Chapter Two
Social Research Methods
Man gets four years in N.J. human trafficking case (nj.com 6/28/2010)
N.J. medical marijuana law could be delayed three months (nj.com 6/28/2010)
N.J. budget 2011: State psychiatric and treatment centers threatened (nj.com 6/28/2010)
N.J. budget 2011: Adult medical day care fee idea scrapped (nj.com 6/28/2010)
Jersey Shore
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The Good Wife
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
Dateline NBC
Desperate Housewives
20/20
Criminal Minds
Dr. Oz Show
The Bachelorette on ABC
Oprah Winfrey
Scientific Approach
• Vigorous, systematic method of observation
and examination of the universe
• For sociologists - the universe covers all forms
of human behavior in different societies and
under different social conditions.
• Scientific inquiry is empirical – the unit under
investigation must be observable, measurable,
and testable.
The Ultimate Goal
• Science can only be applied to observable
phenomena
• Scientists are interested in identifying and
explaining behavioral patterns and social
trends.
• The ultimate goal of any scientific activity is
the betterment of the human condition.
Scientists are interested in….
• Description: describing the units under investigation.
(What is being studied?)
• Exploration: examine and work on new areas of research
(uncharted territories)
• Explanation: interested in explaining the phenomena under
investigation. (What is taking place?)
• Prediction: Make meaningful and reasonable predictions
• Control: Determine the causes (proving a theory)
Challenges
1. Ethical Considerations
- ie.. Suicide or homicide
2. The observed subjects respond to and interact
with the observer.
- unobtrusive techniques
3. Social scientists are humans who study humans.
– Subject to biases, attachments, and values
Elements of Science
• Developing a common language
- concepts (identifies an object)
- variable (Can be measured and take on different values)
- measurement (Assigning # to objects)
- relationship between variables – (correlation)
the essence of any scientific endeavor
relationships between variables
- hypothesis & theory
Measurement
Social Sciences: sociology, anthropology, economics, social science, psychology,
political science, education
• Nominal Scale (more common in social sciences)
___ Married
____ Single
___Divorced
Etc….
• Ordinal Scale (more common in social sciences)
Hotel rating: 5 star, 4 star,…….1 star.
Natural Sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology & other physical
sciences
• Interval Scale (more common in natural sciences)
(distance betwn. Points is equal / absence of absolute zero – thermometer)
• Ratio Scales (more common in natural sciences)
(True zero point: weight)
Important components of
Measurement
• Validity – Researcher measurements what
he/she intended to measure
• Reliability – Consistent / Able to be replicated
Correlation
• Independent variable – causes the change
• Dependent variable – affected by the change
*The dependent variable is DEPENDENT upon the INDEPENDENT variable.*
(# of days since last hair cut and length of hair) ... @ 27 sec.
• Correlation – the relationship between 2 variables.
• Correlation is not causality.
Positive Correlation
1. As you increase your food intake… your weight goes up.
Negative Correlation
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 9 10
1. “Inverse” relationship
2. The more of one – the less of the other….
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 9 10
Causality
• Cause and Effect (X causes Y)
• Suggests that a relationship between 2
variable that is much stronger than a
correlation.
Scientific Method
Hypothesis
A statement of prediction… ????
A tentative assumption…
that needs to be tested.
Theory
• Is one of the most important components in science.
• Another word for an explanation.
• A good theory:
1. Can be tested and best fits the evidence
2. Has logical soundness, with consistent and rational relationships.
3. Has the ability to make sense of the universe
4. Brings new information, new direction, new ideas or new
approaches to research
5. Is popular and worthy of discussion among scientists and nonscientists.
Research Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Select and define the topic.
Review the literature.
Clarify concepts and measurement.
Establish an appropriate data collection method.
Clarify the purpose, value, and ethics.
Design the research instruments and operationalize the concepts.
Define the population of interest and select a sample of subjects.
Collect the data.
Process the data.
Analyze the data.
Share the results.
Research Methods
• Ways to receive information
• Quantitative (numbers)
• Qualitative (description)
– Population
– Sampling (CRITICAL stage of research)
– Sample Size
– Sample (Random / Non-Random)
Research Methods
1. Case Study (archival / secondary analysis)
2. Field (Ethnography) or Observational Research
3. Experiment
Experimental group
Control group
4. Survey / Questionnaire
Hawthorne Effect
Class Activity
Break up into small groups (3 to 4 students)
Take your paper and create a chart:
Along the side: Create a list and give of sociological research questions
Along the top: List the major research methods covered in Chapter Two.
Identify how each sociological question can be studied.
What research method would work best?
Why is that the best research method to use?
Share Responses!!!!
Sociological Research
Questions
Why do teenagers smoke?
Are people less racist today
than they were in the past?
Archival Ethnographic
Research
Quantitative Qualitative Survey Questionnaire Experiment Data
Statistical Tools
Statistics: mathematical system use to classify numerical data.
Descriptive statistics: (describes the average)
Inferential statistics: (determine whether differences are significant to
make inferences to larger population & measures strength of
relationship)
Statistical significance: (difference between groups that is likely to
occur not by chance but regularly)
Central tendency: mean (average), median (middle), mode (most
common)
Activity
• Identify key terms on index cards
• Classify terms in groups.
• Give each group a “Title” and provide a rationale for
the group’s description.
• Now…. Re-arrange your groups and re-categorize your
vocabulary terms. How many groups do you have
now? What are the titles of these categories?
Introduce APA
REMEMBER TO CITE YOUR REFERENCES!!!!
Easybib.com
Obedience: The film of the Milgram Experiment shows research subjects going
through the experiment and presents the basic findings and importance of the study,
but it also reviews how the experiment was conducted, how participants were
debriefed afterwards, and how results differed when Milgram used variations on the
basic experimental setting and context.
While viewing…think about the findings, techniques, and ethical issues
presented by this experiment.
Homework
Read Chapters 4 - 7
Remember your article!!!
Remember to blog!!!