Data Collection & Analysis

Social scientists use a wide variety of data sources in their research, as well as methods for data collection and analysis. This section only provides some general advice and you are recommended to consult with your supervisors about choosing data sources and research methods appropriate for your topic and the more specific social science subdiscipline(s) you are working within. Training in research methods will also be provided at the research methods summer school at the end of Semester 2 (full details will be provided nearer the date).

Primary and Secondary Data

Sources of information are often categorized as primary or secondary depending upon their origins and purpose:

The empirical analysis section of the MA thesis should be based on a critical examination and interpretation primary data sources, which can then be used to provide answers to the research questions and larger research puzzle. A review of secondary sources in the literature review is an essential part of the research process, however, scholarly articles and books (in most cases) do not form the basis of the data analysis.

There are cases where a particular type of data can be used as either a primary or secondary source, depending on the focus of the research. For example, a thesis in the field of memory studies might analyse textbooks to study how historical narratives have been constructed, or a thesis on political theory or intellectual history might focus on the writings of thinkers and/or scholars to analyse how ideas developed. In such cases, however, there still should be a clear separation in the thesis between the review of previous scholarly theoretical and conceptual approaches to the topic and the student’s own analysis and interpretation of the works being used as primary sources.

Types of Primary Data

Primary source data comes in many forms and students are encouraged to think broadly and creatively about the kinds of data that could be used to investigate their research topic.

This list is far from exhaustive and students are encouraged to read widely around their topic to understand what data sources have been used by other researchers to study similar topics. Suggestions for further reading on research methods are provided in the list of recommended reading.

To help you decide which data sources could be useful for your project, refer back to your notes from Social Science Methodology (SHRG.03.022) on the notions of precision, reliability, and validity. Ask yourself: How precise does my data need to be? Are there any issues of reliability or bias that need to be taken into account when working with the data? Is the data a valid source about (or “measurement” of) the phenomenon I want to study?

Methods of Data Analysis

After collecting your data, you then need to proceed to analyse it using a systematic approach. Social scientists use a range of different quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. Your choice should be justified based on the type of data you are working with and the kind of analysis that is best suited to help you answer your research questions and fulfil the aim of your study. For instance, if you are working with quantitative data, using statistical methods can help you find correlations between variables to prove or disprove your hypothesis. When working with qualitative data you need to decide, for instance, whether you want to be able to code and categorise large amounts of written data to identify key themes in your data (in which case, content analysis would be appropriate), or whether you want to place more emphasis on closely examining the words and the social context around the communication (in which case discourse analysis would be more suitable).