Jaymie Ticknor Intro Sociology 1510 Sect 900 17 September 2013 Chapter 3 Doing Sociological Research The Research Process Participant Observation sociological research technique in which the researcher actually becomes simultaneously both participant in and observer of that which he or she studies Survey Research more structured and focused on a sample that should represent the population Sociology and the Scientific Method Sociological research derives from the scientific method originally defined and elaborated by the British philosopher Sir Francis Bacon 1561 1626 Scientific Method involves several steps in a research process including observation hypothesis testing analysis of data and generalization Sociology aspires to be both scientific and humanistic an art science is empirical meaning it is based on careful and systematic observation not just on conjecture Some sociological studies are highly quantitative and statistically sophisticated others are qualitatively based on more interpretive observation not statistical analysis both empirical Deductive Reasoning specific research question prediction about a focused point that is based on a more general or universal principle Inductive Reasoning arrives at general conclusions from specific observations reverse Research Design Developing a Research Question First step in sociological research develop a research question one source could be past research Literature Review reviewing existing studies on the subject such as past research reports or articles digital technology simplified this process Replication Study research that is repeated exactly but on a different group of people or in a different time or place Creating a Research Design Research Design overall logic and strategy underlying a research project the details of your research design flow from the specific questions you ask Quantitative Versus Qualitative Research Quantitative Research uses numerical analysis reduces the data into numbers Qualitative Research somewhat less structured than quantitative research yet still focuses on a central research question allows for more interpretation and nuance in what people say and do and thus can provide an in depth look at a particular social behavior Hypotheses prediction or a hunch a tentative assumption that one intends to test if then statements Data can be qualitative or quantitative Variable characteristic that can have more than one value or score Independent Variable one that the researcher wants to test as the presumed cause of something else Dependent Variable one on which there is a presumed effect Intervening Variables fall between the independent and dependent variable Concept any abstract characteristic or attribute that can potentially be measured Indicators something that points to or reflects an abstract concept a way of seeing a concept Validity measurement indicator is the degree to which it accurately measures or reflects a concept usually use more than one indicator to see if valid Reliability repeating the measurement under the same circumstances gives the same result Hawthorne Effect when people know they are being studied they may change their behavior Gathering Data Primary Data when sociologists gather original material Secondary Data namely data that have already been gathered and organized by some other party may also come from official sources Sample any subset of people or groups or categories of a population Population relatively large collection of people or groups or categories that a researcher studies and about which generalizations are made Making sure that the sample is representative of the population as a whole then can generalize what he she finds from the sample to the entire population A biased non representative sample can lead to grossly inaccurate conclusions Random Sampling gives everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected Analyzing the Data Data Analysis the process by which sociologists organize collected data to discover the patterns and uniformities that the data reveal Serendipity unexpected finding something that emerges from a study that was not anticipated perhaps the discovery of an association between two variables that the researcher was not looking for or some pattern of behavior that was outside the scope of the research design Generalization the ability to draw conclusions from specific data and to apply them to a Reaching Conclusions and Reporting Results broader population The Tools of Sociological Research Several tools and techniques sociologists use to gather data that are the most widely used are survey research participant observation controlled experiments content analysis historical research and evaluation research All these approaches have their advantages and disadvantages for different variables and studies The Survey Polls Questionnaires and Interviews Return Rate the percentage of questionnaires returned out of all those distributed low return rate introduces possible bias because the small number of responses may not representative of the whole group or population Closed Ended Questions people must reply from a list of possible answers quantitatively Open Ended Questions respondent is allowed to elaborate on his her answer qualitatively Statistics in Sociology Percentage same as parts per hundred Rate same as parts per some number Mean same as an average Median midpoint in a series of values arranged in numeric order Mode value or score that appears most frequently in a set of data Correlation widely used technique for analyzing the patterns of association or correlation between pairs of variables Positive Correlation direction is the same Negative Correlation inverse opposite directions Spurious Correlation exists when there is no meaningful causal connection between Cross Tabulation a way of seeing if two variables are related by breaking them down apparently associated variables into categories for comparison Statistical Mistakes citing a correlation as a cause overgeneralizing interpreting probability as certainty building in bias faking data using data selectively Survey can involve both qualitative and quantitative research makes it possible to ask specific questions about a large number of topics and then to perform sophisticated analyses to find patterns and relationships among variables Disadvantages arise from their rigidity responses may not be accurately capture the opinions of the respondent or may fail to capture