More First Test Flashcards
Empirical evidence
Evidence corroborated by direct experience or observation combined with the scientific method
Why study sociology?
Teaches people how they fit into the world. Helps people see how they connect to different groups and understand themselves.
Reliability
Reliability increases the likelihood that what happens to one person will happen to all people in a group.
Validity
Refers to how well the study measures what it was designed to measure
Operational definition
Defined in terms of physical or concrete steps to objectively measure it
Hawthorne effect
People changing their behavior because they know they are being watched as part of a study
Ethnography
The extended observation of the social perspective and cultural values of an entire social setting
When is a measurement considered valid?
When it actually measures what it is intended to measure
John Mihelich and John Papineau
Used ethnography to study parrot heads
John S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd
Used participant observation in their Middletown study
Interpretive framework
Seeks to understand social worlds from the point of view of participants
Case study
In depth analysis of a single event, situation, or an individual.
Secondary data analysis
Aren’t from firsthand research but already completed works of other researchers
Nonreactive
Unobtrusive. Doesn’t include direct contact with subjects that will alter behaviors
Value neutrality
Remaining impartial, without bias or judgement
