2. Sociological Research Methods

Raw Data

(also known as primary data) is a term for data collected from a source. Raw data has not been subjected to processing or any other manipulation.

Probability Sampling

choosing participants for a study on the basis of specific characteristics, possibly including such factors as age, sex, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.

Four Distinct Categories of Suicide

egoistic, altruistic, anomic, and fatalistic.

Altruistic Suicide

occurs among individuals who are excessively integrated into society.

Egoistic Suicide

occurs among people who are isolated from any social group.

Laboratory Experiment

subjects are studied in a closed setting so that researchers can maintain as much control as possible over the research.

Multiple Causation

that is, an event occurs as a result of many factors operating in combination.

Kevin E. Early (1992)

used survey data collected through questionnaires to test his hypothesis that suicide rates are lower among African Americans than among white Americans because of the influence of the black church.

Normative Approach

uses religion, customs, habits, traditions, and law to answer important questions. It is based on strong beliefs about what is right and wrong and what "ought to be" in society. Issues such as assisted suicide are often answered by the normative approach.

William Zellner (1978)

wanted to look at fatal single-occupant automobile accidents to determine whether some drivers were actually committing suicide. To examine this issue further, he sought to interview the family, friends, and acquaintances of persons killed in single-car crashes to determine whether the deaths were possibly intentional. To recruit respondents, Zellner told them that he hoped the research would reduce the number of automobile accidents in the future.

Qualitative Data

Data that approximates or characterizes but does not measure the attributes, characteristics, properties, etc., of a thing or phenomenon. Qualitative data describes whereas quantitative data defines.

Telephone or Computer Survey

Telephone and computer surveys give greater control over data collection and provide greater personal safety for respondents and researchers than do personal encounters.

Aggregated Data

are data combined from several measurements. When data are aggregated, groups of observations are replaced with summary statistics based on those observations.

Cultural Artifacts

are products of individual activity, social organizations, technology, and cultural patterns. Among the materials studied are written records (such as diaries, love letters, poems, books, and graffiti), narratives and visual texts (such as movies, television programs, websites, advertisements, and greeting cards), and material culture (such as music, art, and even garbage).

Empirical Approach

attempts to answer questions through systematic collection and analysis of data. This approach is referred to as the conventional model, or the "scientific method," and is based on the assumption that knowledge is best gained by direct, systematic observation.

Time Frame of Study

cross-sectional or longitudinal.

Control Group

in an experiment, the group that contains the subjects who are not exposed to the independent variable.

Unit of Analysis

is what or whom is being studied. In social science research, individuals are the most typical unit of analysis. Social groups (such as families, cities, or geographic regions), organizations (such as clubs, labor unions, or political parties), and social artifacts (such as books, paintings, or weddings) may also be units of analysis.

Research Methods

specific strategies or techniques for systematically conducting research.

Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview

the interviewer uses a computer to dial random telephone numbers, reads the questions shown on the video monitor to the respondent, and then types the responses into the computer terminal. The answers are immediately stored in the central computer, which automatically prepares them for data analysis. However, the respondent must answer the phone before the interview can take place, and many people screen their phone calls.

Grounded Theory

was developed by sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss to describe this inductive method of theory construction.

The ASA Code of Ethics

1. Researchers must endeavor to maintain objectivity and integrity in their research by disclosing their research findings in full and including all possible interpretations of the data (even those interpretations that do not support their own viewpoints). 2. Researchers must safeguard the participants' right to privacy and dignity while protecting them from harm. 3. Researchers must protect confidential information provided by participants, even when this information is not considered to be "privileged" (legally protected, as is the case between doctor and patient and between attorney and client) and legal pressure is applied to reveal this information. 4. Researchers must acknowledge research collaboration and assistance they receive from others and disclose all sources of financial support.

Experiment

a carefully designed situation in which the researcher studies the impact of certain variables on subjects' attitudes or behavior. Conventional experiments require that subjects be divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group.

Interview

a data-collection encounter in which an interviewer asks the respondent questions and records the answers.

Ethnography

a detailed study of the life and activities of a group of people by researchers who may live with that group over a period of years.

Hawthorne Effect

a phenomenon in which changes in a subject's behavior are caused by the researcher's presence or by the subject's awareness of being studied.

Survey

a poll in which the researcher gathers facts or attempts to determine the relationships among facts.

Questionnaire

a printed research instrument containing a series of items to which subjects respond.

Correlation

a relationship that exists when two variables are associated more frequently than could be expected by chance.

Participant Observation

a research method in which researchers collect systematic observations while being part of the activities of the group being studied.

Secondary Analysis

a research method in which researchers use existing material and analyze data that were originally collected by others. Secondary analysis is referred to as unobtrusive research because it has no impact on the people being studied.

Random Sampling

a study approach in which every member of an entire population being studied has the same chance of being selected.

Dependent Variable

a variable that is assumed to depend on or be caused by the independent variable(s).

Independent Variable

a variable that is presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable.

Unstructured Interview

an extended, open-ended interaction between an interviewer and an interviewee. This type of interview is referred to as unstructured because few predetermined or standardized procedures are established for conducting it. Because many decisions have to be made during the interview, this approach requires that the researcher have a high level of skill in interviewing and extensive knowledge regarding the interview topic. Unstructured interviews are essentially conversations in which interviewers establish the general direction by asking open-ended questions, to which interviewees may respond flexibly, and then interviewers may "shift gears" to pursue specific topics raised by interviewees.

K. D. Breault (1986)

analyzed secondary data collected by government agencies to test Durkheim's hypothesis that religion and social integration provide protection from suicide. Using suicide as the dependent variable and church membership, divorce, unemployment, and female labor-force participation as several of his independent variables, Breault performed a series of sophisticated statistical analyses and concluded that the data supported Durkheim's views on social integration and his theory of egoistic suicide.

Cross-Sectional Studies

are based on observations that take place at a single point in time; these studies focus on behavior or responses at a specific moment.

Longitudinal Studies

are concerned with what is happening over a period of time or at several different points in time; they focus on processes and social change. Some longitudinal studies are designed to examine the same set of people each time, whereas others look at trends within a general population.

Steve Taylor (1982)

engaged in participant observation at a coroner's office over a six-month period to learn more about how coroners make a ruling of "suicide" in connection with a death and to analyze what (if any) effect such a ruling has on the accuracy of official suicide statistics.

Quantitative Research

he goal is scientific objectivity, and the focus is on data that can be measured numerically. Quantitative research typically emphasizes complex statistical techniques.

Experimental Group

in an experiment, the group that contains the subjects who are exposed to an independent variable (the experimental condition) to study its effect on them.

Hypothesis

in research studies, a tentative statement of the relationship between two or more concepts.

Structured Interviews

in which the interviewer asks questions from a standardized questionnaire. Structured interviews tend to produce uniform or replicable data that can be elicited time after time by different interviews.

Qualitative Research

interpretive description (words) rather than statistics (numbers) is used to analyze underlying meanings and patterns of social relationships.

Collective Case Study

involves more than one case, which may or may not be physically colocated with other cases. A collective case study may be conducted at one site (e.g., a school, hospital, or university) by examining a number of different departments or other units at that one site. Each unit is studied as part of a collection, regardless of whether the units themselves are located at single or multiple sites. The term collective case study is sometimes referred to as multi-site case study or multi-site study.

Case Study

is a research method involving an up-close, in-depth, and detailed examination of a subject of study (the case), as well as its related contextual conditions. Although no single definition of the case study exists, case study research has long had a prominent place in many disciplines and professions, ranging from psychology, anthropology, sociology, and political science to education, clinical science, social work, and administrative science.

Theory

is a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and (occasionally) predict social events. A theory attempts to explain why something is the way it is.

Barney Glaser (1930)

is an American sociologist and one of the founders of the grounded theory methodology.

Operational Definition

is an explanation of an abstract concept in terms of observable features that are specific enough to measure the variable. For example, suppose that your goal is to earn an A in this course. Your professor may have created an operational definition by defining an A as earning an exam average of 90 percent or above (Babbie, 2013).

Variable

is any concept with measurable traits or characteristics that can change or vary from one person, time, situation, or society to another. Variables are the observable and/or measurable counterparts of concepts.

Triangulation

is often used to indicate that two (or more) methods are used in a study in order to check the results. "The concept of triangulation is borrowed from navigational and land surveying techniques that determine a single point in space with the convergence of measurements taken from two other distinct points."

Research

is the process of systematically collecting information for the purpose of testing an existing theory or generating a new one.

Robert Lynd (1892 -1970) and Helen Lynd (1896-1982)

lived in Muncie, Indiana, for a number of years and conducted ethnographic research on the daily lives of residents and the composition of the local power structure. The Lynds' study concluded that people in Muncie had strong beliefs about the importance of religion, hard work, self-reliance, and civic pride; that one dominant family "ruled" the city; and that a working class emerged in the community when companies opened factories in Muncie.

Population

persons about whom we want to be able to draw conclusions.

Respondants

persons who provide data for analysis through interviews or questionnaires.

Multivariate Analysis

research involving more than two independent variables.

Deductive Approach

the researcher begins with a theory and uses research to test the theory. This approach proceeds as follows: (1) theories generate hypotheses, (2) hypotheses lead to observations (data gathering), (3) observations lead to the formation of generalizations, and (4) generalizations are used to support the theory, to suggest modifications to it, or to refute it.

Inductive Approach

the researcher collects information or data (facts or evidence) and then generates theories from the analysis of that data. Under the inductive approach, we would proceed as follows: (1) specific observations suggest generalizations, (2) generalizations produce a tentative theory, (3) the theory is tested through the formation of hypotheses, and (4) hypotheses may provide suggestions for additional observations.

Field Research

the study of social life in its natural setting: observing and interviewing people where they live, work, and play.

Content Analysis

the systematic examination of cultural artifacts or various forms of communication to extract thematic data and draw conclusions about social life.

Debunking

the unmasking of fallacies (false or mistaken ideas or opinions) in the everyday and official interpretations of society

Anselm Strauss (1916-1996)

was an American sociologist internationally known as a medical sociologist (especially for his pioneering attention to chronic illness and dying) and as the developer (with Barney Glaser) of grounded theory, an innovative method of qualitative analysis widely used in sociology, nursing, education, social work, and organizational studies.

Laud Humphreys (1970)

who looked at homosexual conduct for his doctoral dissertation. Humphreys chose to focus on homosexual acts between strangers in the public restrooms (referred to as "tearooms") of city parks. Before beginning his observations, Humphreys did not ask his subjects' permission or inform them that they were being studied. Instead, he showed up at public restrooms offering to be the lookout for police while others engaged in homosexual acts as he systematically recorded the various encounters that took place. To learn more about their everyday lives away from this setting, Humphreys tracked down their names and addresses from their auto license numbers and invited them to participate in a medical survey. Because he did not want the men to recognize him, he wore various disguises and drove a different car to their homes. From these interviews he collected personal information and learned that most of the men were married and lived very conventional lives apart from these closeted encounters with gay men in public restrooms.