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SOC Research > Chapter 1 > Flashcards

Chapter 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two biggest criteria for scientific claims?

A
  1. Does it make logical sense
  2. does it have empirical evidence to support it? –> supported by actual observation
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2
Q

What is the difference between scientific and ordinary inquiry?

A

Ordinary: Anecdotal evidence, casual reasoning

Scientific: deliberate observation, systemic methods of measurement, careful sampling

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3
Q

What are some errors in inquiry?

A
  1. Inaccurate observations
    –> ex. eyewitness testimony
  2. Overgeneralization
    –> a few similar events may not indicate a general pattern
  3. Selective observation
    –> focusing on events that fit a pattern and ignoring others (either willfully or unknowingly)
    –> related to confirmation bias and can end up being overgeneralization
  4. Illogical reasoning
    –> ex. gambler’s fallacy
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4
Q

on average ___ children are harmed or killed from Halloween candy in the US yearly

A

0

  • this is an example of illogical reasoning and a moral panic
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5
Q

on average, how many children are kidnapped by strangers in any given year in North America?

A

100-999 children

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6
Q

In the example of Residential school denialism, what were conservative critics saying about the graves of children from residential schools? What was actually happening?

A

Conservative critics at the time - said that these were being called “mass graves”
and said the media was sensationalizing it - started a conspiracy theory

Did a media analysis → 65% of articles were calling it unmarked graves
6.5% of articles used the term mass graves
Therefore, 93.5% of articles did not use the term mass graves

  • this is an example of selective observation, confirmation bias, or more informally, cherry picking
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7
Q

What is Pseudoscience? What is the example of this that we went over in class?

A

Something not scientific but sounds scientific - rely on anecdotal evidence and refuses to be proven wrong (will use selective observation)

ex. Biorhythms: theory is that from the day you’re born, your path in life is set by that date - you can’t change it
- looked at biorhythms of athletes to try and prove why they may have done good or bad on that day - this takes away agency from the individuals

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8
Q

What was the scientific test of biorhythms relating to the sex of a baby being born

A

IV = mother’s biorhythm at conception
DV = sex of baby

  • theory suggested that if your physical cycle was high at the time of conception it would be a male baby and female baby if emotional cycle was high
  • overall, 50% of valid cases agreed with this theory - this is just due to chance
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9
Q

What is the Popper principle?

A

Principle of falsifiability
- any scientific claim has to be capable of being proven false

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10
Q

What does operationalize mean?

A

Operationalize means figuring out a way to measure something - how do you define and measure an abstract concept

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11
Q

What are variables and attributes?

A

Variables = properties of objects that can change
- can be categorical (qualitative) : ex. type of religion or races, or political orientation

  • or numeric (quantitative) : when there is a logical order to them or has values of more or less - ex. amount of religiousness

Attributes = the different scores or categories that comprise a variable
ex. if political orientation is our variable, attributes are… left wing, centrist, right wing

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12
Q

What are the independent and dependent variables?

A

Independent: a variable believed to produce changes in a dependent variable
- the CAUSE

Dependent: a variable whose changes we are interested in explaining
- the EFFECT

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13
Q

What are the two types of explanation in social research?

A

IDIOGRAPHIC : try to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a particular condition or event
** finding out all of what happened in a particular case and hopefully applying it elsewhere
–> idiosyncratic = strange, unusual, or unique

NOMOTHETIC : try to identify a few causal factors that generally impact a class of conditions / events / phenomena
**looking at a bunch of different cases - what do these all have in common?

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14
Q

Are idiographic and nomothetic explanations usually more qualitative or quantitative?

A

Idiographic = usually more qualitative
Nomothetic = usually more quantitative

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15
Q

What are the two types of reasoning (logic) in social research?

A

Induction: starting from specific observations and building to general principles
ex. durkhiem’s study of suicide - observed suicide rates (quantitative research) and built a theory of social solidarity impacting suicide rates

Deduction: starting with a general theory and breaking it down to specific observations
ex. if durkhiem had started with a theory of social solidarity and tested that theory with specific scenarios and environments

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16
Q

At the abstract level: Composed of ______, when systematically related form _________

A

Concepts

Propositions

17
Q

At the concrete level: Composed of _______, when systematically related form ________

A

Percepts

Patterns

18
Q

What are the two motivations for research?

A

Pure : aim is knowledge for its own sake
–> trying to help humanity by understanding the world more
–> the reward is satisfying our curiosity

Applied : aim is to put knowledge into practice

19
Q

What are the two levels of quantification? (data types)

A

Qualitative : non-numerical data (every observation is qualitative at the outset - sometimes it’s useful to convert them to a numerical form)

quantitative : numerical data; objective is to describe and explain the phenomena that they reflect

20
Q

What are the advantages of mixed methods research (combining qualitative and quantitative approaches)

A
  • triangulation
    –> emphasizes the benefits of checking qualitative and quantitative results against each other to strengthen the validity - idea is to compare different viewpoints and detect what they have in common
    –> do the results converge or diverge?
  • offsetting strengths and weaknesses
    –> using different methods can enhance your validity
  • complementarity
    –> different pieces of the puzzle - looking at different perspectives
    –> seeks to increase the meaningfulness and completeness of conclusions by using the two methods to get results that enhance coverage and clarify or supplements each other to address the complexity of a topic
  • development
    –> using one method to build on another method
21
Q

The basis of knowledge is __________

A

agreement

22
Q

What is causal reasoning and probabilistic reasoning?

A

Causal - recognizes that future circumstances are somehow rooted in or conditioned by present ones

Probabilistic - argues that effects occur more often when the causes occur than when the causes are absent - but not always (ex. students learn that studying hard produces good grades in most instances, but not every time

23
Q

How do research designs guard against selective observation?

A

They often specify in advance the number and kind of observations to be made as a basis for reaching a conclusion

24
Q

Why is the saying “the exception proves the rule” dumb?

A

It makes no sense - an exception can draw attention to a rule or to a supposed rule, but in no system of logic can it prove the rule it contradicts

25
Q

What is naive realism?

A

The idea that we all live with a view that what’s real is pretty obvious
- we should expand our view beyond this because so much about reality is socially constructed

26
Q

What are the three levels of experience?

A
  1. Concrete experience :
    - empirical and composed of sensations
    - percepts = components of concrete experience
    - patterns = occur when percepts come together
    - we share concrete experience with other living creatures
    - by itself, it’s meaningless
  2. Abstract experience :
    - occurs in your mind - it’s imaginary
    - composed of concepts that, when related, form propositions
    - concepts = abstract category that refers to a class of objects or events and their properties (most of these come from our shared culture)
    - propositions = states an understanding of how two concepts are related
    - gives meaning to life
  3. “Real” world :
    - the merger of concrete and abstract experience
    - composed of facts, when systematically related, form knowledge
    - people continuously try to “makes sense” of their concrete experiences, and, in doing so, construct “reality”
27
Q

What is the goal of research methods?

A

To construct a defensible version of reality
- the methods of social science are essentially a set of rules, tools, and techniques for constructing social reality by merging abstract and concrete levels of experience

28
Q

What are the three major aspects of the social scientific enterprise?

A
  1. Data collection : focuses on accurately observing empirical patterns
  2. Data analysis : interprets empirical evidence
  3. Scientific theory : focuses on producing a logical explanation of realities produced through data collection and interpretation
29
Q

Define “theory”

A

A set of interrelated propositions intended to provide a logical explanation of empirical regularities

30
Q

What is the significance of social regularities?

A

Largely, social research aims to find patterns of regularity in social life –> these are probabilistic patterns, and they are no less real even when some cases don’t fit the general pattern (ex. when one woman makes more than men, it doesn’t negate the fact that there is pay inequality)

31
Q

You cannot explain a variable with a ______

A

constant

  • explanations point to some other variable or variables
32
Q

What are 4 basic types of MMR design?

A
  1. Convergent parallel:
    - qualitative and quantitative data are collected and analyzed in the same phase, and then the results are combined to generate an overall interpretation
  2. Explanatory sequential:
    - two distinct phases - quantitative data collection and analysis which is followed by a qualitative phase
  3. Exploratory sequential:
    - also has two phases - first, generates exploratory qualitative results, and then quantitative methods are used to test or generalize the initial results
  4. Embedded designs:
    - involves combining the collection and analysis of quantitative AND qualitative data in a traditional quantitative or qualitative design

SOC Research (11 decks)

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