SOCI 211 Midterm Flashcards
What is sociology
It is the scientific study of the social lives of individuals, groups and societies. It helps understand the behaviours, beliefs and feelings around us
Micro sociology
Personal concerns, interpersonal concerns (doctor-patient)
Macro sociology
large scale social systems
Agency
ability to act (free will)
Structure
patterned social arrangements that may constrain choices and opportunities
Sociological Imagination
personal experiences are powerfully shaped by macro social and historical forces. It also links micro and micro and agency to structure
Research
systematic way to gather information
Social science research
applying the scientific method to individuals, societies and social processes
Steps to conduct research
- Identify question
- construct hypothesis
- gather data
- analyze data
- draw and report conclusions
Why apply the scientific method
To avoid…
biases and incorrect assumptions
Common errors in reasoning and how does research address them
selective observation
overgeneralization
illogical reasoning
resistance to change
The research process
Theory
hypothesis
data
empirical findings
Why do we cite
Misusing others work/intellectual property
claiming it is yours
to avoid plagiarism
to give credit
to document the intellectual path
What is plagiarism
the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own
Qualitative methods
Ways of collecting data that yield results such as words or pictures
substance
Quantitative methods
Ways of collecting data that can be represented by and condensed into numbers
counting
Good sociological questions are…
socially important
scientifically relevant
feasible
value free
Descriptive research
documents or describes trends, variations and patterns of social phenomena
It explains what, but not how or why
quantitive and qualitative methods
Exploratory Research
how particular processes and dynamics
qualitative methods
Explanatory research
answers why
comparison/differences-> casualty
often motivated by descriptive/exploratory research
Booth, Colomb and William’s approach
focuses on the process of identifying research questions
Identifying a research question
pick up a topic
turn a topic into a question
identify the significance
(answer the so what)
Research question example
I want to learn…
Because I want to help my leader understand…
In order to…
Cross-sectional
one point in time
Repeated cross-sectional
same study administered to a new sample of interviewees at successive time points, every 5 years…
Panel
cohort study
involves the collection of data over time from a baseline sample of respondents
Unit of analysis
states
cities
neighbourhoods
individuals
refers to the level of social life about which we want to generalize
what you want to generalize will determine what your unit of analysis is going to be
Ecology fallacy
making conclusions of the wrong unit of analysis
for example: study of neighborhoods but you talked about people
Unit of analysis again
what is being studied
the things we examine or compare
the analysis you do in your study determines what the unit is
must be multiple of whatever you are studying
can be different from unit of observation
Boys who play sports do better in school than boys who do not play sports
unit of analysis: boys
unit of observation: boys
Neighborhoods with high unemployment rates have higher rates of crime
unit of analysis: neighborhoods
unit of observation: individuals
Members of environmental groups are arrested more than abortion activists
unit of analysis: individuals
unit of observation: individuals
Black gangs are involved in dense networks, whereas the hispanic gangs are in a star-like network with latin kings in the centre
unit of analysis: gangs
unit of observation: individuals (gang members)
Core aspects of social research
Basic (pure science) vs. applied (applied science)
Theory
logically interrelated set of propositions
use to guide your research
helps you connect your specific question to larger sociological issues
helps identify important questions
(t)heory
set of logical propositions
sequential arguments
series of logically related statements
part of all (good) social research
(T)heory
e.g. critical race Theory
particular set of statements
frameworks
widely known (Marx, conflict theory)
Relations among concepts within a theory
positive relation -> same up or down
negative relation -> more of one, less than other
mediation-> linking concept
moderation-> conditioning concept
spuriousness-> confounding variable ( both caused by something else)
reverse causation/ reciprocal relationship-> concept 2 causes concept 1
Inductive
builds theory
observe patterns and build up to an explanation
an analysis finds married people are healthier and the develops a theory
Deductive
test theory
create an argument to organize and guide empirical activities
a sociologist reads Durkheim’s readings/theories and designs a study to test it
Logic systems (deductive)
theory
hypothesis
observations
confirmation
Inductive
theory
tentative hypothesis
pattern
observation
From a topic to data
Broad concept/topic
well defined concept
variable
attributes
Why ethics
previous unethical research
strict guidelines for conducting research
current unethical research
Core ethical principles
very different between Canada and US but many of the core are the same
US principles of the Belmont report
respect
beneficence (responsibility to do good, minimize the justice (fair)
Canada
respect for persons (consent, autonomy)
concern for welfare (quality of the research process)
Justice (impact of research and their health)
Ethical considerations
study design/research question
study recruitment
study implementation
Supporting more ethical research
ethical boards for review
informed consent
data management strategies
limiting conflicts of interest
Hypothesis
formal: critical step in deductive process
informal/tentative: critical step in the inductive process
it is a specific expectation or prediction
proposes a relationship between 2 or more variables (include direction of association)
most framed as if…then
Hypothesis- continued
can never be proven
only disproven
casual: implied about associations
From research questions to hypothesis
conceptualization (broad concepts are defined)
specify relationship (difference/association)
Conceptualization
the process of specifying what we mean by a term
Deductive research
move from abstract or idea to specific variables in a hypothesis
Inductive research
used to make sense of related observations
Operationalization
each concept must be measured independently
measure your concept with variables
Variables
a characteristic or property that can vary
Independent variable
a variable that is hypothesized to cause/lead to/ be associated with variation in another variable
Dependent variable
a variable that is hypothesized to vary depending on, or under the influence of another variable
Attributes (indicators of variables)
Exhaustive: every unit must fit somewhere
necessary condition
Mutually exclusive:
every unit of measurement must only fit in one place and it is not always necessary
Nominal
categorical
name of something
not ordered in anyway (gender, sex, race)
ordinal
can rank-order
strongly agree… disagree
Interval
rank with order
equal distance between attributes
IQ, temperaturesR
Ratio
qualities of nominal, ordinal, interval plus has a true zero value
(age, years you lived in mtl)
treatment vs. control group
tool for ensuring proper study population
groups have different values of independent variable/concept
Women in married-couple households are expected to spend more time doing housework than women in any other living situation
treatment: women in married couple household
control: women in other living situations
Independent: woman’s living situation
dependent: time doing household wokr
If school resources are greater, then student outcomes would be better
treatment: schools with a lot of resources
control: schools with not a lot of resources
dependent: student outcomes
independent: school resources
Schools with a higher proportion of teachers holding masters degrees have greater graduation rates
unit of analysis: schools
unit of observation: individuals (teachers and students in the schools)
5 criteria for establishing causality
- correlation/ association
- Time order
- Spuriousness
- Casual mechanisms
- casual context
casual context
a step in identifying causality is assessing/describing the conditions under which the relationship holds
Correlation
there is a relationship between y and x
a systematic relationship between the 2 variables
Time order
x: drinking on Friday-> y: exam grade on monday
vs.
x: final exam grades-> driving over winter break
Non-spuriousness
is there something else causing this correlation
spuriousness
when two or more events or variables are associated but not causally related, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, unseen factor (z-variable)
Reflexivity
the examination of one’s own beliefs, judgments and practices during the research process and how these may have influenced the research.
subjectivity
how someone’s judgment is shaped by personal opinions and feelings instead of outside influences
