Chapter 3 - Using Research Methods

Question 1

Research

Answer 1

The systematic process of data collection for the purpose of producing knowledge.

Trying to find out how the world actually is, not make an argument for how we wish the world would be.

Question 2

Empirical

Answer 2

Statements that could hypothetically be proved true or false.

Question 3

Normative statements

Answer 3

Statements with which you are expressing an opinion.

These include statements that have words such as should in them, in which you state that the world would be better in certain circumstances, or in which you express a moral, ethical, or religious view.

Question 4

Sociological Research

Answer 4

Done on groups, societies, and/or social interaction. In general, sociological research addresses patterns, comparisons, relationships, and meanings in social life.

Devoid of normative statements.
Must go beyond what is in people’s head.

Question 5

Basic Research

Answer 5

Research directed at gaining fundamental knowledge about some issue.

Used to gain knowledge

Lays the foundation for applied research by enabling the development of key ideas necessary for applied research that will be undertaken later.

Question 6

Applied Research

Answer 6

Research designed to produce results that are immediately useful in relation to some real-world situation.

Is done to help solve real-world problems

Help us solve specific problems.

Question 7

Survey

Answer 7

The researcher develops a set of prewritten questions and asks respondents to answer these questions. Survey questions are often multiple choice.

Question 8

Focus groups

Answer 8

Multiple people interviewed at once.

Question 9

Observation

Answer 9

Researchers watch as spectators

Question 10

Participant Observation

Answer 10

Observe action and interaction while participating as part of the social context they are studying.

Question 11

Ethnography

Answer 11

Research that systematically studies how groups of people live and make meaning by understanding the group from its own point of view.

Question 12

Experiment

Answer 12

In controlled laboratory experiments, researchers have control over the setting and interactions, so they can manipulate the conditions to test the effects of one particular circumstance. This requires an experimental group, which is exposed to some sort of treatment or manipulation, and a control group that does not experience the treatment or manipulation. By comparing the two groups, the researcher can see exactly what the impact of the treatment or manipulation was.

Question 13

Field Experiments

Answer 13

Most sociologists do. Conducted outside the lab, in the real world.

Question 14

Content Analysis

Answer 14

One way researchers use documents to collect data. When conducting content analysis, researchers use texts—which may be written or visual—and systematically categorize elements of those texts on the basis of a set of rules.

Question 15

Institutional review board (IRB)

Answer 15

Any research receiving federal funding, which includes almost all research conducted at colleges and universities must be reviewed by an IRB to ensure that the rights of human subjects are properly protected.

Question 16

Qualitative coding

Answer 16

Applying descriptive labels to sections of text or images and then classifying them into categories or themes to denote patterns in the data.

Question 17

Sociologist: Scientific Method Steps

Answer 17

1. Defining a research question
2. Literature review: find what is already known
3. Develop a hypothesis
4. Develop a research design and collect data according to design
5. Data Collection
6. Analyze and interpret
7. Submit them to review
8. Report and publish

Question 18

Generalizability

Answer 18

• Findings apply to population
• Refers to whether it is possible to assume that the patterns and relationships observed among the sample in the research study would also hold true for the broader population.
• • Participants must have been obtained via the use of a properly constructed random sample.

Question 19

Nonrandom sample

Answer 19

Used when a random sample is impossible or extremely impractical to obtain. Because you need a list of potential respondents to conduct a random sample, nonrandom samples tend to be used where such a list does not exist.

Question 20

Representative

Answer 20

The people in their samples have characteristics typical of people in the broader population they seek to analyze.

The results will not be automatically generalizable, if the sample is representative, the researchers can make the case that their findings provide a good representation of the overall population studied.

Question 21

Reliability

Answer 21

• Refers to the extent to which research results are consistent, and consistency helps us understand whether the form of measurement in the research actually measures what we think it measures.
• • Consistency helps us to understand whether the form of measurement in the research actually measures what we think it measures.
• • In all techniques, if repeating measurements will produce the same results is the question.

Question 22

Validity

Answer 22

• Refers to whether the research results are trustworthy.
• In all techniques, if the measures consistently measure the phenomena accurately is the question.
• Many factors can affect validity, such as poorly developed measures or other researcher errors, such as using biased samples.

Question 23

Causation

Answer 23

Occurs when a change in one variable causes a change in another variable.

Three conditions must be met for causation to be demonstrated:

1. The supposed cause has to be associated with the supposed effect.
2. The cause must come before the effect.
3. Other alternative explanations for the effect must be eliminated.

• Researchers are often unable to definitively show that a relationship is causal.
• Controlled, laboratory experiments are needed to demonstrate causation

Question 24

Positivist sociology

Answer 24

Study of society based on scientific observation of social behavior

Question 25

Empirical evidence

Answer 25

• Information we can verify with our senses
• Quantitative data

Question 26

Science

Answer 26

Logical system that develops knowledge from direct, systematic observation

Question 27

Interpretive sociology

Answer 27

• Study of society that focuses on discovering the meanings people attach to their social world
• Focus on qualitative data

Question 28

Visual sociology

Answer 28

• Society is in postmodern state the is characterize by many narratives, in multi-cultural society
• Method is closely linked with interpretive sociology and focus on the collection and analysis of images (photographs and/or videos).
• Collaboration is sought between researcher and the researched. The researcher use visual data and often seek to active involvement the research subjects in the constructing the meaning of those images. Photo elicitation and Photo voices are two key methods
• The researcher is a collaborator with respondents in the creation of knowledge.
• Multiple theory as a post-modernist view.

Question 29

Critical sociology

Answer 29

• Focuses on the need for social change
• Asks moral and political questions
• Rejects Weber’s goal of value-free sociology
• Emphasizes sociologists social activism in pursuit of greater social equality

Question 30

Experiment

Answer 30

Research method for investigating cause and effect under highly controlled conditions

Question 31

Hypothesis

Answer 31

Statement of a possible relationship between two (or more) variables

Question 32

Theory

Answer 32

• Used to help sociologists notice and understand patterns in society.
• Theories help researchers interpret the findings of their data.
• Research can also be done to test the accuracy of theories.
• Theories can be used to develop research hypotheses.
• Hypotheses must be testable.
• Researchers can collect cross-sectional or longitudinal data to test their hypotheses.

Question 33

Cross-sectional

Answer 33

data are collected at one point in time

Question 34

Longitudinal

Answer 34

Data are collected at multiple points in time, such as once a year for several years.

Question 35

Looking at Documents

Answer 35

• Secondary Data Analysis
• Studying documents can be useful when it is difficult to talk with people or when the subjects of study are the documents themselves.
• Comparative-historical research is done when researchers analyze documents from the past to develop an understanding of events, context, and people.
• Content analysis is a method by which researchers analyze text to answer research questions.

Question 36

American Sociological Association

Answer 36

Established formal guidelines for conducting research

Guidelines

• Skillful and
• fair-minded
• Disclosure of all research findings
• No risk of harm
• Privacy protection
• Informed consent
• Funding source
• transparency/conflict of interest

Question 37

Qualitative Data Analysis

Answer 37

• Qualitative data are descriptive in nature. Whether it is using thick description or some form of categorical coding, qualitative data analysis is inherently descriptive in nature.
• Researchers can draw conclusions from these descriptions, help validate theory, and even develop theory from descriptive research (grounded theory).
• Thick description involves detailed narratives
• Qualitative coding is categorical.

Question 38

Quantitative data analysis

Answer 38

• Data are represented using numbers.
• Spreadsheets and statistical software are used to analyze numerical data.
• Descriptive statistics are used to describe the data (mean), such as the average, middle value (median), most common answer (mode).
• Explanatory statistics are used to see whether relationships exist between elements (variables) of the data

Question 39

Operationalize

Answer 39

• How to measure concepts that are chosen for a study.
• By measuring concepts, the researcher can create variables or constants.

Question 40

Variables

Answer 40

Concepts that can have different values for different people, such as age or religious affiliation.

A concept that changes from case to case(example ‘upper class’ ‘Middle class’ lower class’)

Question 41

Constants

Answer 41

Factors that are the same for everyone. In a study of only women, being “female” would be a constant.

Question 42

Concept

Question 43

Measurement

Answer 43

Procedure for determining the value of a variable in a specific case (example a questionnaire the ask interviewee about their household income)

Question 44

The mode

Answer 44

is the value that occurs most often in a series of numbers

Question 45

The mean

Answer 45

refers to the arithmetic average of a series of numbers.

Question 46

The median

Answer 46

is the value that occurs midway in a series of numbers arranged from lowest to highest.