WHAT ARE THE MAJOR TYPES OF SOCIAL RESEARCH?EXAMPLE BOX 4
Exploratory Researchto describe it accurately. The study’s outcome is a
detailed picture of the issue or answer to the
research question. For example, the focused issue
might be the relationship between parents who are
heavy alcohol drinkers and child abuse. Results
could show that 25 percent of heavy-drinking par-
ents had physically or sexually abused their chil-
dren compared to 5 percent of parents who never
drink or drink very little.
A descriptive study presents a picture of types
of people or of social activities and focuses on
“how” and “who” questions (How often does it
happen? Who is involved?). Exploring new issues
categories they used to talk about others. Next, he
asked forty-two people to organize a set of pictures
of faces that he analyzed using computer software.
He discovered that local people organize primarily in
terms of appearance rather than race, using five
shades of color as categories. Other physical appear-
ance features (hair texture, nose shape) also had
minor roles.
Some exploratory studies use quantitative tech-
niques. Krysan (2008) analyzed survey data in an
exploratory study of how people of different races in
the United States search for housing. The study asked
several hundred people in the Detroit area about their
recent housing search including how long it took,
how many possibilities they inspected during the
search, and how many offers or applications they com-
pleted. Krysan compared renters and buyers as well as
Whites and Blacks with regard to search strategies
(e.g., talk to friends, family, or neighbors, look at yard
signs, search newspapers or the Internet, use a real
estate professional or search service). She looked at
percentages and found many similarities but a few dif-
ferences with regard to race pertaining to type of real
estate agent used, Internet use, and length or difficulty
of search. People tended to use an agent of their own
race. Whites were more likely to use the Internet and
more likely to restrict their searchers to White majority
neighborhoods. Blacks searched a wider range of
locations, had longer searchers, and filed more appli-
cations before they had success.Most exploratory research uses qualitative data. In
general, qualitative research tends to be more open
to using a wide range of evidence and discovering
new issues. Troshynski and Blank (2008) conducted
an exploratory study of men who engage in illegal
sex trafficking. The study was unusual because
the research participants had actively engaged in an
illegal activity. The authors had a chance meeting
with someone who knew people “in the business.”
Over a 3-month period, the authors were able
to meet and conduct open-ended interviews with
five traffickers. Their goal was to explore how the
traffickers saw their business and learn about their
backgrounds.
Other exploratory qualitative studies are more
complex. Gavlee (2005) conducted an exploratory
ethnographic study of racial classification in Puerto
Rico. The study was motivated by previous studies
that had found that the way people dealt with race
in Brazil and much of Latin American differed
from ideas about race on the mainland United
States. Brazilians emphasized phenotype (outward
appearance) over descent, which produced numer-
ous categories that are fluid and uncertain. The
study’s research questions were these: What cate-
gories do people in Puerto Rico use? What are the
organizing principles of the categories? Gavlee fo-
cused on one small city in Puerto Rico. He spent
time in the city and conducted open-ended inter-
views with twenty-four people to learn terms and
or explaining why something happens (e.g., why do
heavy-drinking parents abuse their children) is less
of a concern than describing how things are. A great
deal of social research is descriptive. Descriptive
researchers use most data-gathering techniques:
surveys, field research, content analysis, and
historical-comparative research.Explanation
When encountering an issue that is known and with
a description of it, we might wonder whythings
are the way they are. Addressing the “why” is the