Chapter 5 Flashcards
What steps are included in the ideal scientific research model?
1) Selecting a Topic
2) Defining the Problem
3) Reviewing the Literature
4) Formulating a Hypothesis
5) Choosing a Research Method
6) Collecting the Data
7) Analyzing the Results
8) Sharing the Results
A statement of how variables are expected to be related to one another, often according to predictions from a theory.
Hypothesis
A factor thought to be significant for human behavior, which can vary (or change) from one case to another.
Variable
The precise way in which a researcher measures a variable. As in the example of spouse abuse, you would need this for each of the three variables: social isolation, social integration, and spouse abuse.
Operational definition
One of seven procedures that sociologists use to collect data: surveys, participant observation, case studies, secondary analysis, documents, experiments, and unobtrusive measures.
Research method (or research design)
The extent to which an operational definition measures what it is intended to measure. For example, a researcher must be certain that he or she really is measuring social isolation, social integration, and spouse abuse - and not something else.
Validity
The extent to which research produces consistent or dependable results. If other researchers use your operational definitions, their findings will be consistent with yours.
Reliability
Which of the 8 steps in the scientific model would you test the hypothesis if included as part of your research?
Step 7: Analyzing the Results
Sociological findings are often represented in …?
Tables, which summarize information.
Section of the table which states the topic and is located at the top of the table
Title
Section of the table which gives more detailed information about how the data were collected or how data are presented in the table. Located just below the title (if included).
Headnote
Sections of the table that tell what kind of information is contained in the table.
Headings
Sections of the table that present information arranged vertically.
Columns
Sections of the table that present information arranged horizontally.
Rows
Section of the table, usually listed on the bottom, which provides information on where the data in the table originated.
Source
What does n=25 mean on the table?
The number of people tested in the specific sample such as 25 nonviolent husbands.
The collection of data by having individuals answer a series of questions
Survey
The target group being studied
Population
Individuals intended to represent the target population
Sample
A sample in which everyone in the target population has the same chance of being included in the study. From a list of married women enrolled in college, you assign each a number. Using this table of random numbers, you then determine which of these women will become part of your sample.
Random sample
A sample from selected subgroups of the target population in which everyone in those subgroups has an equal chance of being included in the research. From a list of freshmen and senior married women who are each assigned a number. Then, using randomly chosen numbers, you would select a sample from each group.
Stratified random sample
Allows generalization of your findings to all the married women students on your campus, even if they were not included in your sample.
Random sample
Allows the researcher to generalize to all the freshmen and senior married women at your college, but no conclusions about the sophomores or juniors.
Stratified random sample
People who respond to a survey, either in interviews or by self-administered questionairres
Respondents
The researcher must ask questions that allow the respondents to express their own opinions as opposed to biased answers. The types of questions to ask are ___.
Neutral
A list of questions to be asked of respondents.
Questinonairres
Questionnaires that respondents fill out; since a larger number of people are able to fill them out, researchers lose control of the data.
Self-administered questionairres
Direct, often face-to-face or telephone questioning of respondents which is time consuming, thus researchers end up with fewer respondents.
Interview
The effects of the interviewer’s presence on the respondent that can lead to biased answers. Instead of saying how they really feel, they may give “socially acceptable answers” so as not to be judged by the interviewer, or to shape their answers to match what they think the interviewer wants to hear.
Interviewer bias
A type of interview which uses questions that is followed by a list of possible answers to be selected by the respondent. These are faster to administer and easier to code to later be analyzed by a computer. However, the list of answers may not include the respondents full range of opinions.
Structured interviews
Interviews which use open-ended questions. This type of interview lets a respondent tap into their full range of opinions, but makes the answers difficult to compare answers.
Unstructured interviews
Feeling of trust between researchers and the people they are studying. Especially important to establish with respondents regarding topics that elicit feelings of embarrassment, shame, or other negative emotions. Often established by asking questions about non-sensitive issues.
Rapport
Research in which the researcher participates in a research setting while observing what is happening in that setting.
Participant observation (or fieldwork)
The extent to which the findings from one group (or sample) can be generalized or applied to other groups (or populations); this is one of the two dilemmas Participant observers face, and also a problem in case studies.
Generalizability
The second dilemma a Participant observer may face is
Getting involved in the lives of the people they are observing.
An intensive analysis of a single event, situation, or individual. For example, focusing on one couple in which the husband beats his wife. Few sociologists use this method because of the issue with generalizability.
Case studies.
The analysis of data that have been collected by other researchers.
Secondary analysis
Analyzing the original interviews from a study of women who had been abused by their husbands is an example of
Secondary analysis
A problem of __ __ is: How can a researcher who did not carry out the initial study be sure that the data were gathered systematically and recorded accurately?
Secondary analysis
In its narrow sense, written sources that provide data; in its extended sense, archival material or any sort, including photos, movies, CDs, DVDs, and so on.
Documents
An issue with many sociologists is ___ ; simply put, you cannot study a topic unless you can gain ___ to pertinent documents.
ACCESS
The use of control and experimental groups and dependent and independent variables to test causation.
Experiments
The group of subjects in an experiment who are exposed to the change such as being one of two groups who receives therapy while the other group does not receive therapy.
Experimental group
The subjects in an experiment who are not exposed to the change. One of the two groups that do not receive therapy while the other group does.
Control group
A factor that causes a change in another variable. This factor would be the therapy itself that one group of the men receive.
Independent variable.
A factor in an experiment that is changed by experimenting. This factor would be the men’s behavior after receiving therapy.
Dependent variable.
Term which means that a change in one variable is caused by another variable.
Causation
What are the 3 conditions necessary for causation?
Correlation
Temporal Priority
No Spurious Correlation
When two or more variables are present together. For example, if abusers get drunk, abusive behavior and alcohol abuse are ____.
Correlated
Correlation does not necessarily imply causation. For instance, people can conclude that alcohol abuse causes spouse abuse, but just as easily the abusive behavior could upset the men, leading them to get drunk afterward.
Correlation never proves causation.
This term means that one thing happens before something else. For a variable to be a cause (the independent variable), it must precede that which is changed (the dependent variable).
Temporal priority
Even if the correlation of getting drunk and spouse abuse and temporal priority are identified, we still don’t know that alcohol is the cause. We could have ___ ____; that is, the cause may be some underlying third variable, and they are not usually easy to identify. Some sociologists think that male culture is that underlying third variable. The fact that not all men beat their wives brings to question if specific cultures that promote violence and denigrate women lead to both spouse abuse and alcohol abuse.
Spurious correlation
True or False. There are perfect 1.0 correlation coefficients (two variables which are always related) in human behavior.
False. Human behavior and social life is infinitely complicated.
A perfect negative correlation (when one variable is present, the other is always absent) is represented by the number …?
-1.0
Positive correlations of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 mean that one variable is associated with another only __ time out of 10, __ times out of 10, and __ times out of 10.
In other words, in most instances, the first variable is not associated with the second, indicating a weak relationship.
1, 2, 3
Ways of observing people so they do not know they are being studied.
Unobtrusive measures
What are the 4 primary factors that affect a sociologist’s choice in which method to use?
Access to resources
Access to subjects
Purpose of the research
The researcher’s background or training
What are the different types of research methods?
Survey Participant observation Case studies Secondary analysis Documents Experiments Unobtrusive measure
What are the three ways sociologists measure average?
The mean
The median
The Mode
Adding all numbers together and dividing it by the number of cases you added produces …? This number can be strongly deceptive because it is strongly influence by extreme score, either low or high.
The mean.
Arranging the cases in order wither from lowest to highest or highest to lowest, and then looking at the middle number produces …?
The median.
By observing the cases that occur more often, you will find …? Because this method is so deceptive, and only by chance comes close to either of the other two averages, sociologists rarely use it.
The mode.
What are the two basic reasons why sociological research is so controversial?
1) Sociologist continuously probe below surface realities, which threatens people’s interests.
2) They explore private or intimate areas of life.
___ generates questions that need to be answered by research and sociologists use ___ to interpret the data they gather.
Theory
___, in turn, helps to generate theory: Findings that don’t match what is expected can indicate a need to modify a theory.
Research
Therefore, ___ and ____ depend on one another.
Theory, research
What are the two basic ways that gender can affect research?
1) Participants can shape their responses based on the gender of the researcher
2) If a sample consists of only one sex, the results will not necessarily apply to the other sex.
Ethics are a fundamental concern to sociologists. What are their main concerns?
Openness, honesty, truth
Informing people that they are being studied
Never harming the subjects
Protecting the identity of subjects
Never falsifying results
Never misrepresenting themselves as sociologists
What two famous studies serve as excellent examples of protecting the identity of subjects?
The Brujaha research on restaurant workers
The Humphreys research on “tearooms”
