Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryIntroduction#About research methods< What do you think research methods is? – What are you expecting? – Clarify difference between stats & methods< Why do sociologists need to know how to do research?< What is done with sociological research?– Pure knowledge about society– Social problems –> fix– Public opinion –> policy– Marketing (including politics)Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryIntroduction< What are some common kinds of research methods?– Surveys– Interviews– Existing documents/archives– Field research– Content analysis– Experiments– Case studies/retrospective studiesSociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryOverview of course requirements# Go through syllabus< Texts and readings< Projects and grading< Questions?# Why should you be excited to be taking this class? < Quote from Jim LehrerSociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryQuote from Jim Lehrer# “I urge you to please keep in mind what the diploma you are about toreceive does not mean. It does not mean you are educated. Quitethe contrary. It means, I hope, that you have been opened up to aperpetual state of ignorance. . . and thus a lifelong hunger for more– more ideas, more information, more good thoughts, morechallenges, more of everything. # “I must tell you that some of the dumbest people I know went togreat prestigious colleges and Universities . . . They walked across astage as you are going to do, with diplomas in their hot little hands,pronounced themselves well-educated . . . and proceeded to neverread another book, entertain another a fresh idea or tax themselvesin any way beyond what was minimally required to make a living, ormake it socially, or both.”Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryObjectives and outcomes of course< Things you will learn< Ways it can change you # So – what is the course about? < Basic principles of research: the connection between theory anddata, the concepts of inference, control, hypothesis-testing, andmeasurement< Specific techniques for conducting research: observation,questionnaires, experiments.< Assessing causal relationships: how to decide whether it isreasonable to assume that one thing leads to another. Ruling outalternative explanations< Judging generalizability: can you reasonably assume that someone'sresults would be found in another time, place, and population.Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryValue-free science?# Purpose of social science research< Facts vs. values– What do we mean by a question of fact?– How is this different from a question of value?– Bottom line– Research on questions of fact can be used to help make decisionsregarding questions of values.– Examples< Is value-free science possible?– No– We need to use scientific methods to keep our values frombiasing our research by doing research that is– Empirical– Objective– Controlled< What kinds of facts?< Are there any facts?Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryArticle analysis as framework for course< What does an article look like? What does it try to do?< Validity as the critical goal (Schutt) -- Three kinds:– External validity (generalizability). Extent to which you can say thatfindings from your sample will be true of some known population– Measurement (construct) validity: Does your measure of a conceptreally accurately represent that concept?– Internal (causal) validity: Do the data and research design allow for theconclusion that A (the independent variable) is a cause of B (thedependent variable)?< What does the article critique look like? Three major sections,with essentially the same titles.Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological Inquiry# Criteria for Article Selection < Must report the results of someone's research in an area of socialresearch. Should have been carried out by the author(s). < Directed at a scholarly audience.< Reports structured research, with variables, statistical analyses,relationships among variables, etc. < May be about any social science topic you choose. Check with meif you have doubts. Research in sociology, political science,psychology, education, or social work are fine. < The following types of articles may NOT be used: – Purely theoretical papers which discuss concepts and propositions, butreport no empirical research; – Statistical or methodological papers where the bulk of the work is onthe refinement of some new measurement, statistical or modellingtechnique; – Review or meta-analystic articles, summarizing the research of manypast researchers, but reportng no original research by the author; – Popularizations or abridged reports, commonly found in popularnewsstand magazines such as Psychology Today or books of readings– Extremely short reports with less than four pages devoted to methodsand findings.Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryProcedures and Hints# Procedures. All articles must receive my OK. < Bring me xerox/printed copies of three articles to save yourselftime. Do this well before October 17.< No two students may review the same article. < It is OK to use articles you have to read for another class, if theymeet all of the above criteria, but you may not use the articles inGolden.# Hints. < Most research reports begin with sections on theory and reviewsof others' research, so skim the whole article or read theabstract to determine whether the author reports actualresearch of his/her own. < Sociology is becoming increasingly complex in its statisticalanalyses. – I therefore strongly suggest that you use articles no morerecent than the 1980's. – A working rule: if you can't understand the analyses presentedin the results section, don't choose the article.#Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological InquiryThe process of doing research# Abstract: the big picture < The conceptual-empirical cycleSociology 357: Methods of Sociological Inquiry# Replication and extention: how one tests and retests theoreticalideasSociology 357: Methods of Sociological Inquiry# Concepts, variables, indicators, propositions< What is an abstract concept? – An abstract word is a word that summarizes many concreteobservations and stands for what they have in common. – “Democracy” is a term for a particular kind of government, withcertain characteristics (voting by the people governed, for example). – “Dog” refers to a particular category of animal that has a set
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