Week 2 slides Flashcards
What is a method?
A study design
- allows us to systematically study the social world
- makes our conclusions more reliable
What are ethics essential to?
Social science research
What is the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment?
Study of syphilis in Black men in Alabama.
Lasted from 1932-1972
told they has “bad blood”, real diagnosis not revealed
Once cure became available, researchers did not tell men about it
Study led to lifelong complications and preventable deaths
What is the purpose in ethics in social science?
- protect privacy and confidentiality (sociologists often collect sensitive information, data could harm. subjects reputations, or even expose them to criminal action)
- informed consent
- institutional review board
What are the types of research methods?
Quantitative: numbers and quantities
Qualitative: themes, patterns, connections
What do experiments do and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
Control the environment to isolate the effects of one item
Strengths: be pretty confident of the effect of the one element we’ve isolated
Weaknesses:
- can’t ethically study some topics experimentally
- may not be sure if subjects would act the same way in the “real world” outside the carefully-controlled environment
What are surveys? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
Set of questions subjects respond to
Strengths:
- relatively quick and cheap
- can be done online, by phone, in person, by mail
- can get lots of data from many people
Weaknesses:
- may be hard to get people to respond
- wording issues
What is participant observation? What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Researcher directly observes and participates in the social world they’re studying.
Strengths:
- get detailed information about how people act in a certain context
- personal understanding of what it feels like to take part in that social world
Weaknesses:
- can be time-consuming & expensive
- can only study a small # of people
What is historical and content analysis? What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Use existing sources (historical records, newspaper stories, TV shows, transcripts of political testimony)
Strengths:
- can look for patterns or themes that might not be evident otherwise
- show how a topic is presented in the media
- study issues in the past through historical records
Weaknesses: can’t control quality of data
How do you choose a method?
There’s no single “best” method. Take into account a variety of factors.
- topic
- what you want to know
- resources
- research skills
What are the 4 biases and what are their meanings?
Confirmation Bias: when people only pay attention to things that support what they already believe and ignore anything that says they might be wrong
Selection Bias: when the way people or things are chosen for a study or decision makes the results unfair or not true for everyone.
Echo Chambers: when people only talk to others who share the same ideas, so they keep hearing the same opinions over and over.
Nonresponse Bias: when some people don’t answer a survey or study, and their missing answers make the results unfair or inaccurate.
What are the 5 research steps?
1- choose a research question
2- state your hypothesis
3- gather data
4- analyze data
5- develop conclusions
What are the variables and what do they mean?
Independent variable: causes a change
dependant variable: affected by the independent variable, this is the item we’re trying to explain
What is a hypothesis?
Statement about how you believe variables are related.
population, independent and dependent variable
What is operationalization and what are ways to measure stress?
How we convert variables into items that can be measured.
ways to measure
- psychological tests
- frequency of certain behaviours
- physical tests (heart rate)
What is a sample?
A sample is a representative group of a larger population. chosen from a sampling frame.
What are the 3 types to samples?
Random
- researcher knows exactly how many members of the population there are
- every member has some chance of being chosen
- allows you to generalize
Non-random:
- doesn’t ensure that all members of population have some chance of being included
- less likely to be representative of population
- limited ability to generalize
Nonresponse bias
- regardless of type of sample, we have to think about nonresponse bias
- systematic patterns in who does or doesn’t respond that cause our sample to be unrepresentative
What is a spurious relationship?
a relationship appears casual but isn’t
What is validity?
the research is measuring what it’s supposed to measure
Social desirability bias: People might give answers that make them look good instead of telling the truth.
Poor measures: If a ruler is bent, it won’t measure things correctly—just like bad questions in a study won’t give good results.
What is reliability?
the results are consistent and the same every time.
Subjects interpret questions similarly: If you ask, “Do you like games?” some people might think of board games, and others might think of video games. A good question makes sure everyone understands it the same way.
Good questions: Clear questions help people give the right answers, just like clear instructions help you do a task correctly.
