SOC 300 Midterm Flashcards
Induction begins with observations and seeks to find a pattern within them. Inductive reasoning moves from the particular to the general, from a set of specific observations to the discovery of a pattern that represents some degree of order among all the given events
Inductive research
Deduction begins with an unexpected pattern that is tested against observations then moves to observations that test whether the expected pattern actually occurs.
Deductive research
The main elements of science: Theory, Operationalization, Hypothesis, Observation
Traditional science model
statement of an expected relationship between two variables. Null hypothesis: no relationship. Stating hypotheses: disconfirmability, specify the relationship precisely.
Hypothesis
model or frame of reference through which to observe and understand. Often implicit and assumed. Affects what you look for.
Paradigm
the process of developing operational definitions, or specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable
Operationalization
a theory aimed at understanding social life on the intimate level of individuals and their interactions
Microtheory
a theory aimed at understanding the big picture of institutions, whole societies, and the interactions among societies
Macrotheory
Incomplete (few variables) but many cases (in general) Nomothetic approach: political orientation. An approach to explanation in which we seek to identify a few causal factors that generally impact a class of conditions or events.
Nomothetic
Complete (many variables) but few cases (specific instance). Idiographic approach: information from parents, teachers, clergy etc or previous experiences. An approach to explanation in which we seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a particular condition or event
Idiographic
A research project guarantees anonymity when the researcher—not just the people who read about the research—cannot identify a given response with a given respondent. This implies that a typical interview survey respondent can never be considered anonymous, because an interviewer collects the information from an identifiable respondent
Anonymity
entails interviews to discover any problems generated by the research experience so that those problems can be corrected. Even though subjects can’t be told the true purpose of the study prior to their participation in it, there’s usually no reason they can’t know afterward
confidentiality
Debriefing
Informed Consent. Right to privacy. Protection from Harm. Voluntary participation
Ethical Guidelines
Informed: description, purpose, risks, benefits. Consent: no coercion. A norm in which subjects base their voluntary participation in research projects on a full understanding of the possible risks involved. Famous case: Laud Humphreys Tearoom Trade (1970s), Facebook participant experience (2010s)
informed consent
observing human obedience- stanley milgram. Participants imitated a laboratory based World War II controversy. Participants were assigned the job of teacher to teach a list of works to the pupil. If the pupil got the word wrong, the teacher would administer increasing levels of shocks to the pupils.
Milgram experiment
To study the dynamics of prisoner–guard interactions, Zimbardo employed Stanford students as subjects and assigned them roles as prisoners or guards at random. The simulation became real for all the participants, including Zimbardo, who served as prison superintendent. Many of the student-prisoners were suffering psychological damage
Stanford prison experiment
The ethics of social research deal mostly with the methods employed. Political issues tend to center on the substance and use of research. There are no formal codes of acceptable political conduct, while there are formal codes of conduct for social research.
Political considerations
A researcher examines specific subpopulations as they change over time. Typically, a cohort is an age group, such as people born during the 1950s, but it can also be some other time grouping, such as people born during the Vietnam War. An example of a cohort study would be a series of national surveys, conducted perhaps every 20 years,
cohort study
an empirical relationship between two variables such that changes in one are associated with changes in the other. Correlation in and of itself does not constitute a causal relationship between the two variables, but it is one criterion of causality
Correlation
Involves observations of a sample, or cross section, of a population or phenomenon that are made at one point in time. Exploratory and descriptive studies are often cross-sectional.
cross-sectional study
The assumption that something learned about an ecological unit says something about the individuals making up that unit
ecological fallacy
Designed to permit observations of the same phenomenon over an extended period. For example, a researcher can participate in and observe the activities of a UFO cult from its inception to its demise.
longitudinal study
a fundamental problem in panel studies: subjects dropping out of the study
panel mortality.
A type of longitudinal study, in which data are collected from the same set of people (the sample or panel) at several points in time
panel study
A fault of some researchers: a strict limitation (reduction) of the kinds of concepts to be considered relevant to the phenomenon under study
Reductionism
Any product of social beings or their behavior. Can be a unit of analysis
social artifact
A paradigm based on the view that social behavior can be explained solely in terms of genetic characteristics and behavior
Sociobiology
A coincidental statistical correlation between two variables, shown to be caused by some third variable
spurious relationship
A type of longitudinal study in which a given characteristic of some population is monitored over time
trend study
The what or whom being studied. In social science research, the most typical units of analysis are individual people.
units of analysis
Much of social research is conducted to explore a topic, that is, to start to familiarize a researcher with that topic. This approach typically occurs when a researcher examines a new interest or when the subject of study itself is relatively new
Exploratory research
aims to accurately and systematically describe a population, situation or phenomenon
Descriptive research
address questions of why. a research method that explores why something occurs when limited information is available. It can help you increase your understanding of a given topic, ascertain how or why a particular phenomenon is occurring, and predict future occurrence
Explanatory research
constructs derived by mutual agreement from mental images. Conceptions summarize collections of seemingly related observations and experiences.
Concept
the process through which we specify what we mean when we use particular terms in research. We cannot meaningfully answer a question without a working agreement about the meaning of the outcome. Produces a specific agreed-on meaning for a concept for the purposes of research
Conceptualization
the degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships.
construct validity
the degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included within a concept
content validity
The degree to which a measure is related to some external criterion.
criterion-related validity
a specifiable aspect of a concept
Dimension
that quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable
face validity
an observation that we choose to consider as a reflection of a variable we wish to study.
Indicator
attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between. Variables for which the actual distance between attributes has meaning. Ex) temperature, IQ score
interval measure
attributes are merely different. Variables whose attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutually exclusiveness. ex) gender, religion, college major, hair color, birthplace, nationality.
nominal measure
attributes are rank-ordered. Variables with attributes we can logically rank order. ex) socioeconomic status, level of conflict, prejudice
ordinal measure
interval measure with a true zero point, can calculate the ratio of attributes. Ex) age, length of time, number of organization, number of groups.
ratio measure
that quality of measurement method that suggests that the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon. Reliability is about repeating the method
Reliability
describes a measure that accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure.
Validity
may be used when it’s either impossible or impractical to compile an exhaustive list of the elements composing the target population. Similar to stratified sampling.
cluster sampling
The range of values within which a population parameter is estimated to lie
confidence interval
The estimated probability that a population parameter lies within a given confidence interval
confidence level
someone who is well versed in the social phenomenon that you wish to study and who is willing to tell you what they know about it
informant
Any technique in which samples are selected in some way not suggested by probability theory. ex) purposive sampling, snowball, quota
nonprobability sampling
a summary description of a given variable in a population
Parameter
A group about whom we want to draw conclusions. We’re almost never able to study all the members of the population that interests us and we can never make every possible observation of them
Population
sampling distributions, and estimates of sampling error.
probability sampling
a type of nonprobability sampling in which the units to be observed are selected on the basis of the researchers’ judgement about which ones will be the most useful or representative. Small subsets of a population, two-group comparison, deviant cases
purposive sampling
a type of nonprobability sampling in which units are selected into a sample on the basis of pre-specified characteristics, so that the total sample will have the same distribution of characteristics assumed to exist in the population being studied. Similar to probability sampling, but has problems: quota frame must be accurate, selection of sample elements may be biased.
quota sampling
Each case has an equal chance of selection independent of any other event in the selection process
random selection
the quality of a sample having the same distribution of characteristics as the population from which it was selected. Samples need to be representative in all respects, only those relevant to the research.
Representativeness
the degree of error to be expected of a given sample design
sampling error
findings based on a sample represent only the aggregation of elements that compose the sampling frame. Sampling frames do not include all the elements their names might imply. Omissions are inevitable. To be generalized all elements must have equal representation in the frame.
sampling frame
the standard distance between elements selected from a population in the sample
sampling interval
the proportion of elements in the population that are selected
sampling ratio
that element of a set of cases considered for selection in some stage of sampling.
sampling unit
a type of probability sampling in which the units composing a population are assigned numbers. A set of random numbers is generated and the units having those numbers are included in the sample. Not necessarily the most accurate sampling method.
simple random sampling
a nonprobability sampling method whereby each person interviewed may be asked to suggest additional people for interviewing. Often used in field research, special populations
Snowball sampling
the summary description of a variable in a sample, used to estimate a population parameter
Statistic
the grouping of the units composing a population into homogeneous groups before sampling. Slightly more accurate than simple random sampling. Stratification is a modification to simple random and systematic sample methods
Stratification
a sampling method in which each case has an equal chance of selection independent of any other event in the selection process
study population
a type of probability sampling in which every kth unit in a list is selected for inclusion in the sample. Slightly more accurate than simple random sampling.
systematic sampling
a group of subjects to whom no experimental stimulus is administered and who should resemble the experimental group in all other respects.
control group
an experimental design in which neither the subjects nor the experimenters know which is the experimental and which is the control group
double-blind experiment
a group of subjects to whom an experimental stimulus is administered.
experimental group
the possibility that conclusions drawn from experimental results may not be generalizable to the real world
external invalidity
the possibility that the conclusions drawn from experimental results may not accurately reflect what went on in the experiment itself
Internal validity
experiments conducted in “real world” settings
field experiment
In connection with experiments, the procedure whereby pairs of subjects are matched on the basis of their similarities on one or more variables, and one member of the pair is assigned to the experimental group and the other to the control group.
matching
the measurement of a dependent variable among subjects after they have been exposed to an independent variable
Posttesting
the measurement of a dependent variable along subjects.
Pretesting
need a large pool of subjects. Statistical tests are based on randomization design.
Randomization
when simply being observed or participating in the research has an effect on the participants behavior or results
Hawthorne effect
