SOCW 5308 Quiz 2

the following criteria must be met for a correlation to be considered causal:

The two variables must vary together. The association must be plausible. The cause must precede the effect in time. The association must be nonspurious (not due to a third variable).

Idiographic causal explanations are so powerful because they convey

a deep understanding of a phenomenon and its context.

It is important to note that exploratory designs do not make sense for topic areas with

a lot of existing research.

operational definition consists of the following components:

(1) the variable being measured, (2) the measure you will use, (3) how you plan to interpret the results of that measure.

concept is the notion or image that we conjure up when we think of some

some cluster of related observations or ideas

qualitative researchers use idiographic causal explanations for -----------------------

theory building or the creation of new theories based on inductive reasoning

Quantitative researchers, on the other hand, use nomothetic causal explanations for ---------------------

theory testing, wherein a hypothesis is created from existing theory (big T or small t) and tested mathematically (i.e., deductive reasoning).

When researchers confuse their units of analysis and observation, When researchers confuse their units of analysis and observation,

they may be prone to committing either the ecological fallacy or reductionism.

When variables covary,

they vary together.

As a general rule, Cronbach's alpha should be at least ---- to reflect acceptable internal consistency with scores of .8 or higher considered an indicator of good internal consistency.

.7

------------refers to the idea that one event, behavior, or belief will result in the occurrence of another, subsequent event, behavior, or belief

Causality

Likert scales.

If you have ever taken a customer satisfaction survey or completed a course evaluation for school, you are familiar with Likert scales. "On a scale of 1-5, with one being the lowest and 5 being the highest, how likely are you to recommend our company to other people?"

test-retest reliability.

In the same way, if a person is clinically depressed, a depression scale should give similar (though not necessarily identical) results today that it does two days from now.

explanatory research

In this case, the researcher is trying to identify the causes and effects of whatever phenomenon she is studying.

ecological fallacy

This occurs when claims about one lower-level unit of analysis are made based on data from some higher-level unit of analysis. In many cases, this occurs when claims are made about individuals, but only group-level data have been gathered.

these are a few of the many reasons researchers use mixed methods. They are summarized below: these are a few of the many reasons researchers use mixed methods. They are summarized below: ​

Triangulation or convergence on the same phenomenon to improve validity Complementarity, which aims to get at related but different facets of a phenomenon Development or the use of results from one phase or a study to develop another phase Initiation or the intentional analysis of inconsistent qualitative and quantitative findings to derive new insights Expansion or using multiple components to extend the scope of a study (Burnett, 2012, p. 77 ​

leading question,

a question with wording that influences how a participant responds.

But unlike indexes, scales are designed in a way that

accounts for the possibility that different items may vary in intensity.

While reliability is about consistency, validity is about ----------

accuracy.

Exhaustiveness means that

all possible attributes are listed.

acquiescence bias,

also known as "yea-saying." It occurs when people say yes to whatever the researcher asks, even when doing so contradicts previous answers.

Observational terms

are the sorts of things that we can see with the naked eye simply by looking at them.

Generally a p-value of .05 or less indicates the --------

association between the two variables is statistically significant.

idiographic causal explanation means that you will

attempt to explain or describe your phenomenon exhaustively, based on the subjective understandings of your participants.

If a measure is reliable, it means that if the measure is given multiple times, the results will

be consistent each time.

for scales, internal consistency reliability is an important concept. The scores on each question of a scale should

be correlated with each other, as they all measure parts of the same concept

attributes at the ordinal level can

be rank ordered.

A spurious association is one in which an association between two variables appears to be causal but

can in fact be explained by some third variable.

A variable refers to a phenomenon that

can vary.

Nominal measures are

categorical, and those categories cannot be mathematically ranked

A typology is a way of

categorizing concepts according to particular themes. Probably the most familiar version of a typology is the micro, meso, macro framework.

Most social scientific studies attempt to provide some kind of -----------------. In other words, it is about -----------------

causal explanation cause and effect.

In causal explanations, the independent variable is the --------, and the dependent variable is the ----------

cause effect.

quantitative research, in which definitions must be

completely set in stone before the inquiry can begin.

Researchers can use both methods at the same time or Or, they can use one and then the other, or ​

concurrently sequentially

Reliability in measurement is about

consistency.

Systematic error causes our measures to

consistently output incorrect data, usually due to an identifiable process.

These are called ----------------, and they refer to variables whose effects are controlled for mathematically in the data analysis process.

control variables

The main criteria for causality have to do with

covariation, plausibility, temporality, and spuriousness

Qualitative researchers conceptualize by

creating working definitions which will be revised based on what participants say.

Researchers in the -------------- can fit into either bucket, depending on their research question, as they focus on the liberation of people from oppressive internal (subjective) or external (objective) forces.

critical paradigm

Descriptive research is used to

describe or define a particular phenomenon.

Descriptive research is research that aims to

describe or define the topic at hand.

Understanding prior definitions of our key concepts will also help us

decide whether we plan to challenge those conceptualizations or rely on them for our own work

Using previous theories to generate hypotheses is an example of

deductive research.

we mean the process by which we describe and ascribe meaning to the key facts, concepts, or other phenomena that we are investigating. At its core, measurement is about

defining one's terms in as clear and precise a way as possible ​

Inter-rater reliability is the degree to which

different observers agree on what happened

Researchers conducting exploratory research are typically at the --------------

early stages of examining their topics.

Kaplan referred to these more abstract things that behavioral scientists measure as constructs. Constructs are "not observational

either directly or indirectly" ​

In this case qualitative methods are prioritized. Other times, however, quantitative methods are

emphasized

Unlike nomothetic causal explanations, there are no formal criteria (e.g., covariation) for ------------------

establishing causality in idiographic causal explanations.

When using nominal level of measurement in research, it is very important to assign the attributes of potential answers very precisely. The attributes need to be

exhaustive and mutually exclusive.

Finally, social work researchers often aim to explain why particular phenomena work in the way that they do. Research that answers "why" questions is referred to as

explanatory research

Because qualitative researchers are interested in the understandings and experiences of their participants, it is less important for the researcher to

find one fixed definition for a concept before starting to interview or interact with participants

Nomothetic causal explanations are incredibly powerful. They allow scientists to make predictions about what will happen in the future, with a certain margin of error. Moreover, they allow scientists to

generalize—that is, make claims about a large population based on a smaller sample of people or items

positive associations involve two variables ------------- and negative associations involve two variables -----------------

going in the same direction going in opposite directions.

In short, idiographic explanations have greater depth, and nomothetic explanations have

greater breadth.

One of the first things to think about when designing a research project is what you ----------------

hope to accomplish, in very general terms, by conducting the research

qualitative conceptualization The researcher's job is to accurately and completely represent

how their participants understand a concept, not to test their own definition of that concept.

When social constructionists engage in science, they are trying to establish one type of causality—-----------------

idiographic causality.

A decision to conduct--------- means that you will attempt to explain or describe your phenomenon exhaustively, attending to cultural context and subjective interpretations.

idiographic research

Emphasis-

in a mixed methods study, refers to the priority that each method is given

mutual exclusivity,

in which a person cannot fall into two different attributes.

social desirability bias,

in which participants in a research study want to present themselves in a positive, socially desirable way to the researcher.

Content validity assesses for whether the measure

includes all of the possible meanings of the concept.

Dependent variables depend on -------------

independent variables

Operationalization works by identifying specific -------------- that will be taken to represent the ideas we are interested in studying.

indicators

Finding patterns in data is what --------------- is all about.

inductive reasoning

The latter two levels of measurement are continuous, meaning their attributes are numbers, not categories.

interval, and ratio.

Discriminant validity

is a similar concept, except you would be comparing your measure to one that is expected to be unrelated

unit of analysis

is the entity that you wish to be able to say something about at the end of your study, probably what you'd consider to be the main focus of your study

unit of observation

is the item (or items) that you actually observe, measure, or collect in the course of trying to learn something about your unit of analysis

Concurrent validity

is the same as predictive validity—the scores on your measure should be similar to an established measure—except that both measures are given at the same time.

random error

is unpredictable and does not consistently result in scores that are consistently higher or lower on a given measure. Instead, random error is more like statistical noise, which will likely average out across participants.

A variable's attributes determine

its level of measurement.

Plausibility means that in order to make the claim that one event, behavior, or belief causes another, the claim has to

make sense

Because nomothetic causal explanations try to generalize, they must be able to reduce phenomena to a universal language,

mathematics.

Quantitative researchers are sensitive to the effects of potentially spurious associations. They are an important form of critique of scientific work. As a result, they will often --------------

measure these third variables in their study, so they can control for their effects

unit of observation, on the other hand, is determined largely by the

method of data collection that you use to answer that research question ​

In terms of social scientific measurement, concepts can be said to have

multiple dimensions when there are multiple elements that make up a single concept

The null hypothesis is one that predicts --------------- If a researcher ----------------------, she is saying that the variables in question are likely to be related to one another.

no association between the variables being studied. fails to accept the null hypothesis

The first two levels of measurement are categorical, meaning their attributes are categories rather than numbers.

nominal, ordinal,

There are four possible levels of measurement:

nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.

When positivists try to establish causality, they are like Newton and Darwin, trying to come up with a broad, sweeping explanation that is universally true for all people. This is the hallmark of a --------------

nomothetic causal explanation.

Hypotheses in quantitative research are -----------------

nomothetic causal explanations that the researcher expects to demonstrate

A decision to conduct ------------, on the other hand, means that you will try to explain what is true for everyone and predict what will be true in the future.

nomothetic research

Reductionism

occurs when claims about some higher-level unit of analysis are made based on data from some lower-level unit of analysis

Idiographic causal explanations are intended to explain

one particular context or phenomenon.

Statistical significance is usually represented in statistics as the --------------

p-value.

-_--------- is a hallmark of qualitative research

participants to comment on, extend, or challenge the definitions and understandings of other participants is a hallmark of qualitative research

Idiographic research involves finding

patterns and themes in the causal themes established by your research participants.

The word idiographic comes from the root word "idio" which means --------------

peculiar to one, personal, and distinct.

We assessed its face validity or whether it is

plausible that the question measures what it intends to measure.

There are two types of criterion validity —

predictive validity and concurrent validity.

Predictive validity means that your measure

predicts things it should be able to predict.

One way to avoid taking an overly casual approach in identifying indicators, as described previously, is to turn to

prior theoretical and empirical work in your area

Cronbach's Alpha

provides a way to measure how well each question of a scale is related to the others.

If you not trying to generalize, but instead are trying to establish an idiographic causal explanation, then you are likely going to use

qualitative methods, reason inductively, and engage in exploratory or descriptive research

operationalization is only a process in

quantitative research.

nearly all explanatory studies are

quantitative.

Systematic errors such as these can be reduced, but there is another source of error in measurement that can never be eliminated, and that is

random error.

ratio level, attributes can be rank ordered, the distance between attributes is equal, and attributes have a true zero point. Thus, with these variables, we can say what the

ratio of one attribute is in comparison to another.

Sequence

refers to the order that each method is used.

This idea, assuming that our abstract concepts exist in some concrete, tangible way, is known as

reification.

The word nomothetic is derived from the root word "nomo" which means ----------------, and "thetic" which means ------------------- Put the root words together and it means something that is establishing a law, or in our case, a universal explanation.

related to a law or legislative something that establishes.

Indirect observables, on the other hand, are less straightforward to assess. They are "terms whose application calls for ​

relatively more subtle, complex, or indirect observations, in which inferences play an acknowledged part ​

hypothesis is a statement describing a ----------------

researcher's expectation regarding the research findings.

Operationalization is the process by which

researchers conducting quantitative research spell out precisely how a concept will be measured.

equal emphasis,

researchers consider both methods as the focus of the research project.

Criterion validity occurs when the results from the measure are

similar to those from an external criterion

Criterion validity occurs when the results from the measure are

similar to those from an external criterion (that, ideally, has already been validated or is a more direct measure of the variable).

working definition is merely a place to start, and researchers should take care not

to think it is the only or best definition out there.

index is a

type of measure that contains several indicators and is used to summarize some more general concept.

The --------------------------- is another important factor to take into consideration when attempting to make causal claims when your research approach is nomothetic. In this context, strength refers to --------------

strength of the association between the independent variable and dependent variable statistical significance.

A researcher operating in the social constructionist paradigm would view truth as ------------

subjective.

Ideally, your qualitative and quantitative results should

support each other

Convergent validity

takes an existing measure of the same concept and compares your measure to it. If their scores are similar, then it's probably likely that they are both measuring the same concept

Once we've established that there is a plausible association between the two variables, we also need to establish that the cause happened before the effect, the criterion of -------------

temporality

Based on an analysis of the literature a researcher may formulate a few --------------- about what they expect to find in their qualitative study. Unlike nomothetic hypotheses, these are likely to change during the research process.

tentative hypotheses

Attributes are

the characteristics that make up a variable.

interval level,

the distance between attributes is known to be equal. Interval measures are also continuous, meaning their attributes are numbers, rather than categories.

construct validity exists when

the measure is related to other measures that are hypothesized to be related to it.

Conceptualization in quantitative research comes from

the researcher's ideas or the literature.

When social scientists measure concepts, they sometimes use the language of variables and attributes (also called

values).

quantitative research, conceptualization involves

writing out clear, concise definitions for our key concepts

If you are trying to generalize about causality, or create a nomothetic causal explanation, then the rest of these statements are likely to be true:

you will use quantitative methods, reason deductively, and engage in explanatory research