Sociology

The four main research methods

Experiment, survey, participant observation, and use of available data

E. Digby Baltzell

Puritan Boston Quaker Philly (both fleeing for religious beliefs)

Ten Steps in Sociological Investigation

Topic? Others? Questions? What you need to carry out research? Ethical concerns? What method? Recording the data? What does the data tell you? Conclusions? How can you share what you've learned?

Hawthrone Effect

a change in a subject's behavior caused simply by the awareness of being studied

participant observation

a method by which researchers systematically observe people while joining in their routine activities

sample

a part of the population that represents the whole

secondary analysis

a research method in which a researcher collects data by others

interview

a serious of questions a researcher administers in person to respondents

Puritan

achievement at meetings

Lie within Statistics

data selection, data interpretation

random sample

draw a sample randomly so that every element in the population has the same chance of being selected

quantitative research

investigation in which a researcher collects numerical data

qualitative research

investigation in which a researcher gathers impressionistic, not numerical data

Quaker

less achievement, more relaxed

self-administered survey

mailing questionnaires to respondents and asking that they complete the form and mail it back (saves $)

use graphs to spin the truth

manipulating time frames on graphs and using scale to inflate or deflate a trend

Doc

person who was the key informant in Whyte's investigation

Political surveys

polls, familiar part of national life

Zimbardo's Stanford County Prison

prison setting as independent variable and violence as dependent variable

deductive logical thought

reasoning that transforms general theory to specific observations, deduction or decreases from general to specific

inductive logical thought

reasoning that transforms specific observations to general theory, induction or increases from specific to general

survey

research method in which subjects respond to a series of items in a questionnaire of interview

questionnaire

series of written questions that a researcher presents to subjects

key informant

someone who introduces a researcher to a community and often remains a source of information and help

snowball sampling

started out with people she knew and asking them to suggest others (the # of individuals included grows rapidly over time)

population

the people who are the focus of research

open-ended format

type of questionnaire that allows subjects to respond freely

closed-ended format

type of questionnaire that makes the task of analyzing the results easier and narrows the range of responses in a way that might distort the findings

Lois Benjamin

"African American Elite Study" (interviews on racism and to see if others feared that their racial identity would undermine their success

William Foote Whyte

"Cornerville" and book, Street Corner Society