P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 Principles and Methods of Social Research i This Page Intentionally Left Blank P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 Principles and Methods of Social Research Second Edition William D. Crano Claremont Graduate University Marilynn B. Brewer Ohio State University LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS 2002 Mahwah, New Jersey London iii P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.” Senior Editor: Debra Riegert Textbook Marketing Manager: Marisol Kozlovski Editorial Assistant: Jason Planer Cover Design: Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Textbook Production Manager: Paul Smolenski Full-Service Compositor: TechBooks Text and Cover Printer: Hamilton Printing Company This book was typeset in 10.
Times, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic. The heads were typeset in Engravers Gothic, Zapf Humanist and Revival. Copyright ° c 2002 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All right reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crano, William D., 1942– Principles and methods of social research / William D. Originally published: Boston : Allyn and Bacon, ° c 1986. Includes bibliographical references and index.
paper)—ISBN 0-8058-3904-6 (pbk. Social sciences—Research. Social sciences—Methodology .70 2—dc21 2001040851 ISBN 1-4106-1313-5 Master e-book ISBN iv P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 Dedicated to our mentor, Donald T. Campbell v This Page Intentionally Left Blank P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 Contents Preface ix I Introduction to Social Research Methods 1 1 Basic Concepts 3 2 Fitting Research Design to Research Purpose: Internal and External Validity 17 3 Measuring Concepts: Reliability and Validity 36 II Research Design Strategies 59 4 Designing Experiments: Variations on the Basics 61 5 Constructing Laboratory Experiments 76 6 External Validity of Laboratory Experiments 96 7 Conducting Experiments Outside the Laboratory 112 8 Correlational Design and Causal Analysis 125 9 Quasi-Experiments and Evaluation Research 146 10 Survey Design and Sampling 169 III Data Collection Methods 195 11 Systematic Observational Methods and Naturalistic Research 197 vii P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 viii CONTENTS 12 Interviewing 223 13 Content Analysis 245 14 Scaling Stimuli: Social Psychophysics 264 15 Scaling Individuals: Questionnaire Design and Rating Scale Construction 277 16 Social Cognition Methods: Measuring Implicit Thoughts and Feelings 293 17 Methods for Assessing Dyads and Groups 311 IV Concluding Perspectives 329 18 Synthesizing Research Results: Meta-Analysis 331 19 Social Responsibility and Ethics in Social Research 344 References 359 Author Index 399 Subject Index 411 P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 Preface We wrote our first book on research methods fresh out of graduate school.
Having both trained at Northwestern University under the watchful eye and, at times, thumb, of Donald Campbell, we were heavily invested in the experimental method, and the particular mindset that Campbell and Stanley (1966) had championed in their classic monograph, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. It seemed to us then that the most certain avenue to advance in the social sciences was via the experimental road. In some ways, we still adhere to this proposition. Despite a host of worthy competitors, we believe the experiment remains the single most certain method to uncover causal re- lationships.
Further, the experimental model provides a useful standard against which to evaluate the quality and utility of research findings based on non-experimental techniques. As a reference point, the experiment is useful even in settings that do not admit to the experimental method. At the same time that we learned and absorbed the critical importance of experimen- tal techniques, we were learning about the developing quasi-experimental approaches, which Cook and Campbell (1979) elaborated so elegantly, and which in no small mea- sure helped establish the sub-field of evaluation research. In so doing, development of the quasi-experimental approaches also contributed to the developing recognition in the field that applications of our methods in socially relevant field settings was not an unworthy activity.
In this book, we discuss the research emphases that have developed on the basis of hard thinking about experiments and their limits, their potential for social good, their application, and their misapplication. That the experiment is not the only method available to social scientists is abundantly clear, perhaps more so today than yesterday. Similarly, the strict conditions that govern the appropriate use of the experiment are perhaps more obvious and accepted than in earlier times in the field. And yes, we recognize more clearly now than before that features inherent in the method itself can cause serious problems in inference, if not controlled.
These issues have become increasingly central features of methodological disquiet over the years, and this ferment has been beneficial. The apprehension regarding the proper use of the experiment, its weaknesses as well as its strengths, reflects the developing ix P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 x PREFACE sophistication of the research enterprise in the social sciences in general. We would like to think that our earlier volumes on research methods played a role in this process, though there is little evidence, experimental or otherwise, to support this contention. With new developments over the years, the primacy of the experiment as the central tool of the social researcher has eroded.
Now, we are better armed in our quest for scientifically sound understandings, with an ever-greater diversity of methods and techniques. The new methods we can bring to bear on an issue of social-scientific interest have expanded almost exponentially over the years, and this expansion has helped create the avalanche of new knowledge we are attempting to absorb and integrate. In large part, these new approaches and, at times, new ways of thinking about methods, motivated this revision of our methods text. The idea that research methodology is static is simply not supported by any evidence.
To be sure, the fundamental principles of logic and proof have not changed much over the last millennia or so, but the methods that translate these principles into action, into trustworthy research data, continue to evolve at a rapid pace. Keeping abreast of the methodological possibilities now available to the social scientist is difficult, but not impossible. This book provides one avenue for such an updating. Given the continuous development of the field, a feature of this book that may well keep it more current and useful than one might originally assume is our focus on understanding the principles that govern the use of a particular method, rather than on understanding how a given method can be used to answer a specific question.
This book is more about why than about how—it is, as we stated in an earlier volume, a book about methods, not of methods (Crano & Brewer, 1986). Over the years, it has become obvious to us that researchers who understand the principles governing a particular approach produce better research than researchers who know “how to do it,”but do not clearly understand why. It is for this reason that we do not provide detailed statistical computations to accompany each of the many methodological approaches we present. Such presentations focus on the how, rather than on understanding fundamental principles.
In our experience, students learning a new method are better served by focusing on the method itself, understanding its logic, strengths, weaknesses, and the appropriate contexts for its application. This ap- proach pays greater dividends than one that requires hours in a computer lab performing a series of calculations whose underlying mathematics is not well understood. We do not mean to undervalue proper statistical training. It is indispensable.
But in the spirit of first- things-first, we are committed to the proposition that proper methods facilitate proper analyses, which in turn foster proper inference, which may produce better understand- ing. Using good statistics on methodologically suspect data usually does not accomplish much.1 There never has been a single, right way to support a position. Today, with the multitude of available methodological possibilities, this proposition is more true than ever. Re- searchers with a command of their techniques are more likely to be able to act in the methodologically opportunistic manner that is necessary to respond to ever changing research demands and contexts.
Sometimes, natural, unplanned occurrences provide im- portant venues for studying important issues. A state’s imposing a 3-strikes law on habitual criminals, the rolling electrical blackouts in California, a hurricane, flood, or fire, provide the context to study issues of social importance, if the researcher is creative and oppor- tunistic and has the variety of methodological skills necessary to move from one setting 1 At points in the book we do provide formulae, calculation directions, etc.; however, we do this primarily to enhance the usefulness of a method, or to provide the reader a better picture of a technique, thus allowing for a deeper understanding of the technique itself. P1: MRM/FYX P2: MRM/UKS QC: MRM/UKS T1: MRM LE031-FM LE031/Crano October 24, 2001 14:40 Char Count= 0 PREFACE xi to another without losing track of the question at hand. Understanding the principles that serve as the foundation for various research techniques, which, in effect, are the expression of the principles, allows the researcher to move seamlessly from one context to another without breaking stride.
This is why we have stressed principles so strongly, even when discussing particular applications. We do not diminish the value of learning research by doing it. Indeed, we believe strongly that to become a good researcher, one must do research. However, in doing research, a continual focus on the principles that underlie the particular research technique in use should always be at the forefront.
Our focus on principles, and the diversity of techniques covered here, of necessity, opens this book to a broad range of social scientists. We created our original book on methodology to help train social psychologists. However, over time, along with the field, we have developed a much broader methodological orientation. Today, social psychologists are fundamentally social scientists, and must be conversant with the research techniques that formerly had been the purview of cognitive science, communication research, sociology, and political science.
In addition, the widespread participation of social psychologists in more applied areas—e valuation research, marketing, organizational studies, and public health—has required that we expand our coverage appreciably. This expansion reflects the reality of the new demands that are now placed on the competent social scientist. We believe that the broad coverage makes this book appropriate for all of these specialties— that psychologists, communication scientists, evaluators, marketers, even public health trainees will find much of utility in our presentation. We constructed this book, like our earlier ones, to foster our emphasis on principles.
The beginning section of the book is concerned with the process of fitting methodological designs to research aims, and with the fundamental issues of reliability and validity— issues that lie at the heart of all scientific investigations. The material of the first three chapters is elemental; it must be considered in any research endeavor, no matter what method is to be employed. The second section concentrates on fundamental research design strategies. We first consider the laboratory experiment.
Then, using the laboratory experiment as a point of reference, we discuss field experiments, correlational designs, including structural equa- tion models, quasi-experiments, and survey designs. The principles of each method are linked back to those that form the logical foundation of the experiment.