Lecture - Methods Flashcards
statistics
give an idea about how wrong we are likely to be although their precision can produce a false sense of certainty.
concept
a mental construct that represents some part of society through in simplified form
variable
concept whose value changes form case to.case
measurement
determining the value of a variable in a specific case
operationalizing a verbal
specifying exactly what is measured in assigning a value to a variable
ex. looking at someones education and income to figure out their class
reliability
consistent measurement
- repeated measurement of the same case gives the same answer
validity
measuring precisely what is intended
-did you measure what you wanted to?
Mean
average found by adding a series of number and dividing by the number of cases
- measurement of central tendencies
Median
value that is in the middle of the number line
Mode
value of the variable that occurs more frequently than any other
standard deviation
measure of dispersion
- estimates how far away are the observations from the mean
1. subtract mean from each observation and then square result
2. ass up deviations
3. divide sum by # of observations
4. take the square root of result
independent variable
variable that causes change in another variable
dependent variable
a variable that changes due to the influence of another variable
-“hang from”
Hypothesis
If (insert change in independant variable) THEN (insert change in dependent variable)
Correlation
2 variables related in some way, not necessarily through cause and effect
spurious correlation
casual relation is apparent between 2 variables when none exists
- 3rd , hidden variable causes both
Scientific control
holding a 3rd variable constant while testing for a relationship between 2 variables
objectivity
personal neutrality in conducting research
-but scientists can still be bias
replication
repeating research different people in different settings to assess its accuracy
- test bias & such to hold everyone else accountable
ethnography
participant - observation of human behavior
- researchers participate in the culture they study
objectivity is acknowledged as impossible
Kenneth Good
studied & lived w. yanomama tribe
- ex of ethnography
- ex 2 jane goodalle
Margret Meed
cultural anthropologist
- wrote “coming of age in somoa” & thought nurture had more of an impact (this is still debated)
Nature vs. Nurture
does biology or culture determine human behavior - debate
Limits of Scientific Sociology
- it’s complex, limiting our predictive capability
ex. nobody predicted that feminist movement would take off like it did - humans change their behavior when being studied
- social patterns change
- sociologist are part of the world that they study, making it objectively more difficult
Research Method
strategy for systematically conducting research
Experiment
allows investigation of cause and effect under highly controlled conditions
Experimental group
research subjects for whom the indepentand variable changes
control group
research subjects for whom the independant variable doesn’t change (placebo)
random assignment to group
all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned dot a group
social experiments
most interesting when they show that individual behavior is caused by social factors vs. thats just how they are
Zimbardo’s stanford county prison
showed social factors determine wether normal people act brutally
- w.in the first day the guards were brutal
- stanford didn’t have a control group
Milgrim’s electric shock experiment
-showed people in appropriate social setting, normal people will torture another person
Brutality in prison & other institutions…
is a problem of poor organization rather than evil
- brutality will occur whenever some people have power over others
unless it’s supervised or monitored to prevent it
