Table of Contents
Definitions of Research
- (noun) An attempt to systematically describe, explain, or explore.
- (noun) An outcome of an inquiry.
Types of Research
Research Pronunciation
Syllabification: re·search
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /rEE-suhrch/
- British English – /ri-sUHRch/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈriˌsərtʃ/
- British English – /rᵻˈsəːtʃ/
Usage Notes
- The method for systematically conducting research and collecting data is the research design.
- Research methods are often viewed as holistic (qualitative) or reductionistic (quantitative).
- A (noun) researcher or (noun) researchist (noun) researches (noun) researchable topics.
Related Quotations
- “[A field experiment] enables researchers to observe various forms of social behavior under conditions in which they normally occur. In a laboratory study, subjects know they are being observed and thus may display the behavior they believe is desirable” (Kendall 2006:27).
- “Although you should be careful not to commit the ecological fallacy, don’t let these warnings lead you into committing what we might call the individualistic fallacy. Some people who approach social research for the first time have trouble reconciling general patterns of attitudes and actions with individual exceptions. But generalizations and probabilistic statements are not invalidated by such exceptions. Your knowing a rich Democrat, for example, doesn’t deny the fact that most rich people vote Republican—as a general pattern. Similarly, if you know someone who has gotten rich without any formal education, that doesn’t deny the general pattern of higher education relating to higher income” (Babbie 2011:108).
- “Categorizing possible units of analysis may make the concept seem more complicated than it needs to be. What you call a given unit of analysis—is irrelevant. The key is to be clear about what your unit of analysis is. When you embark on a research project, you must decide whether you’re studying marriages or marriage partners, crimes or criminals, corporations or corporate executives. Otherwise you run the risk of drawing invalid conclusions because your assertions about one unit of analysis are actually based on the examination of another” (Babbie 2011:107).
- “Existing data sources for [secondary analysis] include public records, official reports of organizations or government agencies, and raw data collected by other researchers. For example, Durkheim used vital statistics (death) that were originally collected for other purposes to examine the relationship among variables such as age, marital status, and the circumstances surrounding a person’s suicide” (Kendall 2006:32–33).
- “Sociology is the systematic study of human society and social interaction. It is a systematic study because sociologists apply both theoretical perspectives and research methods (or orderly approaches) to examinations of social behavior” (Kendall 2006:2).
Related Videos
Additional Information
- Qualitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Quantitative Research Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “research” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
- cohort
- data
- hypothesis
- operationalization
- qualitative research
- quantitative research
- reliability
- statistics
- statistical analysis
- theory
References
Babbie, Earl R. 2011. The Basics of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Kendall, Diana. 2006. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Works Consulted
Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Brym, Robert J., and John Lie. 2007. Sociology: Your Compass for a New World. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Ferrante, Joan. 2011. Sociology: A Global Perspective. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. 2016. Exploring Sociology: A Canadian Perspective. 3rd ed. Toronto: Pearson.
Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.
Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Cite the Definition of Research
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “research.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved November 9, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/research/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
research. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/research/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “research.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed November 9, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/research/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“research.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/research/>.