tailieunhanh - INTRODUCTION TO QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS CHAPTER 5

5 `DATA! DATA! DATA!' Analysing data from the inquiry 'Data! data! data!' he cried impatiently. 'I can't make bricks out of clay' Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Copper Beeches `Data' never comes to the social scientist clean, like cement for bricks. As we found in Chapters 3 and 4, the society a person lives in ± and a person's beliefs ± can directly affect what counts as a `clue' and what counts as `evidence'. | 5 DATA DATA DATA Analysing data from the inquiry Data data data he cried impatiently. I can t make bricks out of clay Sherlock Holmes The Adventure of the Copper Beeches Data never comes to the social scientist clean like cement for bricks. As we found in Chapters 3 and 4 the society a person lives in - and a person s beliefs - can directly affect what counts as a clue and what counts as evidence . Holmes himself was not entirely free from the racial and gender stereotypes of his time. Holmes says for example that emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning but he is equally able to proclaim as fact that women are never to be entirely trusted The Sign of Four . Operational definitions can be affected by the society we live in. But it is wrong to then conclude that we can never retrieve useful quantitative data from the study of psychology or society. Holmes for all his faults could see alternative points of view even if he did not like them if you shift your own point of view a little you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different The Boscombe Valley Mystery . Recognition of the problems of validity and making sense of common sense is a good first step in creating a valid and reliable research study. Always ask to see a person s research design always ask to see their definitions. The same principle holds for exploring statistical data. Always ask for the data Numbers are not neutral - they form patterns and they tell a story. LOOKING AT THE CLUES The Statistical Sleuth Good detective work involves making sense of the clues making sense of the variables collected. Hercule Poirot for instance sometimes guesses who committed a murder before he has the evidence. As I say I was convinced from the first moment I saw her that Mrs. Tanios was the person I was looking for but I had absolutely no proof of the fact. I had to proceed carefully Christie 1982 247 . Proof of the fact is a part of data analysis in social .

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