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Sociology 202, Research Methods in Sociology > Exam 1 > Flashcards

Exam 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the research process?

A

-Formulate Research Question
-Prepare research design
-Collect data
-Analyze and interpret data

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2
Q

Four basic approaches to research

A

-Experiments
-Field Research
-Surveys
-Existing Data Analysis Rsearch

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3
Q

Experiment?

A

A specific methodological approach with 2 key features: manipulation and control

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4
Q

Norm-breaking experiment?

A

Where you observe people’s behavior before and after breaking a social norm

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5
Q

What are some limitations to experiments?

A

-May not always reflect reality
-Usually performed on a specific group of people at a certain time and location
-Unable to manipulate everything of interest to social scientists
-Brings up questions of ethics

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6
Q

What can help us understand the causes of human behavior?

A

Well- conducted experiments

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7
Q

Survey?

A

A basic approach to social research that involves asking a relatively large sample of people direct questions through interviews and questionnaires

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8
Q

What do surveys help researchers do?

A

Understand patterns and relationships that may be generalizable to a larger group of people

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9
Q

What are some drawbacks to surveys?

A

-What people say might not always be true or predictive of what they’d actually do
-Difficult to assign cause and effect
-May not adequately represent the group they’re studying

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10
Q

What is the best way to ensure a good representative sample?

A

Taking a random sample

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11
Q

Field Research

A

Observing people in their natural settings then often asking questions

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12
Q

In-depth Interviews

A

A type of formal interview intended to yield deep responses through open0ended questions and a flexible format

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13
Q

Qualitative Research & what produces it?

A

-Non-numeric data
-Field research and in-depth interviews yield qualitative data

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14
Q

Catch Lacking

A

Confronting a person associated with a gang who is going about their non-gang related daily business

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15
Q

How is field research different from surveys and experiments?

A

-Does not intend to intentionally change people’s behavior
-Researchers are less interested in the percentage of people who provide a certain response than the social meanings and processes behind those responses

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16
Q

Existing data analysis

A

Analysis of data from sources that were not produced directly by the researcher who uses them

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17
Q

Content analysis

A

Using a specific type of existing data

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18
Q

What is a limitation of existing content analysis?

A

Finding data that is appropriate to answer the research question and figuring out how to analyze it

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19
Q

What are the elements of science?

A

-Theory
-Systematic data collection and analysis
-Logical Reasoning
-Verifiable data

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20
Q

Scientific studies use principles of…

A

Logical reasoning

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21
Q

Scientific studies are based on…

A

Verifiable data that has been collected systematically

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22
Q

What are the two forms of reasons that science uses?

A

-Deductive logic
-Inductive logic

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23
Q

Deductive Logic of Inquiry

A

-Moves from theory to hypothesis to data
-Top Down approach

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24
Q

What is the disadvantage of deductive logic?

A

May overlook other theoretical approaches

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25
Q

Inductive Logic of Inquiry

A

-Moves from data to empirical patterns to theory
-Bottom Up approach

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26
Q

Empirical pattern

A

A relationship between phenomena inferred from data

27
Q

What is a disadvantage of empirical patterns?

A

May have multiple theoretical interpretations

28
Q

In what ways is science imperfect?

A

-Tentative
-Can not be proven beyond a doubt
-Can always have alternative explanations
-Knowledge depends on social-historical context

29
Q

Initial Research Process Steps

A

-Select Research Topic
-Review Literature/Consider theory
-Formulate Research Question
-Prepare Research Design

30
Q

Researchers select topics based on…

A

-Strong personal interests
-Ongoing research and theory

31
Q

What is the purpose of literature review?

A

-Helps to identify researchable questions
-Establishes a connection
-Provides information on how previous studies were conducted
-Helps to grasp the current state of knowledge on that topic

32
Q

What are the purposes of a research question?

A

-Descriptive
-Explanatory (how & why)

33
Q

What makes a good research question?

A

-Interesting
-Seeks to expand knowledge
-Focused by being concrete and specific
-Manageable & Feasible

34
Q

Quantitative research questions ask about…

A

Relationships between variables

35
Q

Qualitative research questions ask about…

A

The meaning and cultural significance of the phenomena

36
Q

Survey example

A

Scarborough et al

37
Q

Existing data analysis example

A

Caudillo and Villareal

38
Q

Other quantitative data collection projects

A

Olzak

39
Q

Units of analysis

A

Cases or entities that researchers study

40
Q

Variable

A

A measured concept that varies over time

41
Q

Extraneous variables

A

-Confounders(Antecedent)
-Mediators(Intervening)
-Controlled or Uncontrolled

42
Q

What do tests of statistical significance determine?

A

-Whether an association would have occurred by chance

43
Q

What is the direction of influence usually determined by?

A

Temporal order

44
Q

Spurious associations are caused by

A

Confounders or antecedent variables

45
Q

A central challenge regarding confounders is…

A

They are often unobserved

46
Q

What do intervening(mediator) variables do?

A

-Strengthens inferences about non-spuriousness and causality

46
Q

Conceptualization

A

-The objective is to clarify the meaning of concepts embedded in the research question, to make abstraction more specific
-Language shifts from concepts to variables

46
Q

Clarification may occur by…

A

-Defining the theoretical meaning
-Distinguishing the concept
-Identifying dimensions

47
Q

Operationalization

A

-Identify empirical
-Spell out procedures for applying indicators in collecting
data
-Multiple measures of the same
concept is better than one

47
Q

Manipulation operations

A

-Involves changing categories or values of a variable
-Applies to the independent variable

48
Q

Measure operations

A

Estimate existing values or or categories

49
Q

Sources of measurable operational definitions

A

-Verbal self-reports: based on answers to questions
-Observation: direct observation of behavior or use of technology
-Archival records: use of existing recorded information

50
Q

Types of Measurement

A

-Nominal
-Ordinal
-Ratio

51
Q

Nominal

A

-Merely labels variable categories
-Cases placed in the same category must be equivalent
-Categories should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive
-Categories don’t have an intrinsic order
-We cannot add, subtract, multiply or divide values

52
Q

Ordinal

A

-Numbers indicate rank order
-We cannot add, subtract, multiply, or divide values, but we can rank them

53
Q

Ratio

A

-Intervals between numbers represent equal distances in the variable being measured
-Uses a standard measurement unit or metric
-A zero value means there is “none”
-When a zero value does not mean an absence of the property being
measured, we call it an interval measurement

54
Q

How do you select operational definitions?

A

-Use the theory in which the concept is embedded as a guide
-Depends on the approach: experiment, survey, qualitative research, existing data analysis
-Create an operational definition that fits the conceptual definition
-Create a set of categories or values that will produce as much information as possible

55
Q

Reliability

A

-Stability or consistency of an operational definition

56
Q

Measurement validity

A

-Goodness of fit between an operational definition and the concept it is intended to measure

57
Q

What is the relationship between reliability and validity?

A

-A reliable measure may or may not be valid
-An unreliable measure cannot be valid
-Reliability is a necessary condition for validity

58
Q

Test-retest

A

-Measure the same units or persons on two separate occasions
-Correlation should be high, at least .80

59
Q

Internal consistency

A

-Measure the consistency of “scores” across a set of items
-Applies only to composite measures
-Based on the correlation among variables that are expected to measure the same concept

60
Q

Reliability Assessment

A

-Inter-rater: measure consistency across different observers or coders
-Applies when observers are coding behavior
-Applies when raters or coders are coding documents

61
Q

Validity Assessment

A

-Convergent validation: determine the extent to which independent measures of the same concept are associated
-Construct validation: determine the extent to which an operational definition is related to other variables as theoretically expected
-Based on an accumulation of research evidence, not a single association
-May involve checking relationships with theoretically related and unrelated
variables

Sociology 202, Research Methods in Sociology (1 decks)

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