Designing Social Science Communication Research:

From Social Problem to Causal Explanation to Solutions

 

Dr. Philip N. Howard

Department Communication

University of Washington

 

 

PART I

 

1.      Identify an important social problem that you wish to understand and solve.

2.      Phrase this social problem as a research question, and explain why it is interesting to you.

3.      Offer three plausible answers to the question you pose.

4.      Select one case, a few cases, or many similar cases that you wish to study.

5.      Finally, identify the variables or indicators you would use to measure in each case to support each of the three plausible answers.

 

 

PART II

 

1.      Choose three variables related to a social problem, and select two pairs from among these variables.  For each of these pairs, you must formulate one possible causal relationship between the two variables.  The relationships you specify should be theoretically motivated.

2.      Provide a clear abstract definition of all three variables.  What theoretical concepts do these variables represent?

3.      Provide an operational definition of all three variables.  How might you actually measure them?  Be as specific as possible.

4.      Specify two of the possible relationships between two pairs of variables in causal terms.  State these in the form of testable hypotheses, with the phrasing “If X, then Y.”

5.      Reverse the causal direction of one of your hypotheses.  Which of the three causal relationships might still support this new hypothesis, and why?  Be specific.

6.      Identify which theoretical paradigms this explanation of causality might be consistent with.

 

 

 

From Stinchcombe, A. (1968). Constructing Social Theories. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.