Chapter 1: Methods and Ethics

Question 1

What does sociology as a science produce?

Answer 1

1. Empirical knowledge about human social behavior.
2. A system of facts gathered by intentional methods, assessed in a conventional and replicable manner under established criteria, that is reported from the perspective of a theoretical framework or paradigm.

Question 2

Why is it critical to know the basics of sociological methods?

Answer 2

1. Sharpen your critical thinking skills.
2. To enhance your ability to be an effective consumer of information.
3. To offer you career skill sets and options.
4. To facilitate business needs (ex: how to best reach the nearby area demographics).
5. To facilitate your shifting between traditional pursuits and applied projects.

Question 3

What is the purpose of research?

Answer 3

To produce valid knowledge about social behavior by avoiding biases and haphazard observations.

Question 4

Why is it difficult to conduct a study on human behavior?

Answer 4

1. People can be moody, can lie, can misunderstand questions, etc.
2. Observer bias.

Question 5

What are the five steps of the research process?

Answer 5

1. Select a topic/define a problem.
2. Review literature/ identify a useful paradigm.
3. Formulate a hypothesis.
4. Select a research design and collect/ analyze data.
5. Describe conclusions and identify implications.
   *Will rarely occur in this order.

Question 6

Do sociologists work with generalized problems or particularized problems?

Answer 6

Generalized.

Question 7

What are the sources of many research topics?

Answer 7

1. Other people’s research.
2. Personal experience or interests.
3. Volunteer opportunities.
4. Odd news events, like the story of Kitty Genovese.

Question 8

What are applied research questions?

Answer 8

Questions where a real-world issue is the problem and culture, processes, and social structures are objects of inquiry.

Question 9

What are traditional research questions?

Answer 9

Questions that determine whether the observations of the study support existing theories.

Question 10

What is differential association?

Answer 10

The theory that who you spend time with directly influences your likelihood of acting like those people.

Question 11

What defines theories?

Answer 11

1. An explanatory statement that fits the evidence.
2. A comprehensive explanation of social events, attitudes, and behaviors.
3. Being testable and based on empirical evidence.
4. A set of statements that seek to explain problems, behaviors, and actions.

Question 12

What is desistance theory?

Answer 12

The theory that states that the factors related to the start of a criminal behavior are different than the ones that lead to the end of the same criminal behavior.

Question 13

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 13

An educated prediction or speculative statement about findings (often derived from literature or theories).
Will specify what variables to observe and the results you expect to find.

Question 14

What are the types of methods used in research?

Answer 14

1. Focus groups.
2. Surveys.
3. Experiments.
4. Existing data.
5. Observation, field or individual.

Question 15

What are the details of the experiment method?

Answer 15

An “artificially created situation” is set up that allows the researchers to manipulate the independent variable to evaluate its impact on the dependent variable.
Is ordered, correlative (A and B move simultaneously in the data), and spurious (no relationship is an accident).
*Rarely used.

Question 16

What are the requirements of the experiment method?

Answer 16

1. The ability to manipulate the independent variable.
2. Randomization of the subjects to study groups.
3. Pre-test: Comparison of the study group PRIOR to administering the independent variable.
4. Post-test: Comparison of the study group AFTER administering the independent variable.
5. Experimental groups: exposed to the independent variable.
6. Control group: not exposed to the independent variable.
   *Hawthorne Effect: Unintended influence on the researcher.

Question 17

What is the most famous sociological experiment?

Answer 17

The Stanford Prison experiment. It is famous because it went terribly wrong. Students were assigned roles as prisoners or correctional officers. All participants had been screened and approved prior to the experiments. The prisoners, within a few days were acting completely different, and correctional officers were as well.

Question 18

What are the details of the survey method?

Answer 18

1. Written or oral responses.
2. Good for gathering large amounts of data in a consistent manner.
3. Uses questionnaires (Face-to-face, by telephone, by mail, by email, and using the internet).
4. Often starts with a pilot study.
5. Structured questions: Multiple choice.
6. Semi-structured questions: Open-ended.
7. Commonly used.

Question 19

What two facts do people most often lie about?

Answer 19

1. Alcohol consumption.
2. Income.

Question 20

What are the details of ethnography/observation?

Answer 20

1. When the researcher immerses themselves in the culture they are observing.
2. Natural setting.
3. Good for studying topics that have never been studied or are difficult to recall.
4. The observer can be covert, a known and involved participant, or a distant observer.
5. Commonly used in natural disaster sites.

Question 21

What are the details of focus groups?

Answer 21

1. A formal group meeting guided by a trained facilitator or leader w/ a specified group of individuals designed to solicit opinions, anecdotes, experiences, perceptions and impressions on designated issues.
2. Measure community issues, needs, and the impact events have had.
3. 8-10 people represent the whole community.

Question 22

What are the strengths of the focus group method?

Answer 22

1. Allows data from several individuals in a short time period.
2. Allows topics to be discussed in-depth.
3. Provides an opportunity for group interactions that bring out topics that are often difficult to bring out to be explored.

Question 23

What are the weaknesses of the focus group method?

Answer 23

1. Dependent on the skills of the moderator.
2. Generates a great deal of narrative that may not yield information or will be time intensive to review.
3. Participants may be difficult to work with and or may be bellicose with one another.

Question 24

What is a mixed methods study?

Answer 24

A study that uses two or more methods of data collection.

Question 25

What is random sampling?

Answer 25

All subjects have a known or sometimes equal chance of being included in the study. Most likely to yield a representative population.

Question 26

What is non-random sampling?

Answer 26

1. Snowball/network sampling (find two or three cases to connect the researchers with other cases).
2. Convenience sampling (you get who you can find in the area).

Question 27

What is mean?

Answer 27

The average of the data.

Question 28

What is median?

Answer 28

The point where the amount of data above and below are equal.

Question 29

What is mode?

Answer 29

The most frequently occurring value in the data set.

Question 30

What three basic principles of ethics do internal review boards use when reviewing studies?

Answer 30

1. Respect for persons: Recognize that people are autonomous agents.
2. Justice: Make sure there is no bias or unfairness.
3. Benefices: Commitment to act for the subject’s benefit and protect them from harm.

Question 31

What is Stanley Milgram’s Obedience to Authority study?

Answer 31

A study where a “teacher” was asked to quiz a “student” on word pairs. If the “student” got the pair wrong, they received increasing electric shocks. Some “teachers” went all the way to the end because they were told to do so.

Question 32

What is the Laud Humphrey Tearoom Trade: Impersonal sex in public places?

Answer 32

A study of what types of people engage in homosexual sex in public bathrooms. He would proceed to follow the men and obtain license plates that he then used to find addresses. He used this information and got someone else doing a another study to unknowingly collect information such as occupation and name. This study broke many ethical boundaries.

Question 33

Do people have legally protected privacy in public?

Answer 33

No. The only exception may be children.

Question 34

What are the five main ethical requirements of a sociological study?

Answer 34

1. Maintain integrity.
2. Do not harm/protect the subjects from harm.
3. Don’t deceive unless it is key for the study.
4. Voluntary participation/informed consent.
5. Preserve anonymity or confidentiality.

Question 35

What are ethics?

Answer 35

A code of professional conduct that overlaps with but does not replace morals.
ex: If you were sent to observe, you cannot interfere with what happens.