University of Alabama POLS 101: Research Methods Assignment Analysis

This assignment analyzes key concepts in research methods, focusing on a scenario involving job creation in Alabama and the government's role. It identifies dependent and independent variables, discusses qualitative research methods, and the importance of unit of analysis. The assignment examines surveys and case studies as research tools, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. It emphasizes the importance of selecting the appropriate unit of analysis based on research objectives. Surveys are presented as a widely used method, while case studies are highlighted for their cost-effectiveness in addressing specific problems. The assignment provides a comprehensive overview of research methodologies relevant to political science and related fields.

1. In the given research question, the ‘creation of jobs in Alabama’ is the dependent variable and
the government’s sponsorship of non-profit organization training is the independent variable. It
seems obvious from the statement that the actions of the government will have some impact on
the job creation therefore the actions have been identified as the independent variable. The
measurement of both the aspects can be done through various methods.
One of the methods that can be employed is the qualitative study where the respondents from the
same field will be contacted. The respondents will be asked questions modeled to understand the
research question. The collective opinion of appreciable number of experienced individuals who
have spent more than fifteen years of their lives in employment sector and government can be the
appropriate ones to respond to this question. Their experience can help in understand the likely
impact of the actions.
As per the individual assessment of both the variables are concerned, it can be recommended that
a pilot study is considered on a small scale. On the other hand, past training activities of the non-
profit organizations can be gathered through their archived records. After that, the change in the
employment rate can be understood within that period. Though it is obvious that the impact on
the employment from the non-profit training would not be the only factor, yet the change in the
employment rate and the expenditure made by the non-profit organizations can show up some
correlation.
The research question is oriented towards understanding whether the impact of government’s
action is good or bad. Another interpretation can be that the researcher wants to understand the
process of the impact. Therefore, using ‘how’ as the trigger in the question has brought in some
vagueness which should not be there for better clarity of the research question and minimum
confusion.
2. Unit of analysis refers to the entity which is under consideration for analysis. Research
objectives are what researchers pursue through a research (Holsti, 1969). The research objective
acts as a goal for the researchers. Moreover, the research objectives help the researchers in
identifying the dependent and independent variables which are studied further. Unit of analysis
can be anything such as individuals or social organization. The unit that needs to be analyzed
completely depends on the area that is under consideration. As for example, if a researcher wants
to understand the impact of no-smoking advertisement on the student community, then the unit
of analysis in this can be the student community. They are the dependent variable on whom the
impact needs to be studied of the advertisement. On the opposite side, considering advertisement
as the unit of study and studying the impact of student’s behavior on airing the no-smoking
advertisement will never fulfill the research objective stated above. Therefore, it can be stated
from here that the selection of the unit of analysis entirely depends on the research objectives or
the questions.
3. [To be written]

4. Surveys are the most preferred methods among the researchers. Numerous studies have
considered studying the opinion of the people to reach certain conclusion. The businesses
operating around the world are the ardent users of the survey technique. It helps them get insight
into what is the likeliness that their products will be accepted by the consumers or where they
stand in the eyes of the consumers. Surveys are in the form of questionnaires that assess the
opinion of the respondents regarding certain aspect. However, it cannot be clearly stated that the
surveys are the best method of study as the researchers do not get the opportunity to assess each
of the respondents in detail and mostly fails to understand whether the responses made by them
are true. For the surveys at small scale and qualitative in nature, the researchers get enough
opportunities to probe respondents about the research questions (Mugenda, 1999).
On the other hand, for the ‘large scale quantitative analyses’ the respondents rarely get the
complete picture about the responses made as all the respondents stay in behind the scene. The
researchers do not get the opportunity to meet the respondents physically and the research results
depend on the statistical calculation of the data gathered. The major advantage is that the
researchers will have large scale data size and the results can be near to actual situation. This
method also incurs less cost if the questionnaire distribution is done through electronic methods,
that is, email and web-surveys.
Case studies are the most cost-effective method for the research. However, as the earlier to
methods generally focus on getting to the generalized results, the case study method focus on
solution of specific problem or situation. As the case study methods are historical in nature and
researchers rarely get the chance to work on live cases, the results can be less applicable.
Moreover, the results obtained through case studies may not be generally applicable as other
research designs above.
References
Holsti, O. R. (1969). Content analysis for the social sciences and humanities.
Mugenda, O. M. (1999). Research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. African
Centre for Technology Studies.