week1 intro Flashcards
who are the consumers of social research?
the general public
agency administrators
policymakers
Who are the producers of Social Research?
Academics
Private Sector Investigators
Government Agencies
define Variable?
A characteristic that differs or varies from one individual to another or from one point in time to another. (example blood pressure taken over time)
(this data will be in the COLUMNS)
define Constant?
a characteristic that does not vary from one individual to another or from one point in time to another
define Unit of Observation?
the element that is being studied (will be the data in ROWS)
define Hypothesis
a statement of a relationship between two or more variables and a constant, or two variables (example: I think the average age of the males is a group is greater than the females in the group)
define Independent variable
the presumed cause
define Dependent variable?
the presumed effect or outcome
The Experiment (explain this form of research)
A type of research where the researcher manipulates one or more independent variables (example does waking up early = better grades)
the researcher can manipulate one variable to test
very good data
very expensive (so typically small groups)
random group assignment
what is the experimental group?
the group that is manipulated
what is a control group?
the group that is not manipulated
The Survey (explain this form of research)
The effects of independent variables on dependent variables are recorded after they have occurred
Variables are not manipulated and subjects are NOT assigned to groups at random
It is much more difficult to establish cause and effect
BENEFITS-
Investigates a greater number of independent variables
bigger sample size - more representative - results can be generalized
Content Analysis (explain this form of research)
Objectively describes the content of previously produced messages
may study the content of books, magazines, newspapers, films, radio, broadcasts, photographs, careens, letters, music, etc .
Advantage: don’t have to interact with people
Participant Observation (explain this form of research)
Research where the researcher actually participates in the daily life of the people under study ( if you want to collect data about drug addiction you can ask or covertly attend self help groups)
either openly or covertly
Secondary Analysis (explain this form of research)
Research done using data collected by another researcher (example: Census publishes data)
BENEFIT: cost effective
LIMITATIONS:
limited to what is available
No control over what was asked, how it was asked, or why it was asked
Meta Analysis (explain this from of research)
Research that combines the results obtained in a number of previous studies
Effect size - a measure of the extent to which a relationship exists in the population
ADVANTAGE: cheap , and gleaning data that already exists
DISADVANTAGES: not able to combine data from various studies if questions are not consistent
Why test hypotheses?
Commonsense observations are often based on narrow, biased preconceptions and personal experiences–> the acceptance of invalid conclusions.
What are the Stages of Social Research
Develop hypothesis
develop instruments
collect data
analyze data
interpret and communicate results
(A valid hypothesis must be able to disprove)
What are the Three Levels of measurements
Nominal- Naming or labeling: eg.. race, type of blood, state of origin (the variables can not be ranked in order of greater or lesser)
Ordinal - Ordering of Categories: Rank of Professor
(can put some order do you strongly agree , agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
Interval/Ratio- Ordering and Exact distances (you can use them in arithmetic operation): Weight, number of siblings, temperature (you can get average weight etc..)
explain what is meant by saying:
“There are different ways to measure the same variable “
Ordinal variables can be treated as interval/ration variables if the distances between response categories are assumed to be equal.
define Discrete measurements?
Take only certain specific values
All categorical variables
Certain numeric variables,
e.g.…number of children
define Continuous measurements?
Ordering of categories
Infinite range of possible values
e.g… body weight
Distinguish between the descriptive and decision-making functions of statistics
DESCRIPTION:
frequency and grouped-frequency distributions
graphs and tables
Arithmetic averages
DECISIONS:
Inferences and generalizations from a sample to a population
testing hypotheses regarding the nature of social reality
