Ch 2 - Sociological Research

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Field Work?

Adv: • Yields detailed, accurate real-life information Disadv: • Time consuming • Data captures how people behave but not what they think and believe • Qualitative data is difficult to organize

What are the advantages and challenges of a Survey?

Adv: • Yields many responses • Can survey a large sample • Quantitative data are easy to chart DisAdv: • Can be time consuming • Can be difficult to encourage participant response • Captures what people think and believe but not necessarily how they behave in real life

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Secondary Data Analysis?

Adv: • Makes good use of previous sociological information Disadv: • Data could be focused on a purpose other than yours • Data can be hard to find

What are the advantages and disadvantages of an experiment?

Adv: Tests cause and effect relationships Disadv: • Hawthorne Effect • Ethical concerns about people's wellbeing

What is the independent variable and the dependent variable for the following hypothesis: The greater the availability of affordable housing, the lower the homeless rate.

Affordable Housing is Ind. Homeless Rate is Dep.

The Scientific Method has the following Steps: - ______ - Research Existing Sources - Formulate a hypothesis - Desgn and conduct a study - Draw Conclusions - Report Results

Ask a question

_______ _______ is to applya systematic approach to record and value information gleaned from secondary data as they relate to the study at hand

Content Analysis

The Scientific Method has the following Steps: - Ask a question - Research Existing Sources - Formulate a hypothesis - _____________ - Draw Conclusions - Report Results

Design and Conduct a Study

The Scientific Method has the following Steps: - Ask a question - Research Existing Sources - Formulate a hypothesis - Desgn and conduct a study - __________ - Report Results

Draw Conclusions

_______ evidence comes from direct experience, scientifically gathered data, or experimentaiton.

Empirical

______- is the extended observation of the social perspective and cultural values of an entire social setting. These involve objective observation of an entire community.

Ethnography

_____ research refers to gathering primary data from a natural environment without doing a lab experiment or a survey.

Field

The Scientific Method has the following Steps: - Ask a question - Research Existing Sources - ________ - Desgn and conduct a study - Draw Conclusions - Report Results

Formulate a Hypothesis

The _______ effect is where people change their behavior because they know they are being watched as part of a study. It is unavoidable in some research.

Hawthorne

A _______ is a testable educated guess about predicted outcomes between two or more variables; it's a possible explanation for specific happenings in the social world and allows for testing to determine whether the explanation holds true in many instances, as well as among various groups or in different places.

Hypothesis

A _______ is an assumption about how two or more variables are related; it makes a conjectural statement about the relationship between those variables

Hypothesis

What is the independent variable and the dependent variable for the following hypothesis: The greater the factory lighting, the higher the productivity

Ind: Factory Lighting Dep: Productivity

What is the independent variable and the dependent variable for the following hypothesis: The greater the availability of math tutoring, the higher the math grades.

Ind: Math Tutoring Dep: Math Grades

What is the independent variable and the dependent variable for the following hypothesis: The greater the amount of observation, the higher the public awareness

Ind: Observation Dep: Public Awareness

What is the independent variable and the dependent variable for the following hypothesis: The greater the police patrol presence, the safer the neighborhood.

Ind: Police Patrol Presence Dep: Safer Neighborhood

______ variables are the cause of the change.

Independent

. Rather than formulating a hypothesis and method for testing it, an ______ researcher will develop approaches to explore the topic at hand that may involve a significant amount of direct observation or interaction with subjects. This type of researcher also learns as he or she proceeds and sometimes adjusts the research methods or processes midway to optimize findings as they evolve.

Interpretive

an _____ _____, sometimes referred to as an interpretive perspective, seeks to understand social worlds from the point of view of participants, which leads to in-depth knowledge.

Interpretive Framework

___-______ is a technique in which the results of virtually all previous studies on a specific subjects are evaluated together.

Meta-Analysis

Are questions such as, "How many hot dogs do you eat in a month?" or "Were the staff helpful?" are usually designed as scientific research.

No.

To conduct field research, the sociologist must be willing to step into new environments and do what three things in those worlds.

Observe, participate, or experience

When forming these basic research questions, sociologists develop an ______ _______, that is, they define the concept in terms of the physical or concrete steps it takes to objectively measure it.

Operational Definition

_______data—results that are subjective and often based on what is seen in a natural setting.

Qualitative

_______ data—research collected in numerical form that can be counted

Quantitative

How can one implement a survey (i.e. how would the sociologist perform the study?)

Questionnaires and interviews

Returning to the crime rate during a full moon topic, ______ of a study would reflect how well the resulting experience represents the average adult crime rate during a full moon.

Reliability

_______ increases the likelihood that what happens to one person will happen to all people in a group.

Reliability

researchers want to maximize the study's ________, which refers to how likely research results are to be replicated if the study is reproduced.

Reliability

The Scientific Method has the following Steps: - Ask a question - Research Existing Sources - Formulate a hypothesis - Desgn and conduct a study - Draw Conclusions - _________

Report Results

The Scientific Method has the following Steps: - Ask a question - _______ - Formulate a hypothesis - Desgn and conduct a study - Draw Conclusions - Report Results

Research Existing Sources

______ data don't result from firsthand research collected from primary sources, but are the already completed work of other researchers.

Secondary

In field work, who are are the ones out of their element? THe sociologists or the subjects?

The sociologists

How can one implement an Experiment? (i.e. how would the sociologist perform the study?)

Through Deliberate manipulation of social customs and mores

What three things must the operational definition be?

Valid, appropriate, and meaningful.

Researchers also strive for ______, which refers to how well the study measures what it was designed to measure.

Validity

_______ would ensure that the study's design accurately examined what it was designed to study, so an exploration of adult criminal behaviors during a full moon should address that issue and not veer into other age groups' crimes, for example.

Validity

______ ________ a practice of remaining impartial, without bias or judgment, during the course of a study and in publishing results

Value Neutrality

When are case studies useful?

When the single case is unique.

Are sociologists obligated to disclose research findings without omitting or distorting significant data.

Yes

Research begins with the search for an _______ to a _____.

answer to a question.

A _____ study is an in-depth analysis of a single event, situation, or individual.

case

To conduct a ____ study, a researcher examines existing sources like documents and archival records, conducts interviews, engages in direct observation and even participant observation, if possible.

case

______ variable is the effect,

dependent

The code of ________ are formal guidelines for conducting sociological research—consisting of principles and ethical standards to be used in the discipline. It also describes procedures for filing, investigating, and resolving complaints of unethical conduct.

ethics

an ______, meaning they investigate relationships to test a hypothesis—a scientific approach.

experiment

The heart of an ethnographic study focuses on....

how subjects view their own social standing and how they understand themselves in relation to a community.

An ______ is a one-on-one conversation between the researcher and the subject, and it is a way of conducting surveys on a topic.

interview

In a ____ setting in an experiment, the research can be controlled so that perhaps more data can be recorded in a certain amount of time

lab

What are the two main types of experiments?

lab-based and natural/field experiments

The next step researchers undertake is to conduct background research through a _____ _____, which is a review of any existing similar or related studies.

literature review

In a _____ setting in an experiment, the generation of data cannot be controlled but the information might be considered more accurate since it was collected without interference or intervention by the researcher.

natural or field-based

Unlike studies requiring direct contact with people, ______ research using previously published data doesn't require entering a population and the investment and risks inherent in that research process.

nonreactive

_________ research (or unobtrusive research), meaning that it does not include direct contact with subjects and will not alter or influence people's behaviors.

nonreactive

Sociologists look between the cracks to discover ______ to meeting basic human needs.

obstacles

The _____ _____ identifies an observable condition of the concept. By operationalizing a variable of the concept, all researchers can collect data in a systematic or replicable manner.

operational definition

______ ______ is a type of study in which researchers join people and participate in a group's routine activities for the purpose of observing them within that context. This method lets researchers experience a specific aspect of social life. A researcher might go to great lengths to get a firsthand look into a trend, institution, or behavior. Researchers temporarily put themselves into roles and record their observations.

participant observation

A survey targets a specific ______, people who are the focus of a study, such as college athletes, international students, or teenagers living with type 1 (juvenile-onset) diabetes.

population

Field research refers to gathering ______ data from a natural environment without doing a lab experiment or a survey.

primary

In a ________ sample, every person in a population has the same chance of being chosen for the study. According to the laws of probability, these samples represent the population as a whole.

random

Most researchers choose to survey a small sector of the population, or a _______: that is, a manageable number of subjects who represent a larger population.

sample

____ _____ _____ is the use of existing sources.

secondary data analysis

a _____ collects data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about behaviors and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire.

survey

Interviews are similar to the short-answer questions on surveys in that.....

the researcher asks subjects a series of questions.

How can one implement Secondary Data Analysis? (i.e. how would the sociologist perform the study?)

• Analysis of government data (census, health, crime statistics) • Research of historic documents

How can one implement field work (i.e. how would the sociologist perform the study?)

• Observation • Participant observation • Ethnography • Case study