards as our unit of analysis to arrive at conclusionsabout the behaviour of individual voters.41
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HSRC SERIES IN METHODOLOGYSeries Ed
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All rights reserved. No part of thi
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Page 10 and 11: important methods of operationalizi
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(v) Questionnaire length effects(vi
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We have, in an earlier section, dra
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example of the double blind experim
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CONSTRUCTIVE REPLICATIONIn conclusi
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IntroductionAn example: The Reiger
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Coloured youths were fatally wounde
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ehaving violently towards some of t
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multivariate techniques are much mo
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tial validity. A closer inspection
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validity (as a rule we will not use
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CONTEXT EFFECTSIs it reasonable to
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analysis, text analysis, and case s
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IntroductionConceptsStatementsConno
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The schematic representation also g
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DICHOTOMOUS, POLYTOMIC AND CONTINUO
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People therefore, depending upon th
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higher than the mean scores on meth
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Source ofinformation Sender Recipie
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of the modellandum which are deemed
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phenomena or variables and, for thi
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i.e. from a collection of mutually
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system, the Aristotelian theory of
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IntroductionThe spectrum of the soc
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• How do scientist study underlyi
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the scope is more likely to be unde
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A number of comments will serve to
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ConceptsIn figure 7.2 below, qualit
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A research report is usually a logi
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to be found between qualitative and
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at which people are placed towards
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The different levels can probably b
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proach should be canonized and anot
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Goals of this chapterIntroductory r
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is written, the wise researcher wou
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Some of the characteristics that ar
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falls within more than one discipli
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earlier on. The aim of the project,
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Example 3Title of projectAtlas of l
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IntroductionThe context of reportin
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METATHEORETICAL GUIDEIINESIt is gen
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the researcher’s views, insuffici
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Suggestions for further reading:Bes
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2. THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONMedical s
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particular outpatient centre experi
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3. METHODOLOGICAL STRATEGYSymbolic
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the organisation). Secondly, a larg
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tations of the subjects; it is conc
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Although costly, videotaping of the
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16. First half of 1981.17. Gold (19
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2. How is value-orientation defined
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in practice. In contrast, pragmatis
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ian style of management result in l
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Quality of supervision of stoping g
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TABLE IIIANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR M
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FIGURE 2 — SECOND ORDER INTERACTI
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A further consideration in the choi
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gangs with supervision that was ass
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percentage of transfers not being m
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for all the relevant factors. Discu
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WHITE, V.P. (ed.). 1983. Grant prop
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connotation 58ff, 126ff- convention
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hermeneutics 21heuristic function,
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Naive inductivism 57naturalistic re
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esearcher image 82-83researcher ori
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