The Research Process

About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about the steps in the research process, focusing in particular on: (i) the literature review, which helps answer the question of why the research is being done; (ii) the formation of the research question or hypothesis, which answers the question of what is going to be studied; (iii) the operationalisation of variables in the study, which answers the question of how the hypothesis will be tested; (iv) ethical adherence; (v) sampling, which answers the question of who is going to be studied; (vi) collection and analysis of data; (vii) some important questions to ask when reading studies for a literature review; (viii) the parameters under which you might posit either a research question or a hypothesis; (ix) defining operationalisation and differentiating its definition from that of variable operationalisation; (x) differentiating quantitative and qualitative research; (xi) defining the dependent variable as the one to be measured and the independent variable as the one which explains the dependent variable; (xii) some standard principles of research which align studies with a code of ethics, including gaining fully informed consent, minimising harm, ensuring veracity of research and ensuring accountability of actions; (xiii) some key ways in which researchers can adhere to these ethical principles.

About the lecturer

Dr Rodolfo Leyva is a lecturer in quantitative methods in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology at the University of Birmingham. Dr Leyva’s research interests are in experimental social science, direct democracy and civil disobedience. Some of Dr Leyva’s recent publications include ‘Media Ethics, Regulations, And Effects: How The British Right-Wing Press Disregards All Three & Undermines Democratic Deliberations’ (2020) and ‘Testing & Unpacking The Effects Of Digital Fake News On Presidential Candidate Evaluations & Voter Support.’ (2020).