Types of Research Methodology used in the Social Sciences

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Experimental research methods:

This is when a researcher wants to scientifically study a phenomena. There are various steps in setting up an experiment; here are the key points:

- the researcher needs to identify a variable that they want to test.
- they need to randomly assign individuals to two groups: a control group which does not receive any treatment; an experimental group that receives the treatment (the variable that is being test).
- they set up hypothesis to test their theory
- the experimenter then will test both groups in a similar way
- after the test, the experimenter will examine the results of both groups to see if there is a significant difference between the groups. If there is, it might be attributed to the variable in question.

Some of the key elements of experimental is that the researcher is able to manipulate a variable, that they can randomly select individuals to be part of their research. As you will see, this differs from the other methodologies, as it makes it more scientific and statistically sound in nature.

EXAMPLES:

In research study, we want to have a clear direction on what we are studying. Essentially, we want to see if the new reading program has any effect on the ability of the children to read.

To conduct research, we need to have two groups:

The experimental (treatment) group - this is the group of people who will receive treatment - in other words, they would receive the reading program.

Now, if we just look at the results from the experimental group, we would have nothing to compare them to. This is where a second group comes into play.

The second group is called the control group. This group is used as a 'baseline' - they would not receive the reading program.

So our hypothesis would be: By having students go through the reading program, it will have an effect on their reading skills.

Participants

The key to a research study is to make sure that you randomly assign individuals to the study. This is an unbiased way to make sure that both your groups will be equivalent.
In this case, we are looking at elementary students. We would want to randomly assign the students into either the experimental (treatment) group or the control group.

Why do we have random assignment? What if the teacher placed all of the smart kids in the control group group and the slower kids in the experimental group. When we would then test their reading skills, we will not be able to tell if the improvements on reading is caused by the program, OR was it because the kids in one group are smarter then the other group.

If there is a random mix of smart and slower kids in both groups then it can be deduced that any effect would be due to the program.

How can we make the groups equivalent? Since we have access to two classroom, we can group the kids together. Then we can randomly assign each child a number. We can then draw numbers for the groups. This would be the best way to have unbiased, equivalent groups. You might wonder why not put one class in one group, and the other class in the other group? Well, each class had different teachers, and what if one teacher was better or more advanced then the other group. If we did this we would start off with biases.

When conducting research, there is ...