Science means finding patterns in data

Regardless of whether you are seeking objective or subjective truths, research and scientific inquiry aim to find and explain patterns. Most of the time, a pattern will not explain every single person’s experience, and this is a fact about social science that is both fascinating and frustrating.  Even individuals who do not know each other and do not coordinate in any deliberate way can create patterns that persist over time. Those new to social science may find these patterns frustrating because they may believe that the patterns that describe their gender, age, or some other facet of their lives don’t really represent their experience. It’s true. A pattern can exist among your cohort without your individual participation in it. There is diversity within diversity.

Let’s consider some specific examples. One area that social scientists commonly investigate is the impact of a person’s social class background on their experiences and lot in life. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a person’s social class background has an impact on their educational attainment and achievement. In fact, one group of researchers (Ellwood & Kane, 2000) ^[1] in the early 1990s found that the percentage of children who did not receive any postsecondary schooling was four times greater among those in the lowest quartile (25%) income bracket than those in the upper quartile of income earners (i.e., children from high- income families were far more likely than low-income children to go on to college). Another more recent study found that having more liquid wealth that can be easily converted into cash actually seems to predict children’s math and reading achievement (Elliott et al., 2010). ^[2]

These findings—that wealth and income shape a child’s educational experiences—are probably not that shocking to any of us. Yet, some of us may know someone who may be an exception to the rule. Sometimes the patterns that social scientists observe fit our commonly held beliefs about the way the world works. When this happens, we don’t tend to take issue with the fact that patterns don’t necessarily represent all people’s experiences. But what happens when the patterns disrupt our assumptions?

For example, did you know that teachers are far more likely to encourage boys to think critically in school by asking them to expand on answers they give in class and by commenting on boys’ remarks and observations? When girls speak up in class, teachers are more likely to simply nod and move on. The pattern of teachers engaging in more complex interactions with boys means that boys and girls do not receive the same educational experience in school (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). ^[3] You and your classmates, of all genders, may find this news upsetting.

People who object to these findings tend to cite evidence from their own personal experience, refuting that the pattern actually exists. However, the problem with this response is that objecting to a social pattern on the grounds that it doesn’t match one’s individual experience misses the point about patterns.  Patterns don’t perfectly predict what will happen to an individual person, yet they are a reasonable guide. When patterns are systematically observed, they can help guide thought and action. That is where research comes in, providing us with frameworks for this systematic observation and the reporting of such findings so that others can learn and build upon them in turn.

The Scientific Method

As we’ve talked about before, Science is one way of knowing and a great way for certain circumstances. If you’ve decided that you want to use science to answer a question, and are ready to take on the resource costs for it, you might now ask: so, how do we actually do science? You’ll learn a lot of different specific techniques in this class as we progress through the semester. The basic idea of all scientific designs is the same, though, and follows a process you may have learned way back in your middle school science fairs (and it’s okay if that feels like a while ago): the Scientific Method.

In this class, we’ll focus mostly on the questions and design steps, and some time on the analysis of data and reporting. If you want to know more about what it’s like to actually conduct a study, we will touch on that and you can read about it, but why not also seek out some hands-on experience? Reach out to your professors to see if they have room for a research assistant on projects they’re doing!

Image Attributions

Abstract art blur bright by Pixabay CC-0

Schools of Thought

Even within the scientific method, there are several ways of thinking about research! There is no one superior scientific orientation that help us understand the world.  As we will learn in later chapters, multiple philosophical, theoretical, and methodological ways to approach uncovering scientific truths.  Qualitative methods generally aim to provide an in-depth understanding of a relatively small number of cases. Quantitative methods usually offer less depth on each case but can say more about broad patterns in society because they typically focus on a much larger number of cases.  A researcher should approach the process of scientific inquiry by formulating a clear research question and conducting research using the methodological tools best suited to that question. However, something important to note here is that many researchers are trained almost exclusively in one type of research, so that’s the tool they turn to. This leads to differing camps of what it means to do research, gather data, and generate knowledge. The remainder of this chapter will cover different orientations to research and how they serve different purposes. 

In the interest of transparency, you should know who you’re learning from! In this textbook, there are three voices you’ll come across; below we each explain who we are in relation to research methods.

If you go to do more training or work in research in the future, we hope you’ll be open to learning from both schools of thought and seek out mentorship from a variety of researchers; we all have much to learn from each other!