Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

WRITING THE RESEARCH REPORT AND THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH

CONCLUSION

Communicating results is a central part of the larger
scientific enterprise as are the ethics and politics of
social research. “Solutions” to the political issues
that you may face are threefold. First, you need to
be aware of such issues, be aware of potential dan-
gers, and adopt a realistic view of the sociopolitical
environment instead of a naïve view of social re-
search. Second, you should work with others to ad-
vocate for the independence of research from outside
pressures. Third, you need to educate the public and
leaders of major institutions about the value and im-
portance of independent social research.

I want to end this chapter by urging you, as a

consumer of social research or a new social re-

searcher, to be self-aware. Be conscious of the

place of the research in society and of the societal

context of social research itself. Social researchers

bring a unique perspective to the larger society. We

have a responsibility to ourselves, the scientific

community, and society, and we need to have an

awareness of how the social sciences acquired our

current place in society.

KEY TERMS

academic freedom
editing
error of segregation
executive summary
freewriting
grantsmanship

models of relevance

paraphrasing

plagiarism

prewriting

principal investigator (PI)

Project Camelot

relational position

request for proposals (RFP)

revising

SLAPP suit

think tank

zoom lens

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1.Discuss the relationship among prewriting, freewriting, rewriting, editing, and

composing in the process of writing a research report.

2.What are the primary differences in the organization of a quantitative versus a

qualitative research report?

3.How is a proposal to conduct research similar to and different from a final re-

search report?

4.What types of limitations on social research come from the actions of politicians?

5.In what ways can control over funding influence the types of issues being re-

searched?

6.How might the criteria used by government or private donors that provide funds

for research differ from criteria used by peers in the scientific community?

7.What have been the trends in U.S. government funding for research over the past

20 years, and how might they be influencing the research that is being conducted

now?

8.What is the source of Rule’s models of relevance, and what is their usefulness?

9.How does academic freedom support or contradict a relational position?

10.What are the meanings of doing objective and value-free research?