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Sociological Research Methods

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Title: Sociological Research Methods


1
Sociological Research
2
A Public Restroom?
3
Common Sense vs. Scientific Evidence
  • Poor people are far more likely than rich people
    to break the law.
  • The United States is a middle-class society in
    which most people are more or less equal.
  • Most poor people dont want to work.
  • Differences in the behavior of females and males
    are just human nature.
  • People change as they grow old, losing many
    interests as they focus on their health.
  • Most people marry because they are in love.

4
Question Mindset
  • There is a marked increase in the number of
    divorces in the United States.
  • Factual The number of divorces as a have gone
    up sig. in the past 25 years
  • Comparison Is this a phenomenon of just American
    society and culture?
  • Developmental Have there been other periods in
    American history where divorces have gone up or
    at least marriage rates fallen.
  • Theoretical What else has happened within the
    same timeframe that can be exacerbating the
    problem?

5
Sociological Research Methods
  • Sociologists, in order to study issues collect
    Empirical Research.
  • Empirical Research research based on
    experiences, observations, and experiments

6
Sociological Research Methods
  • Sociologists in collecting this data strictly
    follow the Scientific Research Method
  • This method allows researches to develop an
    understanding of Cause and Effect or causation.

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8
Ten Steps In Sociological Investigation
  • Select and define topic
  • Review the literature
  • Develop key questions to ask
  • Assess requirements for study
  • Consider ethical issues
  • Select a research methodology
  • Collect the data
  • Interpret the findings
  • State conclusions
  • Publish the findings

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Sociological Research Methods A Systematic Plan
for Conducting Research
  • Hawthorne effectA change in a subject's behavior
    caused by the awareness of being studied

11
Steps in the Ideal Experiment
  • Specify the dependent and independent variables.
  • Measure the dependent variable.
  • Expose dependent variable to independent
    variable.
  • Re-measure dependent variable to see if predicted
    change took place.
  • If no change, modify hypothesis re-test

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13
Causation Is Not Correlation!
  • A causal relationship.when homeless shelters are
    closed in a city there are less beds for the
    homeless to use.
  • Cause Effect
  • Rarely when studying or dealing with human beings
    do researchers find clear causal relationships!

14
Causation
  • Cause and effect
  • A relationship in which change in one variable
    causes change in another
  • Types of variables
  • Independent The variable that causes the change
  • Dependent The variable that changes (its value
    depends upon the independent variable)
  • Correlation
  • A relationship by which two or more variables
    change together
  • Spurious correlation
  • An apparent, though false, relationship between
    two or more variables caused by some other
    variable

15
Independent and Dependent Variables
  • You are studying the relationship between
    spousal abuse and credit card debt.
  • The independent variable is
  • The dependent variable is
  • Independent variable one that produces an effect
    on another variable
  • Dependent variable the variable affected in the
    relationship is the dependent.

16
Independent and Dependent Variables
  • another scenario.
  • You are studying healthy lifestyles in the U.S.
    (specifically people who walk daily). Advocates
    say walking (30 minutes) a day will help cut down
    on a persons yearly healthcare costs.
  • The Independent variable is
  • The dependent variable is

17
Causation Is Not Correlation!
  • There is a strong correlation between the
    unemployment rate going up and the number of
    people utilizing soup kitchens in a given area.
  • Two variables or occurrences seem to have a
    strong link between each other.
  • There is always an effort by sociologists to
    separate causal from correlational however
    correlation can involve causation (ex
    educational experience v. success / family
    incomeinvolvement

18
Correlational Research
  • Interpreting Correlations
  • Scores range from -1 to 1
  • -1, negative relationship example of a
    negative   drinking in college and GPA  
  • 0, no relationshipexample of a near zero  
    hair length and GPA
  •   1, positive relationship example of a
    positive GPA and scores on SAT

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20
CORRELATION
  • Perfect positive correlation coefficient
  • 1.00 means that an increase in one event is
    always matched by an equal increase in a second
    event
  • Positive correlation coefficient
  • indicates that as one event tends to increase,
    the second event tends to, but does not always,
    increase
  • increases from 0.01 to 0.99 indicate a
    strengthening of the relationship between the
    occurrence of two events

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22
  • Research Methods

23
Ethnography
24
Ethnography
  • Downsides are that only small populations can be
    studied and results cannot be applied to diff.
    groups even if they hold the same title
  • Another loss is if the researcher becomes to
    comfortable they stop being the researcher
  • Firsthand studies of people using actual
    observations or interviewing.
  • From this research and researchers can get clear
    first person accounts and evidence of how a
    specific group functions within a larger society

25
Ethnography
  • EthnographyObservation
  • Observation observing people in actual social
    settings
  • An Observation can be done with the participant
    being aware of the study or with them completely
    unaware of the researcher

26
Sociological Research Methods
  • 2. Surveys
  • Survey Research method using questionnaires or
    interviews to gather data from individuals.
  • Interview Asking people directly specific
    questions and recording their answers
  • Questionnaire Asking people to respond to
    questions in writing. Could be in person, through
    the mail etc.

27
Surveys
  • surveys tend to be more impersonal and anonymous
    therefore they can assess more sensitive
    information.
  • another aspect that has to be watched is how the
    questions are worded and the responses a
    population can respond with.

28
Survey ResearchA research method in which
subjects respond to a series of statements or
questions in a questionnaire or interview
  • Population
  • The people who are the focus of the research
  • Sample
  • The part of the population that represents the
    whole
  • Random Sample
  • Drawing a sample from a population so that every
    element of the population has an equal chance of
    being selected

29
Sampling
  • When conducting research sociologists (or any
    social scientist) often use representative
    samples of the population they are studying.

30
3. Experiments
31
Experiments
  • For sociology, experiments can allow researchers
    to control and accurately study specific social
    behaviors.

32
Sociological Research Methods
  • 4. Review past and previous Documents
  • By analyzing past research, or materials (e.g.
    newspapers, records, arrests) a sociologists
    might be able to develop a theory or support an
    existing one.
  • Also..

33
Sociological Research Methods
  • By analyzing current sources of electronic
    communication (e.g. news reports, music)
    researchers may once again be able to support or
    develop theories of study.
  • Ex Are nightly news programs more likely to
    report and visualize minority crimes than white
    Caucasian crimes?

34
Scientific Sociology Terminology
  • ReliabilityConsistency in measurement
  • Does an instrument provide for a consistent
    measure of the subject matter?
  • ValidityPrecision in measuring exactly what one
    intends to measure
  • Does an instrument actually measure what it sets
    out to measure?

35
Controversy and Debate (cont.)
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38
Ethical Guidelines for Research
  • Must strive to be technically competent
    fair-minded
  • Must disclose findings in full without omitting
    significant data be willing to share their data
  • Must protect the safety, rights, and privacy of
    subjects
  • Must obtain informed consent subjects are aware
    of of risks and responsibilities and agree
  • Must disclose all sources of funding avoid
    conflicts of interest
  • Must demonstrate cultural sensitivity

39
Ethics
  • for the researcher in any social science, the
    first question is anyone being exposed to any
    type of physical, psychological, or social harm?
  • ..we shall look at another the infamous Stanley
    Milgram experiment.

40
Ethics
  • what did Stanley Milgram do wrong (ethically).
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