Vocab Quiz on
Friday!
• Chapter 2 vocab words only
• List is located in the chapter review section of chapter 2
• Start in class and finish for homework –
• Make a list of the words and their definitions to bring to class on
Wednesday
• 23 words total
• HINT!!!!!!!--- you may actually want to READ the chapter to help
you gain a better understanding of these words. (Crazy, right?)
Sociological Research
How do sociologists study social behavior?
The Sociological Research Process
• Quantitative Research- has the goal of objectivity and data
that can be measured
-numbers
-example: statistically examining divorce rates
• Qualitative Research- relies on interpretation and description
of underlying meanings and patterns of social relationships
• -open-ended questions
• -example: asking people about their lives
Correlations
• Sociologists are interested in finding correlations between two
variables.
EXAMPLES
• What is the correlation between student perceptions of the
teacher and grades?
• What is the correlation between a parent’s education level
and what level classes their children take in school?
• What is the correlation between your income level and your
geographic location?
• What is the correlation between religious views and political
beliefs?
Sociological Research Methods
• Naturalistic Observations- Observing people in their natural
environments (aka field research)
• Surveys- polls that gather facts or determine relationships
among facts
• Experiments- in which subjects are exposed to an
independent variable to determine how this impacts a
dependent variable
Survey
• Is a poll in which the researcher gathers facts of
attempts to determine relationships among facts
• How to collect data?
• Survey—Questionnaire and Interview
• Decide on a population and select a sample
• Random sampling- every member of a population has the
same chance of being selected
• Probability sampling- people are chosen because they have
certain characteristics
Strengths and weaknesses?
Field Research
• Is the study of social life in its natural setting: observing and
interviewing people where they live, work, and play.
• Case studies, interviews
• Ethnography- is a detailed study of the life and activities of a
group of people by researchers who may live with that group
over a period of time
Strengths and weaknesses?
Experiments
Are carefully designed situations in which the researcher
studies the impact of certain variables on subjects’
attitudes and behaviors
• Experimental group vs. control group
• Follow the scientific method
• Hypothesis
• Independent vs. dependent variables
•
Use existing sources• Secondary analysis—use previously collected data
• Content analysis—analyze your results
Steps of Sociological Research
• The scientific method involves eight basic steps:
• 1) Observation of an event that stimulates thinking.
• 2) Defining or classifying the terms or events being
considered.
• 3) Formulating the research issue or hypothesis.
• 4) Generating a theory or proposition - a general
statement that serves as a potential answer to the
research question.
Steps of Sociological Research
• 5) Creating a research design in order to test
whether the theory or proposition is valid.
• 6) Collecting data-working through the research
design to make observations.
• 7) Analyzing the data
• 8) Making conclusions and evaluating the theory.
Strengths & weaknesses of experiments
• A.) advantages include the high degree of control, the low
cost, small numbers of subjects, and the ability to replicate
many times
• B.) disadvantages include artificiality, a less communal
approach to data gathering, biases on the part of the
researcher, and subject reactivity
• Hawthorne Effect- is an example of how subjects react to
their knowledge of being studied.
Can you think of situations in which your behavior changed
because you knew you were being observed?
Challenges in Conducting Research
• Reliability
• Validity
• Specifying the relationship
between variables
• People are not reducible to simple
cause and effect equations
Validity
• The degree to which a study measure what it is attempting to
measure
• More simply put – does the study do what it’s designed to do?
Reliability
•
The degree to which a study yields the same
results when repeated by the original
researcher or by others
Sociological Research
• The best way to conduct sociological research is to
triangulate- meaning to combine more than one method
• Ethics of sociological research—code of ethics
•
•
•
•
•
Objectivity/integrity
Privacy/confidentiality
Avoid harm to subjects
Informed consent
Disclose