Social Science & Natural Resources

Research Design, Methods & Measures

ESRM 304Environmental and Resource Assessment

Social Science Disciplines

• psychology• sociology• economics• political science• anthropology• geography• policy• planning

Carrying Out an Investigation

decide on a focusdevelop research questions

choose a research approach

collect the data

carry out analysis

report what you’ve found

select methods

Research Cycle

Robson & Galvan

decide on a focusdevelop research questions

choose a research approach

report what you’ve found

Sources of questions:

call for proposalsprofessor told me to

personal interestsobservation

theorymanagement issue

program effectiveness

What is the unit of analysis ?

individualgroup

communityorganization

programpolicy

relationship amongvariables

decide on a focusdevelop research

questions

choose a research approach

Question drives the approach

historicaldescriptivedevelopmentalcasecorrelationalcausaltrue experimentquasi experimental

Historical – to reconstruct the past objectively and accuratelyA study reconstructing the recreation/human use practices on the national forests over the past century.

Descriptive – To describe systematically a situation or area of interest factually and accurately. Population census studies, public opinion surveys, observations studies, status studies, survey of the literature.

Developmental – To investigate patterns and sequences of growth and or change as a function of time. A longitudinal study following the patterns of recreation participation from adolescence through retirement.

Case – To study intensively the background, current status, and environmental interactions of a given social unit: an individual, group, institution, or community. The case history of the youngest person to summit Mt. Everest; an intensive study of a group of Sherpa's who smoke; an intensive study of the socio-economic characteristics of second home communities.

Correlational – To investigate the extent to which variations in one factor correspond with the variations in one or more other factors based on correlation coefficients.The investigate relationships between participation in certain types of recreation activities and demographic variables such as age, income, gender and race. Causal – To investigate possible cause and effect relationships by observing some existing consequence and search back through the data for plausible casual factors.To investigate differences and similarities between such recreations groups as those who are self propelled vs. those who chose motorized vehicles.

True experiment – To investigate possible cause and effect relationships by exposing one or more experimental groups to one or more treatment conditions and comparing the results of one or more control groups not receiving the treatment. To investigate the effectiveness of three methods of teaching navigation to cross country hikers.

Quasi experimental – To approximate the conditions of the true experiment in a setting which does not allow the control and or manipulations of all relevant variable.

Example Research Questions

What motivates landowners to implement best management practices on their shorelines?

What types of stewardship activities are implemented by citizen groups in the Green-Duwamish watershed? Are projects monitored?

What are the environmental outcomes of collaborative watershed planning?

choose a research approach

select methods

interviewssurveys

observations data sets

archival materialsethnography

journalingdocumentsdiscourse

Example Research Approaches

What motivates landowners to implement best management practices on their shorelines? (hypothesis: survey)

What types of stewardship activities are implemented by citizen groups in the Green-Duwamish watershed? Are projects monitored? (descriptive/statistical: interview/monitoring data set analysis)

What are the environmental outcomes of collaborative watershed planning? (hypothesis: interview/data set analysis)

collect the data

carry out analysisselect methods

Sampling frame

random samplestratified random sample

“snowball” samplepurposeful

Practicality

access to datatimecost

human subjects protection

arrange practicalitiescollect the data

carry out analysisselect methods

What do the data tell you?

patternsdifference

relationshipscausality

inference

Analytical Techniques

statisticscontent analysis

carry out analysis

report what you’ve found

Who wants to know?

research sponsorsscientific community

professionals/managerscollaborators

public How to communicate?

scientific journalstechnical reports

manualsbooks

public presentationsposters

Report Research Findings

What motivates landowners to implement best management practices on their shorelines? What are most effective ways to learn about management practices?– volunteer help, permits, stewardship ethic

– face to face workshops, technical help

– Student thesis, general technical report, fact sheet, conference presentation, peer-reviewed journal article

Report Research Findings

What types of stewardship activities are implemented by citizen groups in the Green-Duwamish watershed? Are projects monitored?

– Ecological restoration (invasive removal, install native plants, site maintenance)

– Aquatic restoration (riparian, site engineering)

– Monitoring is common, but inconsistent

– Student thesis, technical report, conference presentations, journal article in review

Report Research Findings

What are the environmental outcomes of collaborative watershed planning?

– Plans, policies, projects (output)

– Environmental Outcomes? Link to projects implemented and monitoring

– Other outcomes?

– Student thesis, journal article

scientific journals

professional journals

technical reports

fact sheet