SOC221H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Design Issues, Grounded Theory, Empirical Measure
Document Summary
First step is to select topic when beginning research project. Topic then narrowed into a focused research question. [2 variables: age at marriage and divorce]: has one or more causal relationships, need to consider practical limitations. Qualitative researchers use language of cases and contexts, examine social processes and cases in their social context, and look at interpretations or creation of meaning in specific settings. Looking at social life from different points and explaining how people construct identities. Examine motifs, themes, distinctions, and ideas rather than variables and often adopt inductive approach of grounded theory. Qualitative researchers develop theory during data-collection process; inductive method means that theory is built from data or grounded in data. Qualitative researchers build theories by making comparisons. Emphasize social context for understanding social world. Social meaning and significance distorted if it taken out of the context. Same events or behaviours can have different meanings in different cultures or historical time periods.
