Research Basics
Key Ideas
Key Ideas
Social Science
Social science research can be broadly defined as knowledge that is produced about our social life. As social scientists, we seek to understand the world we live in and provide explanations for social phenomenon. We accomplish this goal by developing research questions and collecting data that helps us answer those questions.
Depending on your major [
, Professor Amanda Baumle] – anthropology, economics, sociology, political science, and psychology – you ask particular questions about the social world.
Here are some examples from UH faculty in the social sciences: faculty research videos
In addition to different types of research by discipline, research can also be distinguished by its specific purpose.
- Exploratory - When new trends develop in our society or when scholars have researched very little about a particular occurrence, we engage in exploratory research to investigate our particular topic. Since we are not familiar with our subject matter, we seek to simply learn more about the issue under study.
- Descriptive - This is pretty straightforward. We make careful observations of our research topic and then provide a detailed description of what we witnessed.
- Explanatory - Now most research, in addition to describing a particular social event, also seeks to explain why this particular event occurred. In other words, this research identifies possible causes and effects.
- Applied - Also known as evaluation research, these projects often analyze the effects of social policies and programs. Most of these studies are often directed at assessing a particular problem so that we can suggest solutions, like a policy.
Given that we are scientists that study the social world, we adhere to universal standards shared by researchers. The next section covers what is traditionally known as the scientific method.
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