CH1 The Art and Science of Social Research

Question 1

The scientific study of the social lives of individuals, groups, and societies; mission is to teach us how to understand behaviors, beliefs, and feelings of others and to answer key questions about the human condition

Answer 1

Sociology

Question 2

The study of large scale social systems (e.g. political or economic systems)

Answer 2

Macrosociology

Question 3

The type of sociology that studies personal concerns and interpersonal interactions

Answer 3

Microsociology

Question 4

The extent to which results or conclusions based on one population can be applied to others

Answer 4

Generalizability

Question 5

Our capacity to make our own choices and act autonomously

Answer 5

Agency

Question 6

the patterned social arrangements that may constrain (or facilitate) our choices and opportunities

Answer 6

Social Structures

Question 7

A distinctive viewpoint (by C. Wright Mills) that recognizes our personal experiences are shaped by macrosocial and historical forces; teaches us that “personal issues” maybe public issues that have social roots and are shared by others

Answer 7

Sociological imagination

Question 8

a theoretical tradition emphasizing that our overlapping identities and group memberships are critical to our life experiences

Answer 8

Intersectionality

Question 9

Study of societies and cultures, often with a non-western focus; emphasizes influence of culture on social behavior

Answer 9

Anthropology

Question 10

principle where scholars refrain from making judgments about practices they observe and instead adopt the viewpoint of the community being studied

Answer 10

Cultural relativism

Question 11

Study of individual behaviors, attitudes, emotions, and their causes: focuses on individual differences (i.e. personality, intelligence, motivation, and biological and neurological differences)

Answer 11

Psychology

Question 12

Study of past events, social movements, or cultural patterns; seeks to understand and document particular details of an event or sequence of events

Answer 12

History

Question 13

Study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services; assumes humans are highly rational and guided by incentives

Answer 13

Economics

Question 14

Study of policies, laws, diplomacy, and processes of government institutions, political parties, and political behavior; relies on qualitative and quantitative measures to inform its research and analysis

Answer 14

Political Science

Question 15

research that seeks to answer theoretically informed questions or resolve fundamental intellectual puzzles about social behavior

Answer 15

Basic research

Question 16

research that seeks to answer a question or concrete problem in the real world or to evaluate a policy or a program

Answer 16

Applied research

Question 17

research methods that collect and analyze data that enable rich description in words or images

Answer 17

Qualitative methods

Question 18

research methods that rely on data that can be represented by and summarized into numbers

Answer 18

Quantitative methods

Question 19

general research approach that uses more than one method in a single study

Answer 19

mixed-methods approach

Question 20

a study in which data are collected in only one point in time

Answer 20

cross-sectional study design

Question 21

a type of longitudinal study where data are collected at multiple time points, but from different subjects at each time point (aka trend design)

Answer 21

repeated cross-sectional study design

Question 22

a type of longitudinal study where data are collected on the same subjects at multiple time points

Answer 22

panel design

Question 23

the systematic process of asking and answering questions in a rigorous and unbiased way

Answer 23

scientific method

Question 24

scientific method steps

Answer 24

1) identify question
2) form hypothesis
3) gather data
4) analyze data
5) draw conclusion

Question 25

three conditions for question formulation

Answer 25

1) social importance
2) scientific relevance
3) feasibility

Question 26

the goal of being objective and not biased by personal ideologies

Answer 26

value-free

Question 27

the way research is influenced by perspectives, values, social experiences, and viewpoint of the researcher

Answer 27

Subjectivity

Question 28

the process of attending systematically to the context of knowledge construction, esp to the effect of the researcher, at every step of the research process

Answer 28

Reflexivity

Question 29

quantitative or qualitative research that documents or describes trends, variations, and patterns of social phenomena

Answer 29

Descriptive research

Question 30

mostly qualitative research that tends to answer questions of how with the goal of exploring precisely how particular processes and dynamics unfold

Answer 30

Exploratory research

Question 31

research that explains the causes and effects of social phenomena, and addresses quesitons of why

Answer 31

Explanatory research

Question 32

logical groupings of attributes

Answer 32

variables

Question 33

values, characteristics, or qualities that describe people or things

Answer 33

attributes

Question 34

a variable with values that are presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable

Answer 34

independent variable

Question 35

a variable assumed to depend on or be cause by another

Answer 35

dependent variable

Question 36

an approach to explanation in which we seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a particular condition of event (i.e. listing all the reasons you chose to attend your college); focus on the specific details and characteristics of that individual or situation. It’s like zooming in with a microscope to see the tiny details of one thing.

Answer 36

idiographic

Question 37

an approach to explanation in which we seek to identify a few causal factors that generally impact a class of conditions of event (i.e. listing 2 or 3 key factors that determine college choice)

Answer 37

nomothetic

Question 38

the logical mode in which general principles are developed from specific observations; begins with data and leads to theory

Answer 38

induction

Question 39

the logical mode in which specific expectations of hypotheses are developed on the basis of general principles; begins with theory, leads to conclusion

Answer 39

deduction