Extensive and Intensive Research
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Transcript of Extensive and Intensive Research
1William Molnar
Think about extensive and intensive research. Remember, this is a research question, not a personal one. Discuss “extensive” and “intensive” in terms of research.
1. For each, describe the benefits and drawbacks that are most salient to you.
2. Can, or should, they be used at the same time?
There are both benefits and drawbacks that are salient to me in using intensive
and extensive research. At the methodological level, Sayer is careful to describe the
differences between the extensive techniques required for generalization and the intensive
methods associated with concrete research (Sayer 1992, 241-251). Sayer states that the
nature of the object of interest must be kept in the back of the mind when designing
concrete research. The questions surrounding intensive research versus extensive research
do differ although, according to Sayer, the distinction is more along the scale of depth
versus breadth. Intensive research is concerned with causal process and how it works out
in a certain number of cases. In extensive research, which, according to Sayer is more
common, concerns itself with finding out common properties and patterns of a population
as a whole. Extensive research methods include descriptive and inferential statistics along
with numerical analysis. In addition, it includes a questionnaire that is formal and large-
scale for a population or representative sample of the population.
Each research design also works with different conceptions of groups. For
example, in extensive research, the focus is mainly on groups that share similar
characteristics but don’t have the need to connect with each other. Each member of the
group is only of interest in the fact that they represent the population as a whole.
Intensive research however, focuses on groups whose members can be similar or
different but do relate to each other. The individual’s identity is of interest. A causality is
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studied by exploring actual connections. The criteria of the samples must be decided in
advance in extensive research and supported consistently to ensure complete range of
samples. But in intensive studies, the individual do not have to be typical and can be
selected one by one during the research procedure. In intensive research, the researcher
does not have to specify the entire design and who or what is going to be studied in
advance; this can be established as the research is progressing so that this allows the
researcher to learn about the object in question and gives them the opportunity to create a
picture of the structures and the causal groups they are a part of. In extensive research,
the use of a standardized questionnaire and interview surveys is possible because by
asking each individual the same question under a controlled condition, then a comparison
is possible and bias is kept to a minimum. For this reason, where extensive research may
rely on standardized interviews among representatives of a class of subjects, intensive
research is not concerned with the representing of research subjects. Techniques such as
rolling interviews, in which each interview subject might lead the researcher to the next
subject, may be preferred. The result is an explanation of events that may not be
generalizable to other cases, but which provides an explanation of the causes of the case
in question. Unfortunately, when applying this process to characteristic samples of social
science such as a heterogeneous group, the techniques forfeit explanatory diffusion in the
name of ‘representativeness’ and getting a large enough sample. Sayer makes it a point to
state that consistency that disregards the differences in types of respondents can make
comparisons meaningless because the researcher does not realize that the same question
can have a different significance to a different person. If the researcher uses a less
standardized kind of interview, he/she will increase their chances at learning from the
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interviewee what the different significances of circumstances are for them. Using a less
standardized interview does not force the interviewee to respond into what Sayer calls a
“one-way mode of communication”. Using a less standardized interview also allows the
researcher to build on prior knowledge about characteristics of the interviewee.
There are different types of tests that are appropriate only for intensive or
extensive research. With regards to intensive research, a distinction must be made as to
how the findings are in the wider population and to decide if the discovery of results
apply to the individual that were studied. Sayer gives an example of an intensive study at
an institution. He states that the researcher should connect with others at that institution
to agree with the information about common practices. But then to test in another
institution, a switch to an extensive study would be needed.
Sayer states the extensive studies are weaker because of the formal
discovery within the relations with regards to similarity, dissimilarity, and correlation, as
opposed to causal, structural and substantial relations of connection. Causality is difficult
to determine as mentioned by members of the class in week 10 discussion question. The
reason for this difficulty of determining causality is due to the “interactions between
objects that are often recorded in a total or whole made up of different parts in which the
specific individuals entering into relations cannot be identified” (pp 246-247).
Additionally, extensive methods abstract from the “actual forms” that individuals or
processes interact even though these processes cause a difference to the outcomes. As a
result, few social scientists, in relation to the explanations of specific phenomena that
extract from form, do not recognize the problem although variations in form are an
important feature in the failing of causal mechanisms leading to a production of major
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factor in the failure of causal mechanisms to produce observed regularities As Sayer
points out, to look concretely at the production of events would require a very selective
intensive research design. The problem can be reduced by spatially separating the
information into parts.
Intensive research does have its disadvantages. To avoid the “ecological fallacy”,
it must be mentioned that the roles are not representative of the whole population.
Although representation is a problem that arises from the over-extension of intensive
studies, the research design needs to avoid the belief that the study of any individual is
not of interest unless it is a representative of a large entity. Those in favor of extensive
research tend to argue that intensive research does not produce objective results because
the results are not representative and not reproduced elsewhere.
Although benefits outweigh the drawbacks in using intensive and extensive
simultaneously, I believe that if possible, both research designs should be used at the
same time. Each of their roles, though different, is more complementary rather than
competing. As I have stated earlier, a positive attribute in intensive research is the fact
that the researcher does not have to specify the entire design and who or what is going to
be studied in advance; this can be established as the research is progressing so that this
allows the researcher to learn about the object in question and gives them the opportunity
to create a picture of the structures and the causal groups they are a part of. Extensive
research is weaker for the purpose of explanation not because they lack a sensitivity to
detail, but because the discovery of relations are “formal, concerning, similarity,
dissimilarity, correlation, and the like, rather than causal, structural, and substantial, i.e.
relations of connection” (p 246). Another important factor to remember is that in
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extracting from form, it is recognized in a way that the researcher does not generate any
unreasonable expectations of concrete explanations in social science based on
inappropriate analogies with closed system natural science. If very concrete explanations
of events are required, using intensive research designs become extremely helpful. In
regards to intensive studies, there is no need for a great level of detail that is
overwhelming because the individuals that do not interact with the group can be excluded
but on grouping of criteria, they would have to be included.
Not all causal groups are small and have nonphysical boundaries and change
radically during the study. Sayer stated that in intensive research, although it does not
provide a pretence that the whole populations is represented does not lend itself to reason
why intensive studies should be any less objective about its subject matter than extensive
research. Because social structure exists on many scales, “intensive studies of their
reproduction, transformation and effects need not be merely local in their interest” (p
249). Extensive methods can also be used on a small and large scale. Extensive methods
produce representative results but the question remains a representation of what? Both
intensive and extensive research methods are needed in concrete research although
extensive research usually becomes undervalued. Many scientists are reluctant to admit
that more is gained through intensive studies in terms of examination because they fear
the possibility of being unscientific. Testing a theoretical claim about a certain
phenomenon under a controlled experimental condition warrants the use of both intensive
and extensive research. Arriving at a reasonable expectation of social research, the
research and the research design must account of the things it has to explain.
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Reference
Sayer, A. (1992). Method in social science: A realist approach (2bd ed,). London and New York: Routledge.