Sautu - Everything is theory.

Chapter II - Designing a research: theory, objectives, and methods

Research Design
It is a task protocol for responding:
From which theoretical perspective will the topic be approached?
What methodology will be used to collect empirical evidence?
3. What will be the analysis strategy?

Typical stages of design:

1. Theme or problem
2. Theoretical perspective: paradigm orientations, assumptions given as true, hypotheses, relationship
between concepts...
3. General and specific objectives
4. Methodology
5. Historical geographical context: population and case selection criteria
6. Construction of instruments
7. Analysis and systematization of conclusions

Construction of the theoretical framework

Non-exhaustive review of the bibliography. Explicit or implicit ideas and conceptions.

Sets of ideas at three levels:
1. Paradigm: about knowledge and how to produce it validly
2. General theories about society
3. Substantive theory: about the very content of the researched topic
Qualitative research emphasizes the paradigm more, while quantitative research emphasizes theory.
substantive.

Paradigm
General orientation of a discipline and its way of looking at what it has defined as its 'thematic content.'
noun
It is decisive about the objectives and the methodological orientation.
A paradigm assumes the following basic beliefs:
1. Ontological assumptions: what is the nature and form of reality? What can be known about
Is it objective and separable from the observer or subjective and multiple?
2. Epistemological assumptions: Is it possible to distance oneself from the objects and actors studied or should one
to study the interaction of the researcher with them?
3. Axiological assumptions: is it possible for the researcher to detach themselves from their notions of good and evil and from

his wishes for himself and others?

4. Methodological assumptions: what will be the theoretical methodological strategy (scaffolding to produce
evidence)? Causality; deductive, inductive, abductive procedures; role of general theory and
substantive in design; definition of the socio-historical context; problems of generality, validity and
reliability; analysis models.
The academic community of the researcher defines their sets of topics and the 'menu' of theories and methodologies.
which are considered relevant. Many times there is no compatibility between paradigms, although it is increasingly occurring.
more the acceptance of the validity of other paradigms and the borrowing of elements (combination of surveys with
interviews in post-positivist studies.

Social theory
System of ideas, logically related, about 'the social' and the nature of the social in society
modern and postmodern. Like all theory, it has assumptions beyond what can be observed and measured. From
these derive implications that serve to explain phenomena.

Format of quantitative research:

Theoretical concepts for defining variables
2. Model of the relationship between variables (causality) and under what conditions they take place
3. Space-time in which these relationships occur
4. Observational theory on which the operational definitions of the variables are based

Qualitative research format:

Less formalized: greater emphasis on epistemology, the definition of theoretical terms is more abstract, the
conception of society more emphasized in everyday social practices (not in partial orientations such as a
vote) and includes sensitizing concepts (stigma, victimization, social identity...).

A theoretical framework is not: the state of the art, the formulas of equations that condense the relationship of variables of
the theoretical propositions, the justification of relevance, the history of the phenomenon, the general theories about
society or personal reflections.

Pure and combined methods

Paradigms are associated with methodologies. 'Triangulation or combination of methodologies is
possible at the level of the construction of objectives, which, we repeat, is a theoretical construction and is
implement in the selection of the methods” (p. 53).
Methodology: branch of logic that deals with the application of reasoning principles to the
scientific and philosophical research; studies methods from their epistemological foundations to the
measurement problems; from the idea of causality to the role of the researcher.
Two major challenges of any method: transforming topic, problem, and theory into objectives and questions.
investigation and translating the questions into procedures for the production of empirical evidence.
Quantitative research methods: experimental method, survey, and statistical analysis techniques;
qualitative: observation, narration, and unstructured interviews.
Concepts and operational definition
Conceptualize: formulate the meaning of the variables based on the theoretical framework (especially from the theory
substantive)
Variables: concepts that have a directly observable referent. They are different from 'constructs', concepts
Complex theories that must be approached from different facets (examples: intelligence or social class).
Concepts only make sense when they are linked to theory.
Operational definition: procedures that connect theory with what is observable
The later stage of evidence production and data analysis allows assessing whether the indicators reflect in the
reality the relationships that the theory proposes. Intellectual modesty: reduce the level of abstraction when talking about the
results of the research and speak in more empirical terms according to the quality of the sources and indicators
used to make them more valid.
Likewise, the choice of the unit of analysis depends on the theory.

The data from the qualitative research

Your data is produced from a few theoretical concepts supported by a consistent argumentation.
epistemological. Those concepts are nourished as the research progresses. Theory and data are constructed.
interactively.
Inductive reasoning: observations of particular cases lead to stating general ideas that need to be
deepened and thus guide the search for data.
Stages of theoretical design and observation overlap in the practice of qualitative research.
The methods are adapted to the empirical evidence production needs. There is greater agreement regarding
the methods to be used in quantitative research.
Common features of qualitative methods: 1) they are holistic and intensive, 2) social agents occupy the
central place (the researcher tries to detach from preconceived ideas) and 3) their data are texts -written or
audibles-.

Traditions and classification of qualitative methods

Three circumstances to classify the methods:
All methods borrow elements from various paradigms: there are no pure methods.
The choice of method is heavily conditioned by the available empirical basis (texts, description of
situations or records such as audios, photos, paintings, etc.)
3. What is the type of problem, topic, or situation to be investigated?
Eclectic classification of methods:
1. Ethnographic method and case studies
2. Analysis of texts and discourses
3. Studies of social interaction, cultural representation, and their meanings
4. Biographical method
The methods of qualitative research
Ethnographic method: studies the social and cultural life of a community as naturally as possible and to
depth. They are field investigations. It worries about the total cultural context, so the idea of
analysis unit loses meaning.
Case study: heuristic study focused on a specific and particular phenomenon. It requires delimitation.
theoretical or real of the phenomenon to turn it into a 'case' and uses a strong descriptive character to explain its
complexity. It can deal with real or theoretically constructed entities. Versatility: applicable to various
theoretical approaches and topics and has a wide variety of usable research strategies. It has a strong
interpretive orientation.
Analysis of speeches and texts: it encompasses a wide variety of media analysis methods through which
social reality becomes existent, as are signs, languages, discourses, and speech. These methods of
The research is based on five assumptions:
Phenomena can be discovered, but they are created by the very language that describes them.
2. Discourses (organized language) can shape how people behave in the world.
3. Language contains the categories that, in turn, affect how we act towards them (gender, power,
social class or others
We reproduce our identities through language.
5. The use of shared meaning patterns exists.
Focused groups: they allow us to know the descriptions of the shared reality by people when their ideas
and opinions are confronted in a social interaction. The discourse produced by the group is limited by the
recruitment method and the conditions proposed by the researcher.
Biographical method: its purpose is to interpret how people's life course is articulated with the processes
social settings in which their life unfolds (macro social structures). The account that the subject gives will be a
description of events, but also a selection and evaluation of reality.

Closure
The research design is a series of interconnected decisions; the most important is the construction.
from the theoretical framework.

The research method is the adaptation of the empirical to the objectives defined by theory.