module 2

Question 1

why is sociology research important?

Answer 1

• Sociological research is important to the discipline of sociology because it helps us to understand social life
  
  • Common sense is too simple to be relied on for sociology, and stereotypes make common sense unreliable

Question 2

define sociological research?

Answer 2

• Research is formal data collection to produce verifiable findings
  
  • sociological research is a “rigorous means of developing new knowledge through various [research] approaches”

Question 3

five kinds of sociological research?

Answer 3

exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, evaluation. Empowerment

Question 4

goals of exploratory research?

Answer 4

aims to gain understanding about an area or group of people not well understood.

Question 5

goals of descriptive research?

Answer 5

• Descriptive researchaims to provide description of a group, event, activity, or situation.

Question 6

goal of explanatory research?

Answer 6

ims to clarify aspects of a social phenomenon to better understand its effects.

Question 7

goals is evaluation research?

Answer 7

• Evaluation researchaims to provide a needs assessment for the program or social phenomenon in question.

Question 8

goals of empowerment research?

Answer 8

aims to improve conditions in a particular social setting and/or for a particular group of people in that social setting.

Question 9

what is inductive research? qualitative or quantitative?

Answer 9

research is known as a “bottom-up” approach because it begins with research observations
• moves from these specific observations to broader, theory-based applications.
• Relevant patterns may be noticed, and from these observations form a tentative hypothesis. Finally, they would link this hypothesis to broader theories.
qualitative

Question 10

what is deductive research? qualitative or quantitative?

Answer 10

• Deductive research in contrast is known as a “top-down” approach because it begins with a theory and moves towards specific observations.
  
  • deductive approach would research the existing literature on excellent teachers and form a hypothesis with which to proceed (e.g., extroverts make better teachers). Once they’ve formulated a hypothesis, they would go into classrooms and observe whether or not their hypothesis holds true.

quantitative

Question 11

what is qualitative research? small or large sample sizes?

Answer 11

quality over quantity.
• Smaller sample sizes to gain a deeper understanding
• Relies on an inductive approach
research methods (detailed later in this module)

Question 12

3 research methods of qualitative research?

Answer 12

interview and focus groups, discourse analysis, and ethnographies.

Question 13

what is the goal of qualitative research?

Answer 13

The aim of qualitative research is to understand other people’s subjective realities and the societal forces that shape and affect their subjective realities. the goal here is not to test any specific hypothesis but to try and capture in the subjects ’ own words their notions of instructional excellence.

Question 14

what is quantitative research?

Answer 14

, as its name suggests, is concerned more with the quantity of information than with in-depth understanding.
• uses large sample sizes in an attempt to accurately predict and generalize human behaviour.

Question 15

3 methods of quantitative research? goal?

Answer 15

• research relies on a deductive approach. Common quantitative methods include experiments, surveys, and content analysis (some forms of content analysis can also use aspects of qualitative research)
  
  • The aim of quantitative research is to predict, generalize, and make causal explanations.(try and pinpoint an objective cause)

Question 16

what is an interview? a focus group?

Answer 16

nterview is a verbal question-and-answer technique used to gather in-depth information about the phenomenon under question
A focus group is simply a group interview, usually involving 6–10 participants (p. 38

Question 17

goals of interviews and focus groups? formats?

Answer 17

The goal in using interviews as a research method is to understand a phenomenon from the respondent’s perspective.
• can follow a structured, semi-structured, or unstructured format.
• A standardized or highly structured interview follows a set of predetermined questions
• A semi-structured interview has a series of pre-formulated questions, but the interviewer can ask follow-up questions based on what is raised in an interview
• an unstandardized interview has no (or very few) pre-established questions, allowing organic themes to emerge through the interview

Question 18

strengths of interviews?

Answer 18

• High response rate
  * Better reflect respondent’s views
  * Clarification can be given if needed

Question 19

weaknesses of interviews?

Answer 19

• Relies on interviewer skills
  * Good rapport necessary
  * Order of questions can affect quality

Question 20

what is ethnography? assumption?

Answer 20

• Ethnography is the “broad term for various forms of fieldwork designed to describe everyday behaviour in natural settings”
• The assumption behind ethnography is that behaviour is best studied in its natural environment
Ethnography can take the form of both participant and non-participant observation.

Question 21

what are the strengths of ethnography?

Answer 21

• Studies areas of interest in a natural setting

* Degree of closeness with topic in question

Question 22

weaknesses of ethnography?

Answer 22

• Changed group dynamics because of presence of researcher

* Entering and exiting a research setting

Question 23

what is discourse analysis? assumption?

Answer 23

• sometimes classified as a secondary data analysis because it analyzes already existing data on the topic in question.
  * The assumption behind discourse analysis is that ideas on any particular subject already exist through a range of textual sources

Question 24

goal of discourse analysis?

Answer 24

• The aim of discourse analysis is to understand how the language we use to talk about a particular phenomenon actually creates assumptions about that topic, “language is not seen as a simple or neutral medium for communicating information, but rather as a domain in and through which our knowledge about the world is actively shaped”

Question 25

strengths of discourse analysis?

Answer 25

• Data already available (i.e., convenient)

* Unobtrusive

Question 26

weaknesses of discourse analysis?

Answer 26

• Doesn’t provide a singular or tangible answer to problem or issue under investigation
  * Complicated and not always easy to understand for new researchers

Question 27

what is content analysis?

Answer 27

• is also a secondary data analysis technique used to examine messages portrayed in written and visual texts. However, unlike discourse analysis, it tends to have a quantitative component.
  * content analysis may count the number of times key themes are mentioned. A content analysis would make inferences about the centrality of a theme based on the number of times it was mentioned
  * Content analysis also measures the amount of space images (if applicable) take up in a text, and make inferences about the meanings conveyed through those images (this is the qualitative aspect of content analysis)

Question 28

strengths of content analysis?

Answer 28

• Data already available (i.e., convenient)

* Unobtrusive

Question 29

weaknesses of content analysis?

Answer 29

• Data may be taken out of context (i.e. reductive)

* Tends to rely too much on word counts

Question 30

what is an experiment?

Answer 30

• An experiment is “a deductive research method for testing a hypothesis through the use of a carefully controlled environment and random assignment to conditions” (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2016, p. 34).
  
  • Experimentation is a method more common to psychology than sociology, but it is still sometimes deployed to measure causality of human behaviour in sociology. In the social sciences, a lab is understood to be any controlled environment

Question 31

strength of experiments? weakness?

Answer 31

• Tests causality
Weakness:
• Artificiality

Question 32

what is a survey?

Answer 32

• A survey is a means of gathering data using a questionnaire, which includes a series of (usually) closed-ended questions (p. 36).
Surveys typically ask participants to respond based on a Likert scale (i.e., strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree). In some surveys, there can also be an open-ended, qualitative component (for example, is there anything you’d like comment on about this course?).

Question 33

strengths of surveys?

Answer 33

• High response rate
• Great for collecting breadth of information
Anonymity easily ensured

Question 34

weaknesses of surveys?

Answer 34

• Difficult to verify accuracy of the responses

* Wording of the questions or instructions can be misread

Question 35

how is research regulated?

Answer 35

• Regulated by university ethics boards, any research involving human participants must undergo a fairly stringent review process to ensure that subjects are not harmed in any way by their participation in the study. On pages 30 and 31 the text outlines the basic standards

Question 36

what are the basic standards that govern social research?

Answer 36

• the basic standards that govern social research—respect for persons (including voluntary participation, informed consent, anonymity, and confidentiality), concern for welfare (including physical and psychological safety), and justice (to be treated equitably).

Question 37

how did the milgrim obedience breach ethical issues?

Answer 37

• Informed consent (participants were not told the full nature of the study)
Psychological harm (both to the administrator and receiver of the shocks)

Question 38

how did the tuskegee syphilis study breach ethical issues\/

Answer 38

• Informed consent (participants were not told the nature of the study)
• Psychological harm (being treated like a human guinea pig)
• Physical harm (untreated syphilis)
Not treated with equity and respect (withheld treatment for the illness)

Question 39

how did humphreys tearoom trade breach ethical issues?

Answer 39

• Some people’s participation was not voluntary
  
  • Informed consent (not all participants were told they were involved in a study)
  • Anonymity not guaranteed (Humphrey’s recorded licence plates and home addresses)