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Social Science Research

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Social Science Research
February 12, 2007
SS12A/Makeup

Social Science Research, Methods, and Differing Perspectives

When Social Science, and Social Research is conducted, researchers may find useful and interesting information and data in helping better understand topics that may better shed light on topics concerning people, society, and their environments around them. However, this research done by social scientists and researchers may ultimately be affected by 2 variables in research. The methods by which research and data is gained, and the perspective by which this information is processed and then viewed. Better understanding of these methods and perspectives after research is done, would lead to more thorough, accurate, and relevant information across the board. Taking a look into this research, first a definition and a deeper understanding of Social Science and Social Research must be examined. In the book, A Short Introduction to Social Research, by Matt Henn, Mark Weinstein, and Nick Foard, social research is examined. The reasons for its conduction says, "Social research may be carried out for a variety of reasons. For students and university academics, social research is conducted in order to extend our knowledge about some aspect of social life that we are interested in – whether our field is in business studies, humanities, or one of the social sciences. Typically, we are interested in either testing the appropriateness of existing theories which seek to account for the behavior we are interested in, or developing new insights – or constructing new theories – to help build our understanding of the process behind this behavior", (Henn, Weinstein, Foad, 7). This explanation describes the functioning of our behaviors, the fields in which some choose to study, and being able to come up with new avenues in which even more social scientists may examine and study. Mainly it seems that social research is for the ability to give reasoning why certain



Bibliography: Foad, N., Henn, M., Weinstein, M. (2006). A Short Introduction to Social Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Miles, S. (2001). Social Theory in the Real World. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications

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