Crafting the Methods to Test Hypotheses

Abstract

AbstractIf you have carefully worked through the ideas in the previous chapters, the many questions researchers often ask about what methods to use boil down to one central question: How can I best test my hypotheses? The answers to questions such as “Should I do an ethnography or an experiment?” and “Should I use qualitative data or quantitative data?” are quite clear if you make explicit predictions for what you will find and fully develop rationales for why you made these predictions. Then you need only worry about how to find out in what ways your predictions are right in what ways they are wrong. There is a lot to know about different research designs and methods because these provide the tools you can use to test your hypotheses. But as you learn these details, keep in mind they are means to an end, not an end in themselves.