Social Research & Statistics- Week 1 Flashcards
Who are the consumers of social research?
The general public, agency administrators, & policy makers
Who are the producers of social research?
Academics, private sector investigators, and government agencies.
Variable
a characteristic that differs or varies from one individual to another or from one point in time to another
constant
a characteristic that does not vary from one individual to another or from one point in time to another
unit of observation
the element that is being studied
hypothesis
a statement of a relationship between two or more variables
independent variable
the presumed cause
dependent variable
the presumed effect or outcome
experiment
a type of research where the researcher manipulates one or more independent variables
experimental group
the group that is manipulated
control group
the group that is not manipulated
survey
- a retrospective form of research
- subjects not randomly assigned & variables not manipulated so it is more difficult to establish cause & effect
- results can be generalized
content analysis
objectively describes the content of previously produced messages
participant observation
researcher participates (openly or covertly) in the life of the people under study
secondary analysis
research done using data collected by another researcher
-is cost effective but no control over what/how/why something was asked
