Chapter 2

Question 1

What is research methodology

Answer 1

It is the system of methods a researcher uses to gather data on a particular question

Question 2

What is the scientific method

Answer 2

it’s a series of steps leading up to proof

Question 3

Who coined the term sociology

Answer 3

Auguste Comte

Question 4

what does Positivism mean

Answer 4

the belief that Social Sciences could be studied using the methods used to study natural sciences

Question 5

what is the difference between the insider and outsider voice

Answer 5

insider voice - the subject being studied who provides information that comes from their experience

outsider voice - experts that use their privilege to decide the authenticity over the insider perspective

Question 6

What is Standpoint Theory

Answer 6

states that the social location of sociologists impacts the questions they ask and the answers they recieve

Question 7

What is quantitative research

Answer 7

research that focuses on social elements that can be counted or measured, which then can be used to generate statistics

Question 8

What is qualitative research

Answer 8

research that involves the close examination of characteristics that can’t be counted or measured

Question 9

What is Ethnography

Answer 9

It’s when a researcher participates in the daily lives of the subjects, observing their actions and asking questions

Question 10

Participant Observation

Answer 10

observing people and actively participating in their activities to obtain an insiders perspective

Question 11

semi-structured interviews

Answer 11

informal, face-to-face interviews

Question 12

What is Institutional Ethnography

Answer 12

Institutional ethnography recognizes that every institution has two sides, each associated with a different kind of data

Question 13

Ruling interests and ruling relations

Answer 13

ruling interests are the interests of the organization, or interests of those who hold power in society
When workers of the society follow these rules and practices, their activating ruling relations

Question 14

What is the Case Study Approach

Answer 14

it’s when you explore a social entity of phenomenon by examining a single representative case, or a few selected examples

Question 15

What are Narratives

Answer 15

Narratives are the stories people tell about themselves, they’re situations and others around them. Narratives are the purest form of the insider view

Question 16

What is Content Analysis and what are the two distinct properties of it

Answer 16

involves studying a set of cultural artifacts (newspaper articles, billboards, artwork or children’s books, etc.)
Or events and interpretations the themes they reflect

1. they are not created to be specifically studied
2. the data is pre-existing and non-interactive

Question 17

What is Discourse Analysis

Answer 17

An approach too analyzing a conversation, a speech, or a written text.

Question 18

What are Statistics

Answer 18

the use of numbers to map social behaviour and beliefs

Question 19

Why are Statistics alone not that great

Answer 19

statistics uses numbers, because it is good information to have, but it doesn’t tell you the reasoning behind the numbers, the research doesn’t go as deep into explaining why the numbers are at the about they are

Question 20

What is the meaning of “Measuring the Centre”

Answer 20

A “measure of the centre” is a way of taking all of the data you have gathered on a particular subject and finding the most representative result

Question 21

What is a Median

Answer 21

The Median represents the number, score, or result that separates the higher half of the results with the lower half of the results in a given set of data

Question 22

How is an Average found

Answer 22

The average is found by adding up all the scores and dividing the total by the number of scores you have

Question 23

What is an Operational Definition

Answer 23

the definition of an abstract quality in such a way that it can be counted for statistical purposes

for example, poverty/pollution/abuse/middle class,

Question 24

What is Absolute Poverty

Answer 24

anything below the minimum income level needed to ensure basic necessities

Question 25

What are Close-ended Questionnaires and what type of research us it used by

Answer 25

Used in Quantitative research

it’s when respondents are asked to reply to a set of questions by selecting the best answer from a list of possibilities

Question 26

What are Open-ended Questionnaires and what type of research us it used by

Answer 26

Used in Qualitative Research

when respondents are encouraged to answer freely to each question without having to select a predetermined response from a list

Question 27

independent variable

Answer 27

has an effect on another variable (the cause)

Question 28

dependent variable

Answer 28

affected by the independent variable (the effect)

Question 29

What is a Correlation

Answer 29

it is a measure of the extent to which two variables are related. … Therefore, when one variable increases as the other variable increases, or one variable decreases while the other decreases.

Question 30

Direct (positive) Correlation

Answer 30

occurs when the independent and the dependant variables increase or decrease together

Question 31

Inverse (negative) correlation

Answer 31

occurs when the two variables change in opposing directions

Question 32

what is causation

Answer 32

the linking of effects and causes

Question 33

What is Spurious Reasoning

Answer 33

when someone sees correlation and falsely assumes causation.