What is social research?
Social scientists use many different methods in order to describe, explore and understand social life. Social methods can generally be subdivided into two broad categories.
Quantitative methods are concerned with attempts to quantify social phenomena and collect and analyse numerical data, and focus on the links among a smaller number of attributes across many cases. Qualitative methods, on the other hand, emphasise personal experiences and interpretation over quantification, are more concerned with understanding the meaning of social phenomena and focus on links among a larger number of attributes across relatively few cases. While very different in many aspects, both qualitative and quantitative approaches involve a systematic interaction between theories and data.
Common tools of quantitative researchers include surveys, questionnaires, and secondary analysis of statistical data that has been gathered for other purposes (for example, censuses or the results of social attitudes surveys). Commonly used qualitative methods include focus groups, participant observation, and other techniques.
Social research (and social science in general) is based on logic and empirical observations. Social research thus attempts to create or validate theories through data collection and data analysis, and its goal is exploration, description and explanation.
Extract from Wikipedia