Exam Flashcards
What 3 stages does research involve?
Planning
Data Collection
Analysis
Epistemology is concerned with…
how we know things
What is Positivism?
The belief that SCIENCE CAN UNCOVER THE TRUTH OR THE “WHAT” of social questions we might have about things observed often. Associated w/ natural sciences.
What is Phenomenology?
To know the social world we MUST UNDERSTAND THE SOCIAL PROCESSES. Phenomenologists want to know HOW PEOPLE INTERPRET THEIR WORLD AND WHAT TO UNCOVER THE “HOW” of a social phenomenon.
What is a critical epistemological perspective?
A desire to UNDERSTAND THE STRUCTURAL RELATIONSHIPS AND CONTEXTS of a social phenomenon. Data is often HISTORICAL OR COMPARATIVE and answers the “WHY” of the phenomenon.
What is Ontology?
The study of what is real or the nature of being.
What is Objectivism (Ontological Perspective)?
Organizations and phenomenon are said to EXIST BEYOND THE PEOPLE WHO INHABIT THEM. INDIVIDUALS HAVE NO ROLE in shaping the social world; they inhabit it and internalize its values, assumptions, and beliefs.
What is Constructivism (Ontological Perspective)?
OPPOSITE of OBJECTIVISM. The social world is CONSTANTLY BEING CREATED BY INDIVIDUALS. The world is in a constant state of evolution and change.
What is empiricism versus social constuctivism?
Empiricism–> views reality as waiting to be discovered through research
Social Constructivism–> we cocreate reality as we discover it
Qualitative research is…
related to people, to people data collection, observation, not numerical
- Induction reasoning
- avoids assumptions of what data might reveal
- data informs the question as its collected
Quantitative research is…
- deductive reasoning (Identify relevant variables before data collection)
- Question framed as a hypothesis, a conclusion that is either rejected or accepted
- evaluates effect of an intervention
Naturalism (Positivism)
Language of Qualitative
based on people’s perceptions, meanings, or lived experiences
ex. What will happen if we intervene with this
Social Constructivism (Language of Qualitative)
deriving from how people represent or construct views of their world (rooted in language)
ex. How symbols can have connected meanings
What are the benefits of Naturalistic Research?
- representational simplicity and a formulaic task list (enter the setting, establish the rapport, record observations, present the findings)
- participants are mere sources of data versus co-creators
What is a benefit and problem of Constructivism (ethnomethodology)?
Benefit: Emphasizes the rhetorical and constructive aspects of knowledge
Problem: risks loosing sight of topic in the name of focusing on the process of its creation
What is a model?
A framework for how we look at reality, basic elements and what reality is like
ex. functionalism, behaviourism, symbolic interactionism
What is a concept?
Clearly specified ideas deriving from a particular model and ways of looking at the world which are essential to defining a research problem
ex. social function, stimulus/ response, definition of the situation
What is a theory?
An arranged set of concepts to define and explain some phenomenon. Often used to explain, predict, or understand.
The levels of analysis, beginning with model are…
- Model
- Concepts
- Theories
- Hypothesis
- Methodology
- Methods
- Findings
- Back to the hypothesis
What is a social problem?
General factors that affect and damage society, not usually researchable as they are too big and unwieldy
What is a research problem?
Definite or clear expression about an area of concern that points to the need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation
- DOES NOT STATE HOW TO DO SOMETHING
What is Historical sensitivity?
Understanding a social problem by understanding the history of the issue.
ex. Populations were controlled by force and we assume that we have more freedoms now. But through historical research you will find that surveillance, though not violent, is a form of control, and we have more of that now.
What is Political Sensitivity?
It seeks to grasp the politics behind defining topics in particular ways. Seeks to question how official definitions of problems arise.
ex. Questioning the term “child abuse” in the late 1960s as a government definition
What is Contextual Sensitivity?
Recognizing that apparently uniform institutions like “family” or “media” can take on a variety of different contexts. Move beyond the common sense stereotypes of qualitative research. Anchored in the idea that we socially construct meaning and it is not universal, it is anti- essentialist.