Exam1: Family Science Flashcards
What is Family Science?
a social science that takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding families & relationships through the use of the scientific method, incorporates work from many disciplines, been its own independent field since 1980s
Detail the 7-point argument for why Family Science is important.
1) Modern families face many challenges
2) Avg person makes decisions abt those challenges based on little more than limited personal experience or belief (everyones experiences differ thus how people deal w/ these challenges differ)
3) Decisions based on experience/belief often ineffective/harmful b/c much of it is incorrect as a matter of scientific fact
Detail the 7-point argument for why Family Science is important.
1) Modern families face many challenges
2) Avg person makes decisions abt those challenges based on little more than limited personal experience or belief (everyone’s experiences differ thus how people deal w/ these challenges differ)
3) Decisions based on experience/belief often ineffective/harmful b/c much of it is incorrect as a matter of scientific fact
4) Little public education/knowledge abt what science shows is best for families to correct them (ppl don’t know & can’t make decisions based on facts that they don’t know exist)
5) People will turn to less reliable but more accessible sources w/o proper education abt Family Science research
6) These sources do not present research but stereotypical, inaccurate, oversimplified, & often counterproductive or harmful advice
7) Similarly, public policy affecting families is made by ppl who have insufficient understanding of family science (many well intended policies are actually harmful, EX: Bill passed to encourage marriage which resulted in less marriage and more ppl just living together)
Explain the four reasons why people know a lot about families that “just ain’t so.”
a) Misinterpret situations & draw incorrect conclusions from personal experience (ex: Every time I was my car it rains.)
b) Confirmation bias. Look for evidence to confirm beliefs not evidence that disprove it.
c) Mistake personal experiences to also be the way things are for everyone else
d) Mistake the way things “should” be w/ the way they actually are
Explain the scientific methodology that Family Scientists use, including why it is preferable to personal experience and how the four parts of the method lead to more reliable knowledge.
Trained Family Scientists use the Scientific Method instead of personal experience in order to avoid mistakes the avg person makes when thinking abt families. 4 parts of Scientific Method: objectivity, verifiability, control, and self-correction.
objectivity, verifiability, control and self-correction
4 Parts of the Scientific Method
objectivity, verifiability, control and self-correction
4 Parts of the Scientific Method
not open to subjective misinterpretation or bias, a fact is a fact regardless of personal experience or preference
objectivity
results can be confirmed or disconfirmed w/ replication ; not reliant on authority or experience, can verify it yourself
verifiability
accounting for confounding influences ( confounding variables) to ensure genuine results
Ex: ambient temp in ice cream sold & number of murders correlation)
control
scientists test their own findings & assumptions, looking for ERRORS & MISTAKES not confirmation; leads to growth and & revisions in theory and explanations
self-correction
1) Observation of problem
2) Hypothesis abt relationship btw variables
3) Test hypothesis for disconfirmation
4) Publication of test results
5) Verification of test results through replication (also seeking disconfirmation..others perform same test with same method & get same results or not)
6) Theory
Process of Family Science research
an educated, rational explanation for something that has been observed, but not yet “proven” through scientific testing. In Family Science this is not about proving something “true” or “false”, it is abt determining how common specific patterns are & under which conditions those patterns appear
Hypothesis
an explanation of an observation based on “proven” hypotheses that have been repeatedly verified by detached groups of researchers (diff groups of researchers who aren’t collaborating together & are also getting same results)
Theory
a) end result of long and rigorous scientific process
b) has been PROVEN BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT & is accepted as true by scientific experts
c) any scientist w/ right education & training could test it & show it to be true
d) is OBJECTIVELY true; if someone doesn’t “believe” it, that person is WRONG as a matter of FACT
Important Characteristics of Theory
a) end result of long and rigorous scientific process
b) has been PROVEN BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT & is accepted as true by scientific experts
c) any scientist w/ right education & training could test it & show it to be true
d) is OBJECTIVELY true; if someone doesn’t “believe” it, that person is WRONG as a matter of FACT
Why popular belief is irrelevant to the scientific accuracy of Theory
a) end result of long and rigorous scientific process
b) has been PROVEN BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT & is accepted as true by scientific experts
c) any scientist w/ right education & training could test it & show it to be true
d) is OBJECTIVELY true; if someone doesn’t “believe” it, that person is WRONG as a matter of FACT
Why popular belief is irrelevant to the scientific accuracy of Theory
1) Ask what do we know & how do we know it? Why do we accept/ believe it? What is the evidence for it?
2) Recognize missing info & conclusion that are made w/o complete info; being able to tolerate uncertainty, recognize when someone accepts conclusions w/o asking the previous questions
3) Distinguish observing from inferring, fact from opinion, knowledge from assumption
4) Draw appropriate inferences from data & know when they can’t be drawn, recognize when relevant variables have/haven’t been controlled
5) Testing one’s own reasoning/ conclusions for internal consistency and developing intellectual self-reliance
Critical Thinking Skills for Family Science
focusing on what participant does (answering ?s, surveys, being observed, etc.)
Research Methods
plans for the study that permit best possible test of hypothesis
Research Designs
Uses both quantitative & qualitative and triangulates the data
Ex: Students said learned more w/ one method than other…statistically the students performance showed to be the same
Mixed-Method Research
1) Observation (Naturalistic & Structured)
2) Interview (Clinical & Structured, questionnaires, tests)
3) Case Study
4) Ethnography (try to gain
Types of Research Methods
1) Observation (Naturalistic & Structured)
2) Interview (Clinical & Structured, questionnaires, tests)
3) Case Study
4) Ethnography (try to gain
Types of Research Methods
Correlational, Experimental, Longitudinal, Cross-sectional (take 2 groups & compare at one point in time), sequential (ex: just married group & married for 10yrs group answer same ?s then X amount yrs later both groups are asked same ?s again
Types of Research Designs
provides us with empirical evidence for knowledge or theories, allows us to test hypotheses to determine what is as opposed to what we think should be
scientific research
data or evidence that can be confirmed by the use of one or more of the human senses
empirical evidence
process in which data can be analyzed using numerical categories and statistical techniques
quantitative analysis
focuses on specific or distinct qualities within the data that show patterns of similarity or difference among the research subjects, QUALITIES
qualitative analysis
most widely used method of studying marriages and families, gather info by asking people questions, useful for gathering info that is not easily observable, gathers large amounts of info at low costs, CON: limit response to pre-established answers, surveys rely on ppls willingness to give up accurate info (especially sexual or violent info)
surveys
a type of survey method, usually involves interviewer asking another person questions w/ interviewer recording answers
interview
type of survey method, provides autonomy to person answering questions, a set of printed ?s people read on their own and record their answers
questionaire
phenomenon where ppl modify their behavior either deliberately or subconsciously when they are being observed.
Hawthorne effect
observe behaviors systematically, is useful when researchers only have vague idea of type of behavior they want to study, study ppl or situations not accessible to general public, or when no other way to get info
Observation
PRO:best method for collecting data on nonverbal behavior, less restrictive or artificial
CON: presence of observer brings possibility of bias, take a long time & money, limited number of subjects, researcher has little control over situation
Observation pros and cons
a detailed, in-depth examination of a single unit, use data from interviews or observation or existing records for in-depth examination of a particular individual, group, or organization
case study
PRO: provides great detail about subject, long term in-depth analysis of various aspects of phenomenon being studied
CON: focus is on specific case thus cannot be generalized to the larger populations
case study pros and cons
a research technique for describing a social group from the group’s point of view, exams many diff versions of reality from the point of view of the researched, use qualitative methods, attempt to gain cultural knowledge from the people being studied, have been studied primarily from the cultural perspective of White middle-class male researchers
ethnography
PRO: first hand accounts of the lives you are studying
CON: critics argue biases limit reliability and validity of qualitative data
ethnography pros and cons
In order to avoid the ______ once a selection or rejection occurred, the researcher always moved out of the viewing range of those shoppers to record the event
Hawthorne Effect
Historically, most family research has focused on whom?
white middle class marriages and families
ignores working, lower, and upper class
structural functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, social constructionism, social exchange theory, the developmental family life cycle model, feminist theories and perspectives
Theoretical perspectives
views society as an organized and stable system, analogous to the human system- that is made up of a variety of interrelated parts or structures, all institutions in society work in harmony for the good of society and themselves, analyze how families organize themselves for survival and functions they perform for society and for their individual members
structural functionalism
functionalists interested in the intended, overt or ___ functions of social institutions such as family
ex: manifest function of having children may be to continue family lineage or add to marital satisfaction
manifest functions
functionalists interested in the unintended, unrecognized, or ______ functions as well
ex: introduction of children in early years of life can have latent functions of decreasing marital status
latent
not all features of a social system are ___- performing a positive service by helping to maintain the system in a balanced state or promoting the achievement of group goals
functional
features of the system that hamper the achievement of group goals and disrupt the system’s balance are said to be___
dysfunctional
classic example of structural-functionalist perspective, explanation of how marriages and families work is embedded within this model, popularized by Talcott Parsons (in 1950s), emerged as the dominant family type to meet the needs of an industrial economy, emphasis on gender roles in family (male=instrumental, female=expressive)
Nuclear Family Model
these traits encourage self-confidence, rationality; competition, and coolness-qualities that facilitate male success in the world of work
instrumental traits
these traits encourage nurturance, emotionality, sensitivity, and warmth-qualities that help women succeed in caring for a husband, children, and a home
expressive traits
conflict theorist, economist, political agitator, and social theorist who did much to revolutionize social and philosophical thinking abt human society, believe problem lay in social organization of industrial societies, conflict of capitalist(owners) and the proletariat(worker), economic power
Karl Marx
like functionalism, focuses on social structures and institutions in society, conflict is natural and inevitable in all human interaction, including family systems
conflict theory
