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M. Rezaul Islam Niaz Ahmed Khan Rajendra Baikady Editors Principles of Social Research Methodology Principles of Social Research Methodology · · M. Rezaul Islam Niaz Ahmed Khan Rajendra Baikady Editors Principles of Social Research Methodology Editors M. Rezaul Islam Niaz Ahmed Khan Centre for Family and Child Studies Department of Development Studies Research Institute of Humanities and Social University of Dhaka Sciences Dhaka, Bangladesh University of Sharjah Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Rajendra Baikady Department of Social Work School of Humanities University of Johannesburg Johannesburg, South Africa ISBN 978-981-19-5219-7 ISBN 978-981-19-5441-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5441-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore Dedicated to (Late) M. A. Momen and (late) Bashira Mannan Former Professors, Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka Foreword I welcome the publication of this edited book: Principles of Social Research Method- ology which is a very useful tool for the academics, teachers, and students for whom it has been compiled. They are all engaged in the study and practice of social scientific inquiry to provide evidence-based accounts and analysis of the problems facing societies throughout the developing world. This is a fundamentally important task, especially in the contexts of globalization and aggravated climate change and given the persistence of massive economic and social inequalities. It is a continuing endeavour, given the reality that circumstances do not remain static. If it is to be accomplished, those who undertake it must equip themselves with an understanding of the basic tenets of the philosophy and methods of social science and with the skills and competencies necessary for their use in practice. The book provides such a comprehensive grounding in theory and its application. In thirty-five chapters organized in seven parts, it guides the reader through the essential topics of social research inquiry and in a clear and readable style. I personally congratulate one of the editors Prof. M. Rezaul Islam, himself a diligent and successful social researcher, on accomplishing this very important task. As his doctoral research supervisor, I am also very proud of his achievement. I wish this book the considerable readership it deserves. Professor W. J. Morgan D.Sc. (h.c.), FRSA, FRAI, FLSW, FRHS Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow Cardiff University Wales, UK vii Preface This book covers almost all the areas of social science research methodologies. The research methodology is one of the most significant courses in all disciplines including social sciences at undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. levels. In addition, writing a research proposal is a requirement of every research student, particularly for master’s, M.Phil., and Ph.D. students. In many cases, the undergraduate and master’s (taught) students have to take some courses, or in some cases, they have to do a group/individual practice research, where research methodology is a compul- sory part of their syllabus. This edited book will fulfil all of these requirements. Currently, the importance of research is getting more priority, particularly to the programmers, policymakers, and development practitioners. They cannot think to initiate any event without scientific investigation. On the other hand, the importance of research methodology course has been signified tremendously over the years in most academic institutions. The book includes seven parts and 35 chapters. Part I: ‘Introduction to Social Research’ includes four chapters (Chaps. 1–4) that discuss the theoretical aspects with the examples of social research methodologies. In Chap. 1 entitled ‘Inquiry: A Fundamental Concept for Scientific Investigation’, M. Rezaul Islam discusses different aspects of ‘inquiry’. He shows the ways of the process of inquiry. Islam notes that this is important to know the term inquiry before learning social research methodology as it is the starting point to consider social research as a scientific inquiry. In Chap. 2: ‘Research: Meaning and Purpose’, Kazi Abusaleh and Akib Bin Anwar write the conceptual framework of research and research process drawing the importance of research in social sciences. The chapter defines ‘research’ as a deliberate and systematic scientific investigation into a phenomenon to explore, analyse, and predict about the issues or circumstances and characterized ‘research’ as a systematic and scientific mode of enquiry, a way to testify the existing knowledge and theories, and a well-designed process to answer questions in a reliable and unbiased way. In Chap. 3 entitled ‘Social Research: Definitions, Types, Nature, and Characteristics’, Kanamik Kani Khan and Md. Mohsin Reza highlight some basic aspects such as definition, types, nature, and characteristics of social research. They say that social research is a set of activities that allows a social scientist to investigate ix x Preface human and social behaviour or a social problem. It is often defined as a study of mankind that helps to identify the relations between social life and social systems. In the last chapter of this part entitled ‘Theory in Social Research’, Mumtaz Ali, Maya Khemlani David, and Kuang Ching Hei show the importance and link between social research and theory. Here, social research is taken as the sociological understanding of connections—connections among action, experience, and change—and it is the major vehicle for realizing these connections. The authors mention that debate on using theory in any scope of social research is being deliberated by various scholars with many emphasizing the merits of using theory in social research. They argue that an appropriate theory clarifies the findings a researcher has uncovered in the study. This chapter elaborates on the various aspects of using theory in social research. Part II: ‘Philosophy of Social Science and Research Paradigms’ includes five chapters (5–9). In Chap. 5 entitled ‘Inductive and/or Deductive Research Designs’, Md. Shahidul Haque attempts to introduce the readers of the undergraduate and master’s students in Bangladesh to some fundamental considerations of inductive and deductive research designs. The deductive approach is known as testing a theory, in which the researcher develops a theory or hypotheses and designs a research strategy to test the formulated theory. On the other hand, the inductive approach is known as building a theory, in which the researcher starts with collecting data in an attempt to develop a theory. In the beginning, a researcher should explain clearly which approach is being followed in his or her research work. This paper discusses basic concepts, characteristics, steps, and examples of inductive and deductive research designs. Here, also a comparison between inductive and deductive research designs is shown. It concludes with a look at how both inductive and deductive designs can be used collaboratively to form a more complete picture of a research study. In Chap. 6, author Premalatha Karupiah writes the ‘Positivism’, a paradigm that dominates both the natural and social sciences. The ontology of positivism is called realism where reality is seen as consisting of discrete events that can be experienced only by the human senses. Positivism uses dualist and objectivist epistemology. This means that the researcher and the observed reality are independent of each other, and the quest for knowledge must be value-free and objective. Positivism mostly uses an experimental methodology as a way to gather information regarding the event which is being studied. Ashek Mahmud and Farhana Zaman have written Chap. 7: ‘Crit- ical Theory in Social Research: A Theoretical and Methodological Outlook’. The authors argued that critical theory, a multidisciplinary and multifaceted approach, puts forward to reconstruct dominant ideology by the critical task of explaining and criticizing. This chapter aims at revealing the contribution of critical theory to the development of social thought and its application in social research. Thereby, critical theory provides insight to form ‘critical paradigm’ and ‘critical realist paradigm’ that generate ‘ideology critique’, ‘critical action research’, and ‘critical discourse analysis’ (CDA) as the dynamic research methods by which researchers can explain the relationship among language, ideology, and practical social actions. Finally, the chapter attempts to ascertain the emancipatory function of this new approach by providing some examples of research output in connection to perpetual social problems in modern social settings. Rabiul Islam and Md. Sayeed Akhter have written Preface xi Chap. 8: ‘Narrative Inquiry, Phenomenology, and Grounded Theory in Qualitative Research’. This chapter discusses the three major types of qualitative research— narrative inquiry, phenomenology, and grounded theory. Firstly, this chapter briefly discusses the issue of qualitative research and types. Secondly, it offers a conceptual understanding of narrative inquiry, phenomenology, and grounded theory including their basic characteristics. Finally, the chapter provides an outline of how these three types of qualitative research are applied in the field. Md. Rafiqul Islam has written Chap. 9: ‘Pragmatism’. The author argues that social scientists have been able to abandon the dilemma of choosing methodology selection of either qualitative or quantitative with the development of pragmatism in social research. Pragmatism as a worldview has helped the researchers to combine both the qualitative and quantitative methodologies for conducting social research. Therefore, pragmatism is a nascent topic of scholarly attention in social science research. This chapter is, thus, an attempt to highlight the definition, development, and major characteristics of pragmatism. This chapter also explains how pragmatism supports mixed-method research in social science research. Part III: ‘Quantitative Research Approach’ includes eight chapters (10–17). Md. Rezaul Karim in Chap. 10 designs a quantitative research proposal. It starts with the definition and purpose of the research proposal followed by a description of essential parts of a research proposal and matters included in each part, organi- zation of a research proposal and guidelines for writing the different parts of the proposal including practical considerations and aims of a proposal that facilitate the acceptance of the proposal. Finally, an example of a quantitative research proposal has been presented. It is expected that the researchers will be able to write their research proposal(s) by using the guidelines presented in the article. In Chap. 11: ‘Experimental Method’, the authors Syed Tanveer Rahman and Md. Rabiul Islam mention that the experimental design is considered to be the most scientific one as it can establish a “causal relation” between independent and dependent variables using control mechanisms upon empirical observation. For social research, however, true experimentation with rigorous control over the situation might seem to be very intriguing and challenging due to the conditions and participants. That is why, the quasi-experimental design is often very popular with social researchers. Both of the designs have their types with advantages and disadvantages and prominent characteristics. The researcher has to decide to resort to the appropriate design depending on the purpose and objective of his or her research. The sampling technique, instru- ments for measurement, statistical analyses, and finally the interpretation of data are depending upon the design of the research, too. In Chap. 12, Isahaque Ali, Azlinda Azman, Shahid Mallick, Tahmina Sultana, and Zulkarnain A. Hatta offered a ‘Social Survey Method’ that is one of the most commonly used methods in all branches of social sciences research. This research is best used to gain information about large populations. There are two main types of survey research, cross-sectional and longitudinal. The motivation of the respon- dent and openness of the researchers is of utmost importance for survey research. The chapter will guide young researchers in a manner so that they can make a clear distinction of the survey method with other methods used in social science researches. xii Preface Shofiqur Rahman Chowdhury, Mohammad Ali Oakkas, and Faisal Ahmmed have written Chap. 13 entitled ‘Survey Questionnaire’. This chapter is designed to provide a guideline for a researcher who wants to conduct a survey taking the questionnaire as an instrument of data collection. Based on the authors’ experience of using the survey questionnaire, it discusses the meaning, characteristics, and types of questionnaire, its applicability, advantages and disadvantages, and the quality of a researcher while using the questionnaire. It is expected that the reading of this chapter will provide a better understanding of the appropriate use of the survey questionnaire, their construction, and the way to increase the respondents’ spontaneous participation in survey research. In Chap. 14, ‘Interview Method’, Hazreena Hussein writes that the rationale of research interviews is to gain people’s knowledge, views, and experiences, which are meaningful in understanding social realities. Although some research interviews are time-consuming, researchers can interact and communicate while developing a rapport with people to find out these facts—something observations or surveys can never do. How a response from an interview is made (tone of voice, facial expres- sion, hesitation) can feed information that a written response would conceal. Having a good audio-quality recorder would be of great assistance. However, if the respon- dent refuses to be recorded, researchers should practise note-taking. What researchers need to be careful of is what and how to ask, as some information may be contro- versial and confidential information. Interviews are a highly subjective method, and the danger of bias always exists. Moniruzzaman Sarker and Mohammed Abdul- malek AL-Muaalemi write the ‘Sampling Techniques for Quantitative Research’ in Chap. 15. The authors mention that this sampling squanders resources like time and money which can be minimized by choosing suitable sampling techniques between probability and non-probability methods. The chapter outlines a brief idea about the different categories of sampling techniques with examples. Sensibly selecting among the sampling techniques allows the researcher to generalize the findings to a specific study context. Although probability sampling is more appealing to draw a repre- sentative sample, non-probability sampling techniques also enable the researcher to generalize the findings upon implementing the sampling strategy wisely. More- over, adopting probability sampling techniques is not feasible in many situations. The chapter suggests selecting sampling techniques should be guided by research objectives, study scope, and availability of sampling frame rather than looking at the nature of sampling techniques. The last two chapters (Chaps. 16 and 17) of this part ‘Data Analysis Techniques for Quantitative Study’ and ‘Techniques for Reporting Quantitative Data’ are written by Md. Mahsin. The author provides some interesting and useful data analysis tools and techniques for quantitative data. We hope the readers will be benefitted to use these techniques in their practical research practices. Both authors mention these as non-technical simple guidelines especially for a social scientist, ignoring traditional statistical formulas. The guideline is developed for the initial level of the researcher, and the authors have assumed that the researcher has limited prior knowledge with either statistics or computing. Both chapters did not explore how to apply the technique/statistics for data analysis but also guide step by step that will be the specific