Key Concept Quiz 5

Question 1

Anecdotal Observations

Answer 1

A method of data collection where we rely on what we have personally observed in our day-to-day lives.

Question 2

Causality

Answer 2

When the change in one variable causes a change in another variable.

Question 3

Central Tendencies

Answer 3

The mean, median, and mode of a social group or category. These represent the typical or common characteristics of a social group or category.

Question 4

Confirmation Bias

Answer 4

The bias to accept uncritically anything that confirms our worldview and to be overly critical of anything that challenges or disproves our worldview. Simply put, we are all biased to favor information that confirms what we already believed.

Question 5

Correlation

Answer 5

A shared relationship between two variables.

Question 6

Cross-Sectional Data

Answer 6

Data collected at a single point in time. For example, a study that surveys students right after they graduate from college

Question 7

Cross-tabulation

Answer 7

A table that displays two or more variables in a way that makes it easy for you to compare the relationship between two variables.

Question 8

Data

Answer 8

The facts and information used in research.

Question 9

Dependent Variable (DV)

Answer 9

The outcome or event that is influenced or caused by the independent variable. For example, if we think A causes B, then B is the dependent variable.

Question 10

Disproportionality

Answer 10

When the size of one proportion is larger or smaller than we would expect based on other known proportions.

Question 11

Empirical Data/Evidence

Answer 11

Information acquired from using the scientific method that can be verified (or falsified) by other researchers.

Question 12

Ethnographers

Answer 12

Researchers who enter the everyday lives of those they study in hopes of understanding how they navigate and give meaning to their worlds.

Question 13

Generalizations

Answer 13

Conclusions about a population in general that are drawn from specific observations of people from that population (i.e. the sample).

Question 14

Hypotheses

Answer 14

A tentative prediction researchers have about what they are going to discover before research begins.

Question 15

In-Depth Interviews

Answer 15

A method of collecting data based on asking a person a set of questions and having a conversation with him or her focused on gathering information related to the research.

Question 16

Independent Variable

Answer 16

The factors which we think influence or cause a particular outcome or event. For example, if we think A causes B, then A is the independent variable.

Question 17

Longitudinal Data

Answer 17

Data collected at multiple points over a long period of time. For example, a study where students are surveyed after their first, second, third, and fourth year of college.

Question 18

Mean

Answer 18

The average of a data set.

Question 19

Median

Answer 19

The value in the middle of a data set.

Question 20

Operationalization

Answer 20

The process of taking abstract ideas and turning them into things that can be measured.

Question 21

Overrepresentation

Answer 21

-When a group experiencing something is disproportionately larger than we would expect based on their size in the population.

Question 22

Population

Answer 22

Every possible person in the group you want to research. For instance, in a study of U.S. college students’ social media habits the population would be all college students in the country.

Question 23

Probability/Odds

Answer 23

The chances that some event or outcome will under certain circumstances.

Question 24

Qualitative Research

Answer 24

Research that uses detailed interviews, direct observations, and/or historical records to examine how a particular group interprets and gives meaning to the world around them.

Question 25

Quantitative Research

Answer 25

Research that uses statistics to analyze numerical data (i.e. numbers). Examples include studies that use surveys like the U.S. Census or analyses of public records like a study of home property values or applications for marriage.

Question 26

Representativeness

Answer 26

The degree to which a sample is similar to the population it is supposed to represent.

Question 27

Research Questions

Answer 27

The question(s) a research seeks to answer with their study. Comprised of a independent variable that influences or causes the dependent variable to change.

Question 28

Sample

Answer 28

The group of people from the population who are asked to participate in a research study.

Question 29

Sampling Bias

Answer 29

When the way participants are recruited leads researchers to draw a sample that is unrepresentative of the population and thus the conclusions researchers draw from their unrepresentative data may be inaccurate.

Question 30

Spurious Relationships

Answer 30

Relationships between two variables that seem to be correlated, but really the correlation is caused by a third variable.

Question 31

Statistics

Answer 31

The use of mathematics to estimate facts about a population from data collected from a sample.

Question 32

Surveys

Answer 32

A method of data collection where respondents are given a questionnaire with a set of standardized questions.

Question 33

Systematic Observations

Answer 33

A method of data collection where observations are collected based on pre-defined rules and procedures.

Question 34

The Atomistic Fallacy

Answer 34

When we use individual level data to draw conclusions about groups of people.

Question 35

The Ecological Fallacy

Answer 35

When group level data is used to draw conclusions about individual members of that group.

Question 36

Thick Descriptions

Answer 36

• Rich and detailed descriptions of the ways people in a specific social context make sense of their lives, written from the perspective of those people themselves.

Question 37

Underrepresentation

Answer 37

When a group experiencing something is disproportionately smaller than we would expect based on their size in the population.